Quoteboard for Mavs 107, Suns 104: "The second half was progress. The first half was regress."

Rick Carlisle

On if they achieved his goal of playing better: "The second half was progress. The first half was regress. I like the second half. We got to build on the second half. They scored 63 in the first half, 41 in the second half. Obviously, much better and much more of what we need preparing for the playoffs."

On Chandler's rebounds: "Yeah, he played a huge game on the boards and he was a presence all night long. He had a couple blocks. I thought there were a couple ones where they blew the whistle or I thought he may have been pretty good vertical. He's one of the guys that's one of the heartbeats of the team. When he plays big like this, it really gives us a lift."

On if Chandler is over his heath issue: "I believe he is doing very well right now. With Amar'e on board, we can keep Tyson in the 32-33 minute range, which is optimal for him. Those two guys, they're a good one-two punch because they play a different style of game. With Amar'e, hey we're going to get the ball into him in the paint. Tyson's the roller and the dunker and the guy that is the shot blocker and the rebounder. They complement each other well."

On Rondo's knee: "It appears to be doing OK. We will probably rest him in one of the upcoming games. Casey Smith and I talked about it before the game. I don't know exactly which game yet. I like the way he played tonight. He was into it. He was engaged with all his teammates. He was aggressive, made a lot of really smart plays out there. Going forward, we just need more of the same."

On if he plans to rest other players: "Very likely, yes."

On Dirk hitting a huge 3 right after an airball: "I have a very short memory for some things. If he has a bad miss, it heightens the likelihood that the next one's going to go in. Monta made a great pass. That was a bang-bang play and Monta made a hard drive and perfect pass right in rhythm. That's the play of the game."

On them struggling from three: "I haven't liked it lately but we got to keep working on it. Parsons being out hurts that. He's one of our better three-point shooters. We haven't gotten the high-quality looks in some of the recent games but we just got to keep working at it, just got to keep working at it."

On why their defense was better in the second half: "Energy was better. We had defense in front of our bench, so I think the communication between the bench and the players helps a little bit when there's proximity. They played last night, so I think they may have wore down a little bit. We'd extend some zone and some man to try to disrupt their rhythm. Gerald Green had a ridiculous rhythm going there and when he gets going like that, he just jumps over everybody and shoots. We faced a lot of tough stretches, a lot of deficits, a lot of lead changes, a lot of ties, a playoff-caliber game in terms of the intensity and the physical nature of it and that's good and it's good to win. You don't want to go on three-game losing streaks this time of year."

Dirk Nowitzki

On his big 3: "I had two pretty good looks before. Needless to say, I wasn't really the first option on the next play. Monta made a heckuva play -- dribbled in there hard, drew my defender and I found myself open again. I've been in this position for a lot of years, stepped into it and let it go, didn't really think about it. Glad it went in. Helped us get this win. Really, I thought our defense in the second half won us this game. First half everything was a little too easy I felt. I thought defensively we got there, rotating for each other. Tyson was a monster on the boards. I thought that was great."

On Tyson: "He was all over the place. I thought not only defensively he was great, but on the offensive end he had some of those tapouts that we definitely needed. He's a factor on the boards, we're usually a good shooting team and it gives u an opportunity to get a good look at the basket. I think I even saw one or two post moves out of him tonight, which was great. He played a great game."

On balancing rhythm and rest: "Good question. We'll just look at the next game. Trying to play well and go from there. There's nothing planned as of now as for rest, as far as I know. ... I'm sure coach will talk to some of the players how they feel game to game as we'll make the decision from there."

On how he feels: "Not bad, not bad. I thought for a three days off I should have felt a little fresher, but it is what it is. I fought through it. Got the win."

On how he feels shooting wise: "I had some good looks today that I missed. Like I said, I didn't feel my best today for whatever reason, but yeah. Last week or so, I've been feeling pretty good or so, hitting my shots. Yeah, I've been shooting the ball well in practice."

Amar'e Stoudemire

On what the team is playing for: "Stay in shape, stay healthy. Still trying to sharpen up our offensive and defensive strategies. For the most part, we're just trying to stay healthy and keep them in a good rhythm."

On taking advantage of Phoenix inside: "They have no big man, not one, so we knew we could take advantage of them inside. Others were rebounding and posting up. That was a point of emphasis for us tonight."

On the plan against the Nuggets: "Stay healthy."