Mavericks use 'grit' to beat Lakers

Rick Carlisle

On the play of Zaza Pachulia and Dwight Powell

Both those guys are playing big on the inside. Zaza's position defense on some of these guys has been great. The other night [Blake] Griffin, tonight Randle. He's been tremendous. Tonight, 16 boards, Powell 12 boards. You know, Powell had a big couple of rebounds on the last couple of possessions. In those situations, if it's a miss, the ball gets kicked around and somebody gets a wide open 3. Coming up with those [rebounds] is big. Our energy guys had good numbers tonight as far as plus/minus and stuff like that.

Zaza made a huge shot on the right baseline which was a read that D-Will made. It was a huge shot. One of the biggest shots of the year, you know, in our modestly begging season. They both do their job which is to go out, play hard, and play within the system.

On the team's grit

We lacked energy early in the game. We picked it up and did better as it went along. But it's a hard game. We weren't shooting the ball well. We had to make up for it with some grit and we had a lot of guys contribute in little ways.

On Parsons

He's getting to look more comfortable. We only had four minutes to play him in the second half. I think I robbed him of nine seconds or whatever it was. He's making strides, no question about it. It's not easy for anybody. No one loves it but we have to make the best of it. He's working hard so we just have to stay with it.

On Tony Romo sitting courtside

He's into it, I'll give him that. I feel like I was on the sidelines of a Cowboys game a couple of times there. He's talking to me about what's going on and what's on the stats. The same stuff he's doing over on the sideline. We don't have headsets, though, otherwise we'd offer him one.

On the state of the team

I think we're making progress. TO be able to win ugly, you know, some nights, especially with a team of their kind of talent is an important thing to be able to do. Again, we weren't shooting the ball well. A lot of guys were frustrated with shots not going in but they but they kept playing. Guys kept playing hard. That's what we've got to keep doing and stick with the process. We're due for a shot-making barrage one of these days and it's going to happen.

Zaza Pachulia

On his performance

The good thing is that we won...I'm really a big believer in team basketball. My numbers don't count. [They] don't matter if we win. These guys make it so much easier for me. Pick and roll situation, finding the open guy, finding me on the rolls, offensive rebounds. They're missing shots for me so I can get the rebound and put backs, etc. We're playing right.

On the team's grit

The Lakers, their record doesn't look good but they're a dangerous team. They have great players there who are very capable of scoring 20, 30 points. And they have Kobe Bryant. It was a very emotional game for us last game and four games in five nights, we're fatigued especially the injured guys and the older guys. This is why it's called team basket ball...Everybody did a great job I think. We didn't start well today...Total team effort.

Wesley Matthews

On Zaza

Zaza was big tonight. Zaza has been solid for us the whole year so far. Just his presence down there, his demeanor, his attitude, he did everything he needed to tonight.

On the Lakers fans in attendance

Our crowd was still great. There's not going to be an arena in the world that's not going to have Kobe and Laker fans. That's what it's going to be like. Our crowd was still great it was just fun to shut the Laker fans up.

Chandler Parsons

On his minute restrictions

This is the first time I've played in the second half. Besides, obviously, that time we tried just the second half. It felt good. This whole process is definitely different but, you know, as you can see my minutes are continuing to go up and up. I won't play tomorrow and I'll go up to 20-23 minutes in Philly. So, next week it'll just keep going up. I expect it to be on here for about two to three more weeks and then let me loose.

On the team's grit

We're going to have games like this. We played good defense but we missed a lot of shots. We're going to have games where we don't put them both together but it's promising that we can still pull out a win against a team with a lot of offensive firepower. Not everything is going to be pretty. But in this conference in this league we'll take the win.

On his knee

Obviously, I feel stuff off here, you know, and it gets a little sore and stuff but when I'm playing I don't feel anything. I'm pushing them to let me play more and more and at the same time being smart. Like I said, my minutes will keep gradually going up. Get 20-23 in Philly, take tomorrow off, work out...and just continue to see how it goes day by day.

On playing in the second half

It was good. It's the first time I've actually sat out a halftime and gone back out there and played. It felt fine. It felt just like it did at the beginning of the game. There was really no difference. It definitely felt good. I obviously could've kept playing too but I got to my restrictions so he pulled me but it's a process. It's going to get annoying. It's going to get frustrating. But like I said, it's going up every game.