What They Said!! Grizzlies vs Heat 12-29-15

POSTGAME QUOTES

GRIZZLIES 99, HEAT 90 (OT)

 

GRIZZLIES HEAD COACH DAVE JOERGER

Opening statement:

“Good team win. That’s a good team. They were playing their fourth game in five nights. They came out smoking and made a lot of shots early. The next time we looked up, they were shooting 67%, and it was still a three or four point game. We hung in there, and our last five minutes it was hard to score, but we did a good job making it tough for them to score as well. Then we came out in overtime and scored 16 points, and there were a lot of guys that stepped up. They didn’t put their heads down because things changed over the course of the game. Tony Allen did a great job on Dwyane Wade, and that’s why we came out and started the second half with him on Wade. Courtney didn’t put his head down. He came out and made some shots to give us a boost. With Jeff Green, I thought the tip dunk came at a time when we really needed it. Marc Gasol, all night long with what he did on both ends of the floor, was tremendous.”

 

On the lineup in overtime:

“What I was trying to do was give us a little bit better spacing, offensively. It was just kind of a gut feel. To have Tony kind of roam free with that spacing, he was able to make some good cuts. Marc was good in the post and our guys were executing. They were also sizing down, so that gave us an opportunity to play small. Marc sprained his ankle and then ended up playing Luol Deng. The reason I did that was because I wanted Jeff to be able to play (Chris) Bosh, who is in most of their actions.”

 

On the last play of regulation:

“That was just scouting them. Chris Bosh will pick and pop you to death, so if you over-help on a pick and roll situation, he’ll hit nine or 10 in a row.”

 

On stopping Hassan Whiteside:

“We know him pretty well, so we kind of know his game. If he gets behind you when you hard show on a pick and roll, he’s deadly, because he’s a lob guy. We tried to keep him in front as much as possible.” 

 

GRIZZLIES FORWARD ZACH RANDOLPH (17 points, 7 rebounds)

On the fourth quarter:

“We got stops at the end we played good defense. We got out there on the pick-and-roll and showed and everybody pulled over. It was helping and that’s what we play. That’s Grizzlies defense.”

 

On Marc (Gasol) in overtime:

“Big. Marc playing that big, he’s our catalyst. How he goes is how we go and we need him every night.”

 

On having another big guy (Ryan Hollins):

“Definitely, Ryan brings a lot of energy. He is great for us, definitely on the defensive end. Talking, and having guys in the right spot.”

 

GRIZZLIES CENTER MARC GASOL (23 points, 8 rebounds)

On the difference in the fourth quarter and overtime:

“We actually got into offense a little quicker. So when the ball got into the post there wasn’t 5 seconds left so when they doubled it was just hard to find a shot and I wanted to take those shots. It ended up being a couple of really ugly shots a few times but we played good defense. So when you have that safety net that you’re playing good defense and you’re getting stops, that gives you confidence. ”

 

On one of the better wins of the season:

“A more complete one without a doubt because tonight we took a hit. Especially because we couldn’t find our offense in the fourth but we didn’t let that dictate our effort defensively. I thought that was good. It shows more character. It shows more of who we want to be and it shows more mental toughness.”

 

On back-to-back wins:

“Yeah, I thought that it was good for us and now, like always, this game has passed. Now to the next game, we are going up to Utah and win there. That’s how the NBA goes. That’s how life is. It was good and hopefully we can carry it on to the next game.”

 

 

HEAT HEAD COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA:

On Heat getting in position to force overtime:

“That’s what you’ve come to expect on the road. You just have to keep playing and keep competing. I liked the way the guys were fighting even when it started to turn a couple of time. We showed some grit to get to that point and then we had a couple of decent looks at the end of regulation and we just couldn’t put them down. Then, they made a couple of offensive rebound plays to start the overtime and we just couldn’t get over that hump from there.”

 

On Heat’s difficulty rebounding:

“That’s really been the tale the last two games and those plays. Going down the stretch in regulation, we actually had some really tough rebounds. A lot of those were Hassan (Whiteside) up in traffic. We have to continue to get better. We have to forge ahead. As disappointing as this is, the fourth game in five nights, to lose in overtime and to come back. But, you just have to keep on working.”

 

On losing Hassan Whiteside due to foul trouble:

“I’m not even thinking about that. That’s just the breaks of the game. He was able to play a significant amount of minutes, play with five fouls, he goes out, and with the next guy in you still have opportunities to make plays.”

 

On Tyler Johnson stepping up:

“It was great to see because Tyler (Johnson) hasn’t really been able to practice. He’s been able to workout and do a lot of basketball court conditioning workouts, but there’s nothing like playing in games. This is more like who he is, even on the glass and defensively, so that’s a good sign.”

 

On Heat’s faith in Gerald Green:

“He had some good looks. And again, it’s about how many winning plays can you make on both ends of the court. That’s not exclusive to anybody. That’s what we’re trying to build here. It might be a block-out, it might be a rotation, it might be a group rebound and then executing on the other end. But, we have full faith, he used the same looks that he was hitting in the Orlando game.”

 

On if moving away from Chris Bosh in fourth quarter was intentional:

“Not necessarily. We still were going to him, trying to get him touches. But, the game moves and we still had some good looks going down the stretch. The execution got us back in the game, so from that standpoint going down the stretch I liked what was happening.”

 

On Heat’s struggle with freethrows tonight:

“You just want to see your guys aggressive and getting to the line. In a perfect world we’d like to get to the line even more. They do a good job of defending without fouling and protecting the paint. We were doing a pretty good job of getting two feet in the paint, either post-ups or drives, and it happens.”

 

On Heat becoming more comfortable trusting Hassan Whiteside in big moments:

“All along I’ve been thinking big picture and Hassan has been making great strides. He is a major part of who we are and what we’re doing. His development has been steady, he’s earned his minutes, and he’s developed with us for over a year and has come a long way to earn those minutes for a guy who’s played just about 100 games in his career, so I like the direction he’s moving in and our defense is obviously anchored by him.”

 

HEAT GUARD DWYANE WADE (19 POINTS, 5 REBOUNDS, 5 ASSISTS, 3 STEALS)

On overtime:

“Once we got to overtime they were able to come out and get the first two. It was a close game. They jumped out and were able to hold the lead. I liked the resilience of our team to fight for this one. There was times when it didn’t look great and then there were moments that looked great. We got it back and had a chance to win. We got the last shot in regulation and that’s all you can ask for on the road. It was the fourth game in five nights.”

 

On missed free throws:

“You can’t look at it like that. You’ll pick each moment apart if that’s the case. I think our biggest thing was like I said, was 83-all, and we got the ball to win it. It doesn’t matter what happened before that or anything like that and then we got five minutes to go and try to do it again. They were able to make the plays in overtime to get the win.”

 

On standings:

“We feel okay. Well, obviously, we know we’ve had some games where we probably shouldn’t have won and we came back and won it. We had some games where we should have won. So all in all for the first half of this season, we played okay basketball. We just got to make sure we play consistent in the second half of the season. This is when it gets harder and when injuries start to pile up. This is when a lot of teams go the opposite way. We’ve got to get closer especially as we go down this road and just try to be better than we were in the first half of the season.”

 

HEAT FORWARD CHRIS BOSH (22 POINTS, 5 REBOUNDS)

On his last shot:

“It was just one of those shots where you only have one try. It’s a different speed and we got a shot at the basket. I know my teammates will give me confidence to take that same shot again. I just wanted to make sure I got the ball when it switched on me and I wanted to go as high as I could so we didn’t get a five-second call or anything. We had our chances. We had shots at the basket and we missed. They had shots at the basket- I don’t think anybody scored for the last two minutes or one minute and a half. Both me and Dwyane {Wade} had shots at the bucket, it just didn’t go in.”

 

On wrapping up this calendar year:

“It’s a good place. We are five games over .500. I think there are a bunch of lessons, that corny stuff, we can talk about later. We let one slip away last night and that’s what makes this one hurt. We stayed with it tonight. We had our chances. Against a team like this on the road, that’s all you can ask for sometimes is a chance to win the game. We had that and we came up short. 2015, just half of it sucked. My glass is half-full kind of a guy, so it was a good year.”