What They Said!! Grizzlies at Suns 03-21-16

POST GAME QUOTES

GRIZZLIES, SUNS

 

 

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES HEAD COACH DAVID JOERGER

(On tonight’s game)

“It was a good win. To come from behind and outscore them 64 to 47 in the second half: that was tremendous. They shot a lot of free throws and we had some things to overcome. They made some shots but down the stretch we got 5 stops in a row to finish the game and that was tremendous. I thought Tony Allen was just tremendous: Devin Booker is a heck of a player. He’s going to be a very, very good player in this league and for this organization.”

 

“Zach got us some buckets down the stretch but each guy came in and contributed. Jordan Farmar looked good the second half, first half he was under control. We struggled shooting the basketball and we struggled with turnovers in the first half but the second hal we were much more efficient and we started limiting our fouling and we kept guys in front of us down the stretch better than we had the whole night. Zach Randolph gets a big block with his right hand, he was tremendous. Every guy that played contributed something and this is a happy locker room.  This has been a dogfight: all four games down to the wire. When we’ve won it’s been down to the wire, when they win it’s been by 5 or 6 or more. It as a good competitive four games this year and hats off to them, they’re doing a  great job.”

 

 

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES GUARD LANCE STEPHENSON 16 POINTS | 2 REBOUNDS

(On first half bench play)

“I think in the first half we were rushing a lot: not playing together. But we took our time in the second half, made smart plays and played together and we came out with the win.”

 

(On defense at the end of the game)

“It was defense: Tony Allen came in and we got incredible stops. We were playing together defensively; we were aware. Zach Randolph had an incredible block and we were just playing together on the offensive end and everything came easy.  We’re a defensive team. When we’re playing great defense the offensive end comes easy for us. It feeds the offensive end and we just played hard.”

 

 

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES FORWARD ZACH RANDOLPH 14 POINTS | 13 REBOUNDS

(On tonight’s game)

“It was a team win, especially in the second half. Lance, TA, Jordan, Ray, everybody contributed. We made big plays at certain times of the game. That’s what we need to do, with this team we need everybody and everybody played good, that’s what we needed tonight.”

 

(On defense at the end of the game)

“It was good D. TA did a great job on the young fellow tonight, Booker. We just played. We just kept fighting and stuck together. It’s definitely big, we’re trying to accomplish something and we’re trying to play our best. It was  great game. Everybody played good: from JaMychal to Ryan to the bench, it was a team win.”

 

 

 

PHOENIX SUNS HEAD COACH EARL WATSON

 

(On what happened to the Suns after the game looked like another opportunity to beat Memphis)

“Losing Tyson (Chandler) at halftime really hurt us. Every time we play Memphis we control the paint, the second half they had 28 points in the paint. Playing with two seven-footers, the game plan  was always to jam Zach (Randolph) as he catches the ball and attack the basket, come over another seven-footer, control the rim, any pick-and-roll. What they did, where they got us, where they started running a lift Jordan Farmar was coming off and couldn’t control the paint. Without our other seven-footer in they just took advantage. Points in the paint, Memphis had 46 we had 24, that’s a big difference from past games, and 17 turnovers.”

 

(On how Alex Len seemed like he couldn’t get his footing tonight and deliberately passed up shots)

“I think Alex Len is mentally battling himself, it’s part of the process with A-Len. When you become a primary scorer in this league, your team needs your aggressiveness with the ball, you can’t worry about bad-shot good-shot. You have to lose yourself to the game and just play aggressively. Once you start over-thinking the game, it becomes more complicated than it really is. So we have to get A-Len going again.”

 

(On how the second unit helped the Suns separate a little bit)

“Second unit was positive. They came in, they played in point-five, which we call catch, drive, shoot, pass the ball, they play quick. They had some aggressiveness but in the second half the second unit really couldn’t get it going again. They (Memphis) did a great job of countering that by putting Jordan Farmar in pick-and-rolls, using Lance Stephenson on drives he was six-for-eight, 16 points. The past couple of games he (Stephenson) was not effective, he played great tonight.”

 

(On how he felt the Suns played during the last offensive sequences)

“We had a good shot. Alex Len made the right basketball play, Jon Leuer was open for a three in the corner, the weak-side collapsed, he had a great look, hit the back of the rim, we got the rebound I think, Matt (Barnes) made a great block. Hats off to them, that’s why they are the fifth-seed in the West, they’re going to have a great playoff series moving forward, it’s a learning block for our young guys.”

 

(On if he uses moments late in the game, like tonight’s, as a teaching moment or prefer to move on)

“Every moment is a teaching moment. That’s a tough one (the inbound pass turnover) Tony Allen is one of the top defenders in the league he has a lot of tricks and I’m sure it just wasn’t a turnover. If you watch the tape, knowing Tony, I’m pretty sure he did a little slick move to grab the wrist and you can’t catch with one hand. Grab the wrist, grab the ball, smart vet move.”

 

PHOENIX SUNS GUARD DEVIN BOOKER 18 POINTS 2 ASSISTS

(On his takeaways from the game…)

“Keep people off the glass. I think they got a lot of second chance points. Our energy, just as a whole, was off. We need to work on it and bounce back Wednesday.”

 

(On what Memphis did well against them…)

“Just playing physical. They were beating us off the glass, beating us in the paint. They were playing through Zach Randolph a lot and we didn’t following our full game scheme. When we were helping and Zach would miss a shot, someone else would get the putback. It’s just something we need to get better at, get ready for Wednesday and move past it.”

 

(On potentially going against Kobe Bryan on Wednesday…)

“Obviously he’s retiring this year and this would be my only chance to play against him. That’s a story I can tell for the rest of my life, playing against Kobe Bryant. It’s something I definitely want to do. I don’t care if it’s five minutes, I just want to be on the court at the same time as him. I know he’s had a lot of battles with Phoenix in the past, so I think it would be neat to see him come out. I know he’s got a lot of fans here that will be at the game too, so I’m looking forward to it.”

 

 

PHOENIX SUNS FORWARD JON LEUER 13 POINTS | 13 REBOUNDS

(On the breakdown at the end…)

“We had a chance at the end. I put it on myself to make that shot. It’s a shot I know I can get, I just left it a little short. But there’s a lot of moments through the course of the game leading up to that, but that’s definitely what I’m focused on. Wishing I could do that one over again, but it’s basketball. You make some and you miss some. You just keep shooting with confidence and move on to the next one.”

 

(On trying to avoid back-to-back home losses on Wednesday…)

“It’s the next one on our schedule and that’s where our focus is. Keep moving forward and put this one behind us and just focus on LA. Protect our home court and get a win.”