Flip Saunders Teams Quotations

It's almost like a classroom. A lot of teams are very temperamental. We have a sense of calm.

I thought our full-court trap changed the tempo of the game out of free throw situations. And I thought we played some zone the first half that helped us a little bit. I think both teams tried some things to see what worked and to use down the road.

Part of it is teams that were not very good have gotten better, which makes for a much more competitive conference. What developed for a few years in the Western Conference has now come back to the East, where there aren't really any gimme games.

Teams are waiting for us to get things turned up. When that happens, that's when we go on our little runs.

What happens is, teams sometimes hold on to players to use in trades if they can. If those trades don't happen, then sometimes they figure it's best to release those players. Every team will know more of where their roster stands by next Tuesday.

I haven't thought over the last week we've been very sharp. We've let teams hang around. That's why I've said, whether guys are tired or whatever, we're not playing with the zip and the sense of urgency.

You saw both teams as basically who they are -- meat-and-potato teams. Maybe this is why the game wasn't hyped as much. This is what basketball was meant to be like -- play defense, play team basketball.

You saw both teams as basically who they are - both meat-and-potato teams.

The dog days are always the 10 days prior to All-Star break. That's always a tough time. You see a lot of teams get upset because guys say, 'OK, I've got a week off, I'm going somewhere for All-Star break.' Multiply that on top of our situation of guys wondering, 'Well, am I going to be an All-Star or not?' There's always that anxiety of wondering.

The reason in the playoffs that defensive-oriented teams are successful is because the longer you play someone, you become more comfortable with how guys are getting their shots and what they're doing. You have the ability to lock down more from a defensive standpoint.

Things might shake out a little more in the next few days. Teams might have been hanging on to people to see if they could make a trade. Now they might let them go. You see a lot of guys go on waivers after the trade deadline. I'd say by Tuesday you'll know more about around the league from a roster standpoint.

The one reason we have been in the games prior to this was because of our defense. We had four (actually three) straight games of holding teams in the 70s. That's pretty tough to do in this league.

It was intense. The players love to compete. The Spurs love to compete against big teams just like us. It was a good game to watch.

I've been in situations where I've taken bad teams and moved them in the right direction. In those situations, there is no pressure. Would it have been easy for me to take another job and not have as much (pressure)? Pressure is what you put on yourself. I don't really feel any pressure walking into a situation.

The thing is -- like it or not -- a lot of teams don't prepare much to play against zones, ... They don't have as expansive an offense as they do for man-to-man.

It's been pretty much a mirror from the standpoint of both teams have established their ability to win at home, they got great crowds at both places as far as the enthusiasm, and both our teams have been the best teams on the road. It's different sports, but we're both looking each other in the mirror.

This was a game I wish I could have been in the stands, just sitting there watching. This was a great basketball game between two teams who played hard and with a lot of emotion. It was a very entertaining game.

I look at their team, and we are mirror images from the standpoint of we both have some exciting players, but because both teams are so unselfish and there's not a lot of controversy, they don't get a lot of individual notoriety. Bottom line is, both teams are about winning, and about doing whatever it takes to win.

We've faced a lot of teams that have had that sense of urgency, so what has happened, teams have kind of jumped on us early. We've had to fight our butts off to get back in games.

These are the dog days, because the season seems like it's never going to end. You have to take every game one game at a time. When you're on a big run and winning games, that's the biggest challenge you have -- can you withstand the pressure night in and night out of what teams throw at you?

Rip did a great job and Redd didn't have a lot of breathing room. One of the reasons we aren't a big fouling team is that we don't produce a lot of steals. We don't jump out and we don't gamble. We play position defense. That's why so often our man-to-man looks like a zone. We try to make teams beat us over the top and contest every shot.

We have a team that plays on the edge. You have to have that. All the great teams in this league have been like that.

They made the plays, we didn't. I haven't thought over the last week that we've been very sharp. We've let teams hang around.

They made plays. We didn't. As I told our guys, I haven't thought over the last week that we've been very sharp. We've let teams hang around. Guys are tired or whatever, but we're not playing with that zip, with that sense of urgency.

They don't quit. They keep on coming at you. There were times we had them down, they could have (given up), but they came right back. That's why they've been able to beat some good teams lately.

He's playing and getting in shape and he makes a difference in games. Guys on opposing teams typically don't want Lindsey to guard them.