Gtronic
Bench
Postgame Quotes-vs. New Jersey 11/23/05
Kings Coach Rick Adelman
“It was a strange game. In the third quarter we finally seemed to get some energy going. During the whole first half we were letting (the Nets) run their offense – we were just reacting to what they were going to do. It’s amazing that we had 59 points at halftime – we just had no energy. I don’t know what it was. Then in the third quarter suddenly we went after it and got some steals, got the open court, and the whole thing changed, and that’s what we talked about at halftime. We’ve got to make something happen; you have to push yourself to make something happen. The whole game neither team, seemed to be really doing very much but they were scoring. They shot the ball very well. We tried to make them an outside shooting team, and we made them an outside shooting team.”
Regarding the play of the younger players:
“Kevin (Martin) came in and made a couple of shots and got his energy level up. He’s just got to continue to play the whole 24 seconds he’s out there and not pick and choose. He’s got to understand who to guard and what they’re doing and that’s just going to take time. We’d like to see him get two or three games under his belt where they’re solid and consistent. I really thought Francisco (Garcia) started off pretty well, but then he got into foul trouble so quickly. But fortunately, Kevin was able to come in and give us a lift.”
Regarding Peja Stojakovic:
“As of this morning he wasn’t going to play. This is the chance for Francisco (Garcia) and Kevin (Martin) to get time out there and you’ve got to look at that and hope its going to help us in the long run – that they’re going to get some time with the main guys playing, their confidence levels are going to rise a little, and they’re going to relax a little.”
“It’s really all up to (Peja) and the trainer and the doctor. They have to decide what’s best. He shot the ball pretty well today just catching and stuff, so I think we’re going to see how he feels tomorrow and see how he feels Friday – but I have no idea what the time-table is. From my understanding he still had stiffness and soreness in the finger and the stiffness is what causes the problems.”
Mike Bibby
“We started to get some stops on the defensive end and in return got some easy baskets. I’m trying to be a little bit more aggressive, looking for my shot a little bit more. The guys are doing a good job rebounding and passing the ball. We started slow tonight but we pushed it out and were fed up playing like that, so we tried pushing the ball a little bit more. We got a little bit of energy, got some stops, and opened it up. We were just going through the motions (in the first half). We were just going up and down but we finally picked it up in the second half. Our defense really did a good job tonight – got a lot of steals – and that opened things up.”
Kevin Martin
“The difference tonight was coming out and not pressing. I was relaxing knowing that a couple of games were not going to ruin (my) career. I can’t get down on two bad games and I certainly can’t feel Michael Jordan confidence after one game, but it felt good. It’s not Kevin versus (Francisco) Garcia from day one draft night – it’s not going to be that ever – it’s going to be Kevin and Francisco helping this team. So if he has a good game and we win I’m proud of him and if I have a good game and we win, he’s proud of me – and we just keep on playing. Getting rebounds and assists, steals – that’s what’s going to keep me on the court, not jacking shots. It’s just basketball, just get out there and play.”
Bonzi Wells
On the play of Kevin Martin:
“He played great and that’s what it is all about. When one guy falls, another guy has to step up. That’s what I try to tell those guys; that’s what the NBA is all about. When you get your chance you have to go out there and shine. The other night it was Francisco (Garcia) and tonight it was Kevin. He played well, shot the ball well, and was aggressive going to the hole and he played good defense. That’s all you can ask for, for a guy that doesn’t have any experience in the league that can just go out there and play hard and see what happens.”
“I just tried to be active and get my hands on a lot of balls and just help our team on the defensive end. I’ve been getting a lot of steals lately and that’s going to help our fast break. Whenever you steal a ball from a guy and go down and dunk it on the other team, that just kind of demoralizes them a little bit and kind of puts them down – we did that three times in a row and we knew we had that team. We stretched our lead out to maybe thirteen or fourteen (points) and kind of cruised the rest of the way.”
NJ Nets
Nets Coach Lawrence Frank:
“We gave up 35 points in the third quarter. It’s a tie game with 5:40 to go in the third quarter. We had like 14 fouls in that span. We were pushing and grabbing. Normally, on your turnover ratio you’d like to be 1 for 1. We had 16 turnovers that led to 26 points (for Sacramento). It’s very disappointing because this is not the way we’re going to play basketball. We’re not going to play 114-105, because obviously the other team has 114 points. We shoot 54% and lose the game. If there’s any question about the value and importance of defense, this is a great case example.”
“What I said stays in the locker room. The other team scored 114. To me the objective is to just to have at least one more point than the opponent. Whether we score 105 or 55, the point is we have to have more points than the opponent. This is their type of game. We did very little to disrupt or anything, and we have to give them credit. They deserved to win. It’s just we’re disappointed in our defense and focus. It’s two straight games in a row in the third quarter where we’ve given up 35 points and that’s a lot of points.”
“We took Krstic out, we rolled the dice with Jefferson for a while. He was almost close to getting his 5th foul and we were taking him out. In this league you still have to be aggressive even when you have foul trouble. They were quicker to the ball, their cuts and in transition. We’re giving up lay-ups. Turnovers lead to lay-ups. We take a jumper from 17 feet and they get a lay-up out of it. We worked too hard at what we do to put on a performance like this.”
Jeff McInnis:
“Everybody had 4 fouls on our team. We just couldn’t get it going. They scored like 24 points in the last 5 minutes. I don’t know if it was a matter of defense or what, but they were making shots, and I guess at that point we weren’t. We were out there playing the game. I thought at one point we were playing good defense. We were out there trying hard, and that’s all I know. It seemed like they were making every shot. We just got to go back to the drawing board.”
Richard Jefferson:
“We were the aggressors for most of the night. It’s just for whatever reason, in the third quarter we didn’t come out with it. I had a questionable call and the end of the second quarter on a spin. But you know what, the referees give me plenty of calls. I try not to complain to them. We didn’t play very good overall. We’re not accomplishing things as a team right now. I’ve been here a very long time. You got to understand your teammates – your strengths, your weaknesses, and their strengths, their weaknesses. Before we used to be a third quarter team, because we’d wear teams out in the first half and then come out with that same intensity. But we have a different group here, different mentality, and we have to figure that out.”
“It was a strange game. In the third quarter we finally seemed to get some energy going. During the whole first half we were letting (the Nets) run their offense – we were just reacting to what they were going to do. It’s amazing that we had 59 points at halftime – we just had no energy. I don’t know what it was. Then in the third quarter suddenly we went after it and got some steals, got the open court, and the whole thing changed, and that’s what we talked about at halftime. We’ve got to make something happen; you have to push yourself to make something happen. The whole game neither team, seemed to be really doing very much but they were scoring. They shot the ball very well. We tried to make them an outside shooting team, and we made them an outside shooting team.”
Regarding the play of the younger players:
“Kevin (Martin) came in and made a couple of shots and got his energy level up. He’s just got to continue to play the whole 24 seconds he’s out there and not pick and choose. He’s got to understand who to guard and what they’re doing and that’s just going to take time. We’d like to see him get two or three games under his belt where they’re solid and consistent. I really thought Francisco (Garcia) started off pretty well, but then he got into foul trouble so quickly. But fortunately, Kevin was able to come in and give us a lift.”
Regarding Peja Stojakovic:
“As of this morning he wasn’t going to play. This is the chance for Francisco (Garcia) and Kevin (Martin) to get time out there and you’ve got to look at that and hope its going to help us in the long run – that they’re going to get some time with the main guys playing, their confidence levels are going to rise a little, and they’re going to relax a little.”
“It’s really all up to (Peja) and the trainer and the doctor. They have to decide what’s best. He shot the ball pretty well today just catching and stuff, so I think we’re going to see how he feels tomorrow and see how he feels Friday – but I have no idea what the time-table is. From my understanding he still had stiffness and soreness in the finger and the stiffness is what causes the problems.”
“We started to get some stops on the defensive end and in return got some easy baskets. I’m trying to be a little bit more aggressive, looking for my shot a little bit more. The guys are doing a good job rebounding and passing the ball. We started slow tonight but we pushed it out and were fed up playing like that, so we tried pushing the ball a little bit more. We got a little bit of energy, got some stops, and opened it up. We were just going through the motions (in the first half). We were just going up and down but we finally picked it up in the second half. Our defense really did a good job tonight – got a lot of steals – and that opened things up.”
“The difference tonight was coming out and not pressing. I was relaxing knowing that a couple of games were not going to ruin (my) career. I can’t get down on two bad games and I certainly can’t feel Michael Jordan confidence after one game, but it felt good. It’s not Kevin versus (Francisco) Garcia from day one draft night – it’s not going to be that ever – it’s going to be Kevin and Francisco helping this team. So if he has a good game and we win I’m proud of him and if I have a good game and we win, he’s proud of me – and we just keep on playing. Getting rebounds and assists, steals – that’s what’s going to keep me on the court, not jacking shots. It’s just basketball, just get out there and play.”
On the play of Kevin Martin:
“He played great and that’s what it is all about. When one guy falls, another guy has to step up. That’s what I try to tell those guys; that’s what the NBA is all about. When you get your chance you have to go out there and shine. The other night it was Francisco (Garcia) and tonight it was Kevin. He played well, shot the ball well, and was aggressive going to the hole and he played good defense. That’s all you can ask for, for a guy that doesn’t have any experience in the league that can just go out there and play hard and see what happens.”
“I just tried to be active and get my hands on a lot of balls and just help our team on the defensive end. I’ve been getting a lot of steals lately and that’s going to help our fast break. Whenever you steal a ball from a guy and go down and dunk it on the other team, that just kind of demoralizes them a little bit and kind of puts them down – we did that three times in a row and we knew we had that team. We stretched our lead out to maybe thirteen or fourteen (points) and kind of cruised the rest of the way.”
NJ Nets
Nets Coach Lawrence Frank:
“We gave up 35 points in the third quarter. It’s a tie game with 5:40 to go in the third quarter. We had like 14 fouls in that span. We were pushing and grabbing. Normally, on your turnover ratio you’d like to be 1 for 1. We had 16 turnovers that led to 26 points (for Sacramento). It’s very disappointing because this is not the way we’re going to play basketball. We’re not going to play 114-105, because obviously the other team has 114 points. We shoot 54% and lose the game. If there’s any question about the value and importance of defense, this is a great case example.”
“What I said stays in the locker room. The other team scored 114. To me the objective is to just to have at least one more point than the opponent. Whether we score 105 or 55, the point is we have to have more points than the opponent. This is their type of game. We did very little to disrupt or anything, and we have to give them credit. They deserved to win. It’s just we’re disappointed in our defense and focus. It’s two straight games in a row in the third quarter where we’ve given up 35 points and that’s a lot of points.”
“We took Krstic out, we rolled the dice with Jefferson for a while. He was almost close to getting his 5th foul and we were taking him out. In this league you still have to be aggressive even when you have foul trouble. They were quicker to the ball, their cuts and in transition. We’re giving up lay-ups. Turnovers lead to lay-ups. We take a jumper from 17 feet and they get a lay-up out of it. We worked too hard at what we do to put on a performance like this.”
Jeff McInnis:
“Everybody had 4 fouls on our team. We just couldn’t get it going. They scored like 24 points in the last 5 minutes. I don’t know if it was a matter of defense or what, but they were making shots, and I guess at that point we weren’t. We were out there playing the game. I thought at one point we were playing good defense. We were out there trying hard, and that’s all I know. It seemed like they were making every shot. We just got to go back to the drawing board.”
Richard Jefferson:
“We were the aggressors for most of the night. It’s just for whatever reason, in the third quarter we didn’t come out with it. I had a questionable call and the end of the second quarter on a spin. But you know what, the referees give me plenty of calls. I try not to complain to them. We didn’t play very good overall. We’re not accomplishing things as a team right now. I’ve been here a very long time. You got to understand your teammates – your strengths, your weaknesses, and their strengths, their weaknesses. Before we used to be a third quarter team, because we’d wear teams out in the first half and then come out with that same intensity. But we have a different group here, different mentality, and we have to figure that out.”