Joe is still playing limited minutes and he's still in an adjustment period as far as managing the game. And managing if you want to save his (last) 2 or 3 minutes until the end of the game or not. |
Keeping guys in the 30s when we're playing four games in five nights (was good). Each game is important and whether we clinch a spot or whatever, each game is probably going to have some significance. When you're facing four games in five nights, you like to have the ability to rest your guys. |
Kobe had a terrific game. We probably did a good job on him, actually -- after the way he started off. He made his foul shots down the stretch, but for 2 1-2 quarters, we did as good a job as you could ask for. |
Marbury and Francis are really talented players and each can win games by themselves. Now you put them on the same team. . . . |
Michael kept us in the game. |
Michael played a terrific game. It was entertaining, but I'm not taking much consolation in that. |
Mo played tonight the way he's played all year. Scoring 30 points on 17 shots is pretty effective, efficient. |
My hats off to Charlotte, they did a hell of a job. They played short-handed with not much to lose and did a great job. |
Nobody enjoys losing. I'm not going to say that we're in the locker room and all smiles after a loss. We're up to a four-game losing streak. That's not the case. That shouldn't be the case. But the approach to every game needs to have a freshness, a determination and a positive attitude. |
Obviously, we had a hard time scoring. We didn't score any points in 10 minutes and you compound that with McGrady getting hot and on a roll . . . that's what Houston wanted to do. They wanted to keep it close in the fourth quarter and have McGrady take over. But offensively it's tough when the ball doesn't go in. |
Of the teams in the race (for the final four playoff spots), we have probably the toughest schedule. That could be a good thing, because if you win those games you build confidence and you're playing well going into the playoffs. |
One of the reasons we got him was because he's always been a very good defender. But he really improved his scoring overseas. He brings a nice balance, and it seems when he is on the court, good things tend to happen. |
One of the strengths of Detroit's team is it's hard to focus on one guy. |
Our defense got us over the hump. It was one of those games. Boston did a nice job defensively and both teams struggled to score. We stayed with our defense and fought through. |
Our mentality of competing and not giving up in games has been the main reason why we've been successful. |