KingKong
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Postgame Quotes-vs. LA Lakers
March 14, 2006
Kings Coach Rick Adelman
“Obviously I liked the way we played the whole game. (The Lakers) got up on us in the first quarter mostly because (Lamar) Odom was making a lot of shots. You’re going to have to live with some of those things, but for the most part we felt that if we moved the ball they’d have a hard time guarding us. Obviously Ron (Artest) really got us going in the first half offensively and did an unbelievable job on Kobe (Bryant) the whole game. You have to give the other guys credit too – Ron made them work. Offensively we got better and better at understanding what we wanted to do. It was a terrific win and now we’re going to take it to Indiana.”
“I felt that we needed to get ourselves a little bit composed and not worry. Kenny (Thomas) was upset because Odom made some shots and I told him that wasn’t to happen the whole game – we needed to just keep playing. There was a sequence when we turned the ball over, we took two or three quick shots, they got out and ran on us, they got lay-ups at the other end – that’s exactly what we didn’t want to do because that’s what we did in LA. I felt that if we just ran our offense and made then guard us then they weren’t going to have those opportunities and they were going to have to run their half-court offense.”
”We put ourselves in the (playoff) position now – we’re right there – and now we’re the seventh spot. What are you going to do? There are expectations and all this is good but there is no time to relax. You cannot just think that you have this thing locked. The same thing that happened to New Orleans could happen to us.”
“There’s nobody we can’t go out and compete against, but again it’s such a new group. I always knew what to expect with the group in the past, but I don’t know what to expect if we keep winning. Are we going to be able to sustain it and make it? That’s what we are going to find out. These guys have done an unbelievable job of coming together as a team and getting better.”
Mike Bibby
“It felt really good moving into seventh place. We’re going to keep trying to move our way up. We’re feeling really good right now, we hit a little hot streak and hopefully we can keep it up. We just have to keep with the flow and take whatever is given to us. Ron did a good job and the whole team did a good job. He didn’t take a lot of shots to get his points, so he did a good job.”
Bonzi Wells
“We know what Ron can do every day. He does it every day. He’s an excellent defender and they didn’t put pressure on him offensively. Ron has really turned this team around and he got everybody to step it up another level especially on the defensive end. We’re just playing well right now.”
“We’re happy where we are but we still got a long way to go. We just got to take it one game at a time and just continue to build and not look over any teams. We’ve got to focus on the next task and that’s the next game. We’ve got this tough road trip ahead of us going to Indiana and Minnesota. Indiana’s going to be emotional but we got to go through there and fight through everything.”
Kevin Martin
“That felt good, especially since we moved into the 7th seed. The past two games showed that we can play both ways and that’s good for us. In the playoffs we’re going to have to play like we did against Dallas. We’ve got 18 games left, so we’re going to think about [the playoffs] now because it gives us more motivation to keep on winning. We think about them every day.”
“I think we came together and gelled after a long, tough three or four months into the season. All we have to do is keep on winning. There’s so much talent on this team, it’s going to take a little time to get us together, but I think we’re together now. It’s always fun when you win. The fans were [chanting] beat LA, so to [get the win] for the fans was good.”
On Ron Artest:
“He played on both ends of the court. Guarding Kobe (Bryant), that’s a tough matchup and then going on the other end and scoring around thirty.”
LA LAKERS
Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson:
“Most of the sequences that happened to us were basically our turnovers on fast break situations, which led to them hitting some three pointers. There was about three or four of those situations throughout the game and they really changed the dynamic of the game. Our turnovers were costly and theirs were too. I think our defense was confused at times. There were some defensive lapses, and they (Sacramento) have an experienced team, which took advantage of some of our young kids. I thought he (Artest) had a good half on him (Bryant) in the first half. He played Kobe pretty well in the second half, but I think Kobe was much more effective and did pretty much what he wanted to do in most situations. It was Ron’s game tonight. He carried that game in the first half and really sunk some shots that were difficult.”
Kobe Bryant:
“We just need to forget about this one and get ready for the upcoming games. We have a couple of young guys that need to step up to the plate now and perform. Andrew’s going to have a lot more asked of him now, so he is going to have to step up and be prepared to play significant minutes. The teams that we have played lately have done a good job of rotating over and collapsing on to me every time that I touch the ball. Sacramento has added a player (Artest) in the mix that is everything that they weren’t when we played them in the playoffs. The guy plays defense first, and now Sacramento has become much more aggressive on defense. I think Artest hurt us the most on offense. He had some big shots for them.”
Lamar Odom:
“The crowd got into it and Sacramento went on some big runs. We had a chance to win if we kept playing like we played in the first half. Sometimes we just play one way and it seems like we switch in the middle game. I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s chemistry. I just hope that we catch it by our next game. Artest had a great game especially on offense. They kept feeding him and he stepped up for them.”
http://www.nba.com/kings/news/Postgame_Quotesvs_LA_Lakers-172060-58.html
March 14, 2006
“Obviously I liked the way we played the whole game. (The Lakers) got up on us in the first quarter mostly because (Lamar) Odom was making a lot of shots. You’re going to have to live with some of those things, but for the most part we felt that if we moved the ball they’d have a hard time guarding us. Obviously Ron (Artest) really got us going in the first half offensively and did an unbelievable job on Kobe (Bryant) the whole game. You have to give the other guys credit too – Ron made them work. Offensively we got better and better at understanding what we wanted to do. It was a terrific win and now we’re going to take it to Indiana.”
“I felt that we needed to get ourselves a little bit composed and not worry. Kenny (Thomas) was upset because Odom made some shots and I told him that wasn’t to happen the whole game – we needed to just keep playing. There was a sequence when we turned the ball over, we took two or three quick shots, they got out and ran on us, they got lay-ups at the other end – that’s exactly what we didn’t want to do because that’s what we did in LA. I felt that if we just ran our offense and made then guard us then they weren’t going to have those opportunities and they were going to have to run their half-court offense.”
”We put ourselves in the (playoff) position now – we’re right there – and now we’re the seventh spot. What are you going to do? There are expectations and all this is good but there is no time to relax. You cannot just think that you have this thing locked. The same thing that happened to New Orleans could happen to us.”
“There’s nobody we can’t go out and compete against, but again it’s such a new group. I always knew what to expect with the group in the past, but I don’t know what to expect if we keep winning. Are we going to be able to sustain it and make it? That’s what we are going to find out. These guys have done an unbelievable job of coming together as a team and getting better.”
“It felt really good moving into seventh place. We’re going to keep trying to move our way up. We’re feeling really good right now, we hit a little hot streak and hopefully we can keep it up. We just have to keep with the flow and take whatever is given to us. Ron did a good job and the whole team did a good job. He didn’t take a lot of shots to get his points, so he did a good job.”
“We know what Ron can do every day. He does it every day. He’s an excellent defender and they didn’t put pressure on him offensively. Ron has really turned this team around and he got everybody to step it up another level especially on the defensive end. We’re just playing well right now.”
“We’re happy where we are but we still got a long way to go. We just got to take it one game at a time and just continue to build and not look over any teams. We’ve got to focus on the next task and that’s the next game. We’ve got this tough road trip ahead of us going to Indiana and Minnesota. Indiana’s going to be emotional but we got to go through there and fight through everything.”
“That felt good, especially since we moved into the 7th seed. The past two games showed that we can play both ways and that’s good for us. In the playoffs we’re going to have to play like we did against Dallas. We’ve got 18 games left, so we’re going to think about [the playoffs] now because it gives us more motivation to keep on winning. We think about them every day.”
“I think we came together and gelled after a long, tough three or four months into the season. All we have to do is keep on winning. There’s so much talent on this team, it’s going to take a little time to get us together, but I think we’re together now. It’s always fun when you win. The fans were [chanting] beat LA, so to [get the win] for the fans was good.”
On Ron Artest:
“He played on both ends of the court. Guarding Kobe (Bryant), that’s a tough matchup and then going on the other end and scoring around thirty.”
LA LAKERS
Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson:
“Most of the sequences that happened to us were basically our turnovers on fast break situations, which led to them hitting some three pointers. There was about three or four of those situations throughout the game and they really changed the dynamic of the game. Our turnovers were costly and theirs were too. I think our defense was confused at times. There were some defensive lapses, and they (Sacramento) have an experienced team, which took advantage of some of our young kids. I thought he (Artest) had a good half on him (Bryant) in the first half. He played Kobe pretty well in the second half, but I think Kobe was much more effective and did pretty much what he wanted to do in most situations. It was Ron’s game tonight. He carried that game in the first half and really sunk some shots that were difficult.”
Kobe Bryant:
“We just need to forget about this one and get ready for the upcoming games. We have a couple of young guys that need to step up to the plate now and perform. Andrew’s going to have a lot more asked of him now, so he is going to have to step up and be prepared to play significant minutes. The teams that we have played lately have done a good job of rotating over and collapsing on to me every time that I touch the ball. Sacramento has added a player (Artest) in the mix that is everything that they weren’t when we played them in the playoffs. The guy plays defense first, and now Sacramento has become much more aggressive on defense. I think Artest hurt us the most on offense. He had some big shots for them.”
Lamar Odom:
“The crowd got into it and Sacramento went on some big runs. We had a chance to win if we kept playing like we played in the first half. Sometimes we just play one way and it seems like we switch in the middle game. I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s chemistry. I just hope that we catch it by our next game. Artest had a great game especially on offense. They kept feeding him and he stepped up for them.”
http://www.nba.com/kings/news/Postgame_Quotesvs_LA_Lakers-172060-58.html
