“We’re not that good and they’re not that bad”

Rick Carlisle

Is this your best defensive performance of the year?

“Yeah... (pauses for laughs) are you trying to be an asshole? Listen, it was great. Let’s just say that I can’t remember a better defensive performance by any Mavericks team in 11 years.

“I was really impressed. This is a ridiculously difficult team to play. (They’re) well-coached, will slice and dice you to death. The first two games were obliterations and we bounced back in a big way.

“The seats for soldiers is a big motivator. It created an atmosphere to bring even more fight to our game so give our guys a lot of credit.”

Every player was at least plus 11 tonight, how dominant a performance is this for you?

“Throw this out the window, it’s over. They had a horrible night but we had something to do with that.

“We’re not this good and they’re not this bad. That’s just the reality of the NBA. We’ve got to do everything possible to build on this performance. That’s the bottom line.”

How do you build on this performance?

“We’ve worked really hard on for the last two weeks. We’ve shown improvement. A night like tonight is hard to explain in a lot of ways but everybody was completely connected.

“These guys have really whipped us in two games every which way you can be whipped. Our guys responded very well.”

JJ Barea

What did you see on the play that sent you into the stands?

“It was a dirty basketball play, off balance. (He’s a) strong dude, Favors. I had nowhere to go. I’m just glad nothing happened, nothing serious. I’m just glad it’s over with.”

Why did you get a technical?

“I was trying to get back on the court and they said something to me and I said something back I got a tech. It was a bad tech. Hopefully I get it back.”

How did it feel to get a 50 point win?

“It was fun. We’re doing better the last couple days in energy in practice yesterday. I’m trying to get a little more emotion out of the starters, trying to get them going and I think it’s working.

“Hopefully we can keep this going and see how we can keep getting better all season.”

DeAndre Jordan

What does seats for soldiers night mean to you?

“This is amazing. It’s a great turnout. It shows how much we all care about each other giving up their seats for all these amazing soldiers who risk their lives every day.

“This is just something small that we can do show that we care and appreciate everything they do for us.”

After you and Luka got those technical fouls did that fire y’all up?

“I wanted to get a tech. Just to kind of get our crowd into it and our team refocused. They had an energy run right there so I just wanted to shift the tide a little bit.”

Several of your teammates have been posting about you the last couple days.

Instead of answering the question that was sure to come about Tim MacMahon’s report, Jordan walked off in a huff. According to one source, that’s what Jordan planned to do all along.

After the reporter chased him down Jordan said “I’ll answer it like this. I’ve been in the league 10 years, this is my 11th year. I’ve never heard a teammate say a bad thing about me.”