Rick Carlisle Played Quotations

We decided to go to him early (in the third quarter) and tried to ride him. He played better and much more aggressive, but we need him to do that at the start of games.

I can't remember the last time we had 25 assists. That had a lot to do with it. Everybody hung in and played an important part.

He hurt us the last two games and we did a lot of different things on him defensively. Johnson played great.

He's fit in well. He's a proven NBA player who's played at a high level for many years.

He was one of my favorite players to work with because of how hard he played and the things he does on the court.

He just wasn't able to get enough minutes for us to keep him here. He played well and had a great training camp and was terrific in the locker room. It's just one of those timing-type things.

I thought we played hard. I thought we rebounded well. (Jason) Kidd and (Vince) Carter are difference makers.

I thought our guys showed a lot guts, hanging and finding a way to claw back in the game. Jermaine O'Neal was great and we had a lot of other guys who stepped up and played big. We had a chance, we gave ourselves a chance.

Our start to the game was OK. But the second quarter, they had 32 (points) and we couldn't keep them under 30 after that. They played great offensively. During this 15-game period, we've competed hard on a consistent basis and tonight we had a letdown from that.

Our undoing was in the first half. I thought we played really well, really hard and really together. It's hard to dig yourself out of that big of a hole. We have to learn something from the last two games. We got fortunate in Chicago because we were able to pull it out when we played a poor first half. But we weren't able to get over the hump (Monday).

I thought he played well in the Houston game and he did some good things in the New York game. He's going to be an important guy for us with Freddie out.

Johnson played great. We did a lot of different things on him defensively, but he was able to get shots or get teammates shots.

We played hard for the most part. We have to do that on a consistent basis. We gave ourselves a chance, but we had some mistakes down the stretch with execution.

We played hard for the most part, but that has to be a constant. We gave ourselves a chance to win, but had execution problems down the stretch. It's a game of inches for us right now and we have to be better.

We played really hard, really together. It's hard to dig yourself out of that big of a hole.

We have the same group that played well and won the other night. We're not going to make excuses. Our undoing tonight was the first quarter when we allowed them to shoot over 77 percent. That got them going early.

We probably played 30 possessions of zone, which is more than we played all year. It gave us a chance to hang in the game because fouls were becoming a factor early. With zone, a little bit of it is luck and you have to hope they miss some shots. We were fortunate that they did with a lot of those possessions.

We competed hard from start to finish. It came down to Duncan making some tough shots. They hit that lucky 3 from the corner, which was a bad break for us. We hung in and played and gave ourselves a chance till the last minute. It's three losses in a row. There's no moral victories. You have to find a way to win games.

We've got the same group that played well the other night. We are not going to make excuses.

We felt the like the playoffs are our second chance, and guys played like it really meant something to them. My hat is off to them.

At the start of the game he struggled. Of all the games that he's played in it was the worst start to a game that he's had. He got three quick fouls.

These next six games he has to get himself conditioned back to the NBA game. I thought he played well. There's daily improvement in his physical redevelopment.

These next six games he has to get himself conditioned back to the NBA game, ... I thought he played well. There's daily improvement in his physical redevelopment.

The third quarter did us in, because in the first half I thought we played very intelligently and very hard. In the third quarter, they got going and we just couldn't get stops.

Detroit played great. They really hurt us on the boards. We didn't play a good game and they had a lot to do with it.

Anthony Johnson played a terrific game. He's playing with great aggressiveness and savvy and understanding the pulse of the team he is running.

Balance has to be one of the things that carries us. Everybody that played, played hard. We're not necessarily doing everything right, but tonight we did things really hard.

They played like they have something to play for.

They played great and we didn't give them much of a game tonight. Our margin for error is slim. We can't have any slippage. Our rebounding was a disappointment. We've got to do better.

They didn't do a great job with the coverage, but, hey, the way Tinsley played tonight, he put the defense in a tough situation. That was a huge play because it was so hard for Jermaine to get open looks around the basket. It gave our team some energy at the defensive end.

This is the kind of game we talked about having to play. More up-tempo, more movement, less set offense. The game is in the hands of the players. We have a group out there that's a pretty knowledgeable group. They played well off each other. The critical thing is going to be our decision making. We need to play aggressively, but not frantically. When we played frantically, it got us in trouble.

(Assistant coach) Kevin O'Neil came up with the idea of playing some zone. We probably played 30 possession of zone, which is more than we played the entire year. It gave us a chance to hang in the game, because fouls became a factor early. With zone, a little bit of it is pot-luck. You have to hope they miss some shots.

It's just too bad, because we really played hard for three quarters. The second quarter was really a disaster for us. It put us in a bad position at halftime, but we fought back and really put ourselves in a good position to win.

Considering the circumstances, I was happy with our competitive spirit out there. We had a lot of guys that played hard.

It's important to be playing well and we played better the last three games. If we hadn't won three straight games, we could easily be out of the playoff picture.

It's been tough for Fred this year because of the thumb; he's been in and out of it. He played great in the first two games, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to start and play a real significant stretch of minutes. We struggled to get him the ball (Saturday). I have to do a better job of putting him in a position where he can attack the basket and make plays. He wasn't able to do that, that's his game.

It's different, but he played college ball at Maryland in the ACC so he's very familiar with American basketball and he knows the NBA game because he studied it a lot and he's played against a lot of the players. The learning curve for him as a 29-year-old shouldn't be that great.

I've got confidence in young players who work hard. I'm more impressed with the fact he started slowly and came back and played well. You always want to see how a young guy comes back from an adverse situation.

It was a deceptive final score. It was obviously a very difficult game. Our bench struggled, but the guys that started held it together. Anthony Johnson played just a tremendous all around game. He's really playing at a high level right now. He is getting the job done, simply as that.

In the second half, his disposition was different at both ends. He made great decisions, he played unselfishly and he made big shots when we had to have them. We couldn't have done it without him.

He's experienced and has played him a lot. He's done well with him in the past and he's the best guy that we have. We're fortunate that he's feeling better for a game that we're playing against the biggest, strongest guy in the game.

He played great. He does a lot of things out there. He's a very resourceful player.