Turnovers cost Dallas a 22-point lead before closing the game out
Carlisle: "I'm disappointed, but this is how it's been. It hasn't been easy. When games are on ESPN, you've got wacky things happen; non shooters start throwing in shots. It happens all the time. As stuff comes at you, you've just got to be defiant in making it go away. You've just got to stay with it, play harder. We didn't play well, I know that. We're going to have to play better, but I'm glad we won."
Tyson: "We've got to do a better job of closing. I'll take the win, but we've got to do a better job of closing."
Carlisle: "They're an active team, but we made a lot of bad turnovers. With Memphis coming in here, they're another team that turns you over a lot. We're going to have to do better, have to do a lot better."
Parsons: "There's no reason for it to ever be that close. When we get a lead like that, we have to learn to extend the lead and keep our foot on the gas and not go for the home run plays. We had a lot of turnovers tonight that led to a lot of easy plays for them."
Rondo: "To me it's not disappointing at all. They put their pants on just like we do. We knew they weren't going to lay down. We got the win. It's tough to get wins in this league. The Spurs lost to the Knicks the other day. It's easy for teams to let their guards down. Give them credit. It's not like we're the best defensive team in the league. We struggle at times and like I said, they make plays. They made plays tonight, they made shots, and we didn't. We started off the third quarter, we could have made a lot of shots and we didn't. I think we could have put the game away right then. ... That's just basketball."
Dirk: "You don't ever want to overdo it [passing the ball], but I feel like guys the last couple of games have played unselfish, played together, looked for the open guy. Eventually someone has to make a shot, so yeah. You can overpass in this league but I think at this point we'll take overpassing over overdribbling or going 1 on 5 every time down."
Rondo: "I think it's a fine line and tonight I had a lot of turnovers. I'll go back and watch the film but for the most part, me thinking about a lot of them -- I couple of them I had loose balls, rebounds, tipped it out and it went off my leg, two of those. A couple of passes where Dirk and I weren't on the same page. This is the way I play. Every turnover tonight -- that last one, I needed Monta to get to the corner -- but other than that, I don't think I made any reckless plays."
Parsons: "You want to be aggressive. You want to get the best shot every single time down. Tonight, we got two or three 3-second calls just trying to be too unselfish, but that's a good problem to have."
Dirk Nowitzki was :FireEmoji:
Carlisle: "I liked [Rondo's] aggression. There were a couple times the ball just slipped out of his hands, but some of the things were just a little speculative on everybody's part tonight, not just him. He had a bunch of turnovers, but we've got to move on and do better. We've got a bunch of professionals. We've got a bunch of experienced guys that know better and we've just got to clean it up."
Nowitzki: "Yeah, I missed a 3 there early and I missed another one from the left baseline over there in the first quarter I wasn't happy about, but after that, I had a pretty good rhythm. Guys kept finding me in my spots. Rondo, good job penetrating, Monta, always. JJ and Devin, and they just found me on some open shots. I had a good rhythm."
Carlisle: "Yeah, you guys are more tuned into that than I am. I'm really watching his minutes and where he's getting his shots and stuff like that. I like the way he's playing. He's scrambling out there, he's rebounding, he's giving a real effort and he just needs to continue with that and we need to keep him fresh and keep everyone together on the team."
Tyson: "Now that he has Holger back, absolutely. He looks like Dirk again."
Carlisle on the extra days of rest helping Dirk: "It helps a veteran team. It helps him, it helps Tyson. We got a lot of guys who are a little dinged up. We've got to take advantage of this time to get healed up and the last game of the home stand coming is a big game. It's important. Then we're back on the road again and the schedule's just really difficult."
Everything else
Carlisle on Aminu's return: "We stayed pretty even on the boards and he was one of the reasons. He had a big rebound at the end. We missed him. We've been getting by with winning some games, but he helps in a lot of those areas. He gives us another defender when teams go small like they did tonight. Being at full strength definitely helps."
Carlisle on sitting Parsons late: "I just wanted a quicker guy in there. With Aminu, you get some more options and Parsons didn't have a great night, but it happens. You're not going to get 30 points every night. Sometimes your teammates have to pick you up."
Carlisle is asked if a bad defensive possession had anything to do with Parsons getting benched. "I didn't bench him. I just substituted for him."
Carlisle: "We needed a quicker defender, and Harkless is a much better defender than [Parsons] was seeing the other night in Oklahoma City. We tried getting him involved in some stuff and it was just harder. Sometimes the game is different. But Parsons is one of our top players. We got to get him ready for Friday. He's a huge, huge part of this thing, there's no doubt about that."
Carlisle: "We went to it because they were very, very small, and just took a shot with it. I'm not big on playing a lot of smallball but tonight it was, with Harris being out for them, we knew we were going to see Gordon, we knew we were going to see some small lineups. They probably did a little more of it than they have been. It was either three little guys or two little guys and Aminu, or two little guys and Aminu and Charlie. Look, we got by with it and we won the game, which I'm pleased about."
Tyson on Aminu being back: "He does everything, from cracking back, to coming over and blocking shots, to rebounding, being able to help and still close out to his man. He does all the little things like an army Swiss knife. Did a say that right? Swiss Army knife. Y'all know what I'm talking about."
Tyson on Memphis: "I wouldn't call it a measuring stick but it's an important game for us, one we need to come out prepared and ready for."
Rondo said Holger and him have not picked up where they left off last time he was here. He'll talk to him tomorrow about that possibility. "I think I'm in a good rhythm right now."
Rondo: "I'm not too down on myself or the team with as far as how the game turned out. The end result was a win. We found a way to pull a win out down the stretch."
Parsons on his shooting: "I wasn't really in a rhythm. Didn't really get a feel for it. Just missed some shots, got some good looks though."