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Postgame Quotes-at Minnesota 12/13/05
Kings Coach Rick Adelman
"That's a great win for us coming on the first game of this trip. They made a run and took the lead in the fourth quarter, and our guys just stayed with it. Of course we had Bonzi hit the huge shot down the stretch. That's a great win for us to start this trip."
"They were going to switch everything. If (Wells) didn't get the ball inside I told him to pop to the corner. There is going to be a good chance that he is the guy open if his guy relaxes once he pops. He had just enough room to catch the ball and shoot it. Brad made a great decision because they were switching everything, so we were just looking for any opportunity we could get. I really thought Mike could have thrown it straight into him at the start of the play, but it worked out."
"If you have been in this league long enough, you know the home team is going to make a run. That's just the way it is. I am always amazed when people think if you get a 12-point lead in the first half that it will hold up. You would like it to, but it doesn't work that way. They made the run at us. I just wanted us to play solid in the second half."
"The biggest key is that when they made their run in the fourth quarter and went up five, we came right back at them and we closed the gap. That is probably the difference in the game. You always want to give yourself a chance to win in the fourth quarter on the road. That's the whole key. If you give yourself a chance, things like what happened tonight will happen."
"Shareef's (three-pointer) was huge, and Mike hit a huge 'three' when they were up four both times. You have to make those shots if you are going to come back. People were open and fortunately our guys stayed with it. I think we are getting a better feel down the stretch of close games. We have a lot of weapons and we can go at the other team. Winning on the road is big in a game like this for our team, because everyone is so new to each other."
Bonzi Wells
"We needed this victory. We've been struggling all year. Minnesota came into our building about a week and a half ago and got a big win. We just wanted to return the favor."
"Especially after coming off a five-game losing streak, we're starting to play better and starting to turn the season around. We expected big things from ourselves this season coming in, and we haven't been playing to the level that we should. So we're starting to play better, and we're excited."
"We leave those long balls for Peja and Mike... The initial play was for Mike to come off of a handoff from Brad, but they played good defense on him and took it away. I was like the last resort. I just got it and gave it a chance, threw it up in the air and it went in... I probably had a few of them (game-winners) when I was in Portland maybe, but these right now mean a whole lot to me because we've been struggling. Making big buckets for your team down the stretch is always a great thing."
"My heart's still pounding... It's just an unbelievable feeling, especially when you can hear your shot -- three, two, one, no time on the clock -- and it goes down. That's kind of what you dream about. The only thing better could probably be if I would've hit it for the World Championship. I'm just excited. I'm happy I gave one for my team."
Brad Miller
"When I came out to catch it (on the final play), it was a lot higher than what I wanted. KG did a good job. When it came off, I just knew (Wells) was in the corner, because that was another spot that (Adelman) was drawing up. You've just got to have trust in him and give him a chance."
"It seemed like they weren't expecting that extra pass, but I've played enough of these games to realize that 2.7 is a lot of time."
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Minnesota Coach Dwane Casey:
"It's a tough loss, speaking mildly. Two tough games for guys that scrapped hard and played as hard as they could, with heart, soul and sweat. It's one of those things. It's the longest 2.7 seconds I've ever seen. But we had opportunities again tonight. It takes a tough shot like that for us to drop a game."
"We made it a bit harder in the first half by getting off to a slow start. It was a tough loss to swallow. I'm trying to figure out what we did to the basketball gods. They say this thing goes around in circles. We've had quite a few of these this year, and we've found different ways to come up on the short end."
"It's tough considering the fact that they did play hard, they competed, they scratched back, they fought back, made adjustments at halftime defensively. We made some defensive mistakes throughout the game. Just mental mistakes; they weren't physical, they were mental... These things happen. We all make mistakes. Again, they scrapped and they fought. With Michael fouling out, Mark fouling out and Troy not here, it's tough."
"We switched people, we put Trenton on Bonzi and moved Marko to Stojakovic, and we tried to go straight into Bonzi. But they went away from Bonzi and Miller took a couple of dribbles, and they threw up a prayer and it got answered."
"(Hudson) is going to work tomorrow, practice tomorrow, then we'll have to see how he feels. After that, he'll make a decision on Thursday. We need his points. We need his scoring. AC's given us everything and guys off the bench are playing hard, but we're struggling to score."
Minnesota Forward Wally Szczerbiak:
"That was just tough. We played our hearts out and we got a lot of energy from our crowd, but you've got to hand it to them. They never died and they hit shots. I know that's a good team... They have good players over there who have a lot of pride. It's just too bad that they had to play like that against us and come up with a miracle shot."
"We've had some good battles with that team over the years... That's how the pendulum swings. Big win for them, tough loss for us. We just have to stick together and keep working... We've had a lot of tough ones. Our record could be a lot better, no question. But we've just got to forget about that. There's a lot more games in the season."
"Sometimes when the schedule hits you in a certain way, your shots don't fall like they normally do, and that's how it was in the first half. But we didn't give up, and fed off the crowd in the second half and put ourselves in a position to win... It's just very, very, very demoralizing right now. But I know this group will stick together and bounce back."
"Give them credit. They executed a great play. Brad Miller didn't panic and didn't throw up a crazy shot, and Bonzi was obviously ready for that shot and he knocked it down. It was well defended, we played it perfectly, but he made it."
Minnesota Guard Marko Jaric:
"It was definitely great defense (on the final shot). We did everything we were supposed to do, actually. Trenton was right there and it was just a tough shot and a little bit lucky, but that's sports. We need to bounce back and continue our good season so far."
"I don't think they wanted to go to Bonzi at the end. I think they tried to get it to Bibby or something and they couldn't do that, and then Miller tried to draw the foul and desperately he threw it over to Bonzi and he made a tough shot... They hit a couple of really tough shots. The three-point shot from Abdur-Rahim at the top (to tie), and Bibby hit a tough three-point shot and then at the end another tough shot from Bonzi in the corner."
"It's not like this is the first (tough loss) this year... Last night in Philadelphia, a couple overtime losses -- those were disappointing for us, but we have showed so far that we can come back. I hope next game we can get back on track... I don't even want to think about it right now. I just want to think about our next game. We have a tough game coming up (against San Antonio) and that's what we need to be thinking about right now."
Minnesota Forward Kevin Garnett:
"I think the last shot was anticipated to be taken by Mike Bibby or Brad Miller, even Shareef. But it was come-together switch. AC and I came together and we switched Mike Bibby (and) Brad Miller, and they found Bonzi in the corner and he hit a tough shot."
"We played hard, man... It felt like they were on fire for what felt like the first half. We got it under control a little bit. We started to get a lot more aggressive in the second half. We got some shots to fall, put ourselves in the game and put ourselves in position to win the game, and (Wells) hit a tough shot there. The moral of the story is, we continue to play hard throughout all adversity."
"It hurts. I'm not going to sit up here and play like it don't... But we're men, and we have no choice but to bounce back and use it for motivation for San Antonio. We can win, but we know we've got to play the game. We've got to come in here tomorrow and get some work in and prepare ourselves for them."
Postgame Quotes-at Minnesota 12/13/05
Kings Coach Rick Adelman
"That's a great win for us coming on the first game of this trip. They made a run and took the lead in the fourth quarter, and our guys just stayed with it. Of course we had Bonzi hit the huge shot down the stretch. That's a great win for us to start this trip."
"They were going to switch everything. If (Wells) didn't get the ball inside I told him to pop to the corner. There is going to be a good chance that he is the guy open if his guy relaxes once he pops. He had just enough room to catch the ball and shoot it. Brad made a great decision because they were switching everything, so we were just looking for any opportunity we could get. I really thought Mike could have thrown it straight into him at the start of the play, but it worked out."
"If you have been in this league long enough, you know the home team is going to make a run. That's just the way it is. I am always amazed when people think if you get a 12-point lead in the first half that it will hold up. You would like it to, but it doesn't work that way. They made the run at us. I just wanted us to play solid in the second half."
"The biggest key is that when they made their run in the fourth quarter and went up five, we came right back at them and we closed the gap. That is probably the difference in the game. You always want to give yourself a chance to win in the fourth quarter on the road. That's the whole key. If you give yourself a chance, things like what happened tonight will happen."
"Shareef's (three-pointer) was huge, and Mike hit a huge 'three' when they were up four both times. You have to make those shots if you are going to come back. People were open and fortunately our guys stayed with it. I think we are getting a better feel down the stretch of close games. We have a lot of weapons and we can go at the other team. Winning on the road is big in a game like this for our team, because everyone is so new to each other."
Bonzi Wells
"We needed this victory. We've been struggling all year. Minnesota came into our building about a week and a half ago and got a big win. We just wanted to return the favor."
"Especially after coming off a five-game losing streak, we're starting to play better and starting to turn the season around. We expected big things from ourselves this season coming in, and we haven't been playing to the level that we should. So we're starting to play better, and we're excited."
"We leave those long balls for Peja and Mike... The initial play was for Mike to come off of a handoff from Brad, but they played good defense on him and took it away. I was like the last resort. I just got it and gave it a chance, threw it up in the air and it went in... I probably had a few of them (game-winners) when I was in Portland maybe, but these right now mean a whole lot to me because we've been struggling. Making big buckets for your team down the stretch is always a great thing."
"My heart's still pounding... It's just an unbelievable feeling, especially when you can hear your shot -- three, two, one, no time on the clock -- and it goes down. That's kind of what you dream about. The only thing better could probably be if I would've hit it for the World Championship. I'm just excited. I'm happy I gave one for my team."
Brad Miller
"When I came out to catch it (on the final play), it was a lot higher than what I wanted. KG did a good job. When it came off, I just knew (Wells) was in the corner, because that was another spot that (Adelman) was drawing up. You've just got to have trust in him and give him a chance."
"It seemed like they weren't expecting that extra pass, but I've played enough of these games to realize that 2.7 is a lot of time."
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Minnesota Coach Dwane Casey:
"It's a tough loss, speaking mildly. Two tough games for guys that scrapped hard and played as hard as they could, with heart, soul and sweat. It's one of those things. It's the longest 2.7 seconds I've ever seen. But we had opportunities again tonight. It takes a tough shot like that for us to drop a game."
"We made it a bit harder in the first half by getting off to a slow start. It was a tough loss to swallow. I'm trying to figure out what we did to the basketball gods. They say this thing goes around in circles. We've had quite a few of these this year, and we've found different ways to come up on the short end."
"It's tough considering the fact that they did play hard, they competed, they scratched back, they fought back, made adjustments at halftime defensively. We made some defensive mistakes throughout the game. Just mental mistakes; they weren't physical, they were mental... These things happen. We all make mistakes. Again, they scrapped and they fought. With Michael fouling out, Mark fouling out and Troy not here, it's tough."
"We switched people, we put Trenton on Bonzi and moved Marko to Stojakovic, and we tried to go straight into Bonzi. But they went away from Bonzi and Miller took a couple of dribbles, and they threw up a prayer and it got answered."
"(Hudson) is going to work tomorrow, practice tomorrow, then we'll have to see how he feels. After that, he'll make a decision on Thursday. We need his points. We need his scoring. AC's given us everything and guys off the bench are playing hard, but we're struggling to score."
Minnesota Forward Wally Szczerbiak:
"That was just tough. We played our hearts out and we got a lot of energy from our crowd, but you've got to hand it to them. They never died and they hit shots. I know that's a good team... They have good players over there who have a lot of pride. It's just too bad that they had to play like that against us and come up with a miracle shot."
"We've had some good battles with that team over the years... That's how the pendulum swings. Big win for them, tough loss for us. We just have to stick together and keep working... We've had a lot of tough ones. Our record could be a lot better, no question. But we've just got to forget about that. There's a lot more games in the season."
"Sometimes when the schedule hits you in a certain way, your shots don't fall like they normally do, and that's how it was in the first half. But we didn't give up, and fed off the crowd in the second half and put ourselves in a position to win... It's just very, very, very demoralizing right now. But I know this group will stick together and bounce back."
"Give them credit. They executed a great play. Brad Miller didn't panic and didn't throw up a crazy shot, and Bonzi was obviously ready for that shot and he knocked it down. It was well defended, we played it perfectly, but he made it."
Minnesota Guard Marko Jaric:
"It was definitely great defense (on the final shot). We did everything we were supposed to do, actually. Trenton was right there and it was just a tough shot and a little bit lucky, but that's sports. We need to bounce back and continue our good season so far."
"I don't think they wanted to go to Bonzi at the end. I think they tried to get it to Bibby or something and they couldn't do that, and then Miller tried to draw the foul and desperately he threw it over to Bonzi and he made a tough shot... They hit a couple of really tough shots. The three-point shot from Abdur-Rahim at the top (to tie), and Bibby hit a tough three-point shot and then at the end another tough shot from Bonzi in the corner."
"It's not like this is the first (tough loss) this year... Last night in Philadelphia, a couple overtime losses -- those were disappointing for us, but we have showed so far that we can come back. I hope next game we can get back on track... I don't even want to think about it right now. I just want to think about our next game. We have a tough game coming up (against San Antonio) and that's what we need to be thinking about right now."
Minnesota Forward Kevin Garnett:
"I think the last shot was anticipated to be taken by Mike Bibby or Brad Miller, even Shareef. But it was come-together switch. AC and I came together and we switched Mike Bibby (and) Brad Miller, and they found Bonzi in the corner and he hit a tough shot."
"We played hard, man... It felt like they were on fire for what felt like the first half. We got it under control a little bit. We started to get a lot more aggressive in the second half. We got some shots to fall, put ourselves in the game and put ourselves in position to win the game, and (Wells) hit a tough shot there. The moral of the story is, we continue to play hard throughout all adversity."
"It hurts. I'm not going to sit up here and play like it don't... But we're men, and we have no choice but to bounce back and use it for motivation for San Antonio. We can win, but we know we've got to play the game. We've got to come in here tomorrow and get some work in and prepare ourselves for them."
