We had our spirit broken and never got back into the game. |
We have a lot of work to do as a team and I can see that. It's exciting because I do see the talent on the floor and I like the fact that this group enjoys playing with each other. |
We have to make sure that Wally and Paul have shots at the end of the game. I'm disappointed in the loss. We played hard, but we're not playing smart. |
We just have to win. Bottom line, every game is a must-win for us, when you look at the percentages, being down four games with 13 to play. |
We just kept scratching. I told our guys at halftime that I thought our first half was as soft defensively as we'd been all year. And we started our third quarter out the same way. They got three or four open shots and I had to burn two timeouts but then I thought our bench, even though they were outscored in a big way, was the reason we won the game. |
We keep talking about the future and obviously you see all the talent, young talent but it's still potential. It's great to have potential but it's better to have it realized. |
We knew with that team we weren't going to win [an NBA] title. |
We narrowed it down to Jackson and then Freddie Jones (who would take the last shot). Tony got up into Jackson, which I thought was the right thing to do, and they had to shoot a fade-away shot. |
We never had any rhythm. In the second half the defense was much better and we cut into it a little bit. But when you spot a team (19) points, and that team has Kobe, you know eventually during your run that he is going to make a shot. |
We played as soft as a team can be. They were tougher mentally, physically and there was no way we were going to win that game. |
We played really hard tonight and I thought our defense was phenomenal. On most nights it would have been enough to win. |
We played well. They got off to a slow start and we got the lead. When a team is struggling you almost feel bad for them at that point. Our guys just kept playing, They played hard. We're so young, I was worried about us losing our focus. I can't worry about them. |
We were playing a team that was obviously playing desperate and you could see that play in them. We're loose and we played aggressive. |
We're going to win the division, ... If we don't, we've taken a step backward unless our young guys have done something where you can see hope. But I'm going to tell you this, and hopefully it won't be often: That young team stuff is not going to be used as a crutch. OK, we're young. So what? |
We're not out of it. But it's going to be nearly impossible, obviously, to get in. We need to have a total collapse of two teams (including ninth-place Chicago) now. |