What They Said!! Grizzlies vs Thunder 12-08-15

GRIZZLIES HEAD COACH DAVE JOERGER

On the game:

“Tough game against a team that can really make shots. It’s a great part of our schedule to get done with. You know, playing Oklahoma City twice, obviously they just rung us for 30, getting done with Cleveland once, and Golden State a couple times. When you look at the numbers, it’s pretty simple. You know, one team made shots, and the other team struggled to make shots. Our defensive intensity wasn’t where it was. We had a problem stopping the basketball, and once you have problems stopping the basketball, it opens up guys around the perimeter who get to lick their fingers and shoot. So, to me, just about everything is even. We turned the ball over way too much in the third quarter. I think we had nine turnovers or 10 turnovers in the third quarter. Just simple passing, dribbling and catching issues, and it was a tough night. Some guys had some tough nights. Tony Allen, Mike Conley, and Zach Randolph had rough nights. Marc (Gasol) sprained his ankle, so I don’t know what we are going to do with him, and JaMychal (Green), I think, sprained his knee, so we’ll see what we can do with those guys tomorrow. We’ve got the second of a back-to-back. If you go get one out of two, then you feel good, but we certainly don’t feel good about the way that we lost tonight.”

On the end of the second quarter:

“It was a ton of pick-and-roll and spread pick-and-roll, which we will see again tomorrow night, and we didn’t keep the getaway and stop the basketball. You know, (Russell) Westbrook led the dance. Obviously, he’s a really, really good player. For him and (Kevin) Durant to both get off, is very difficult for us to guard. When you play against high scoring teams, you’re going to have to score, and that’s where I think right now we are putting our heads down. The same thing happened against San Antonio. We struggled to score the basketball, struggled to make open shots, and we had a lot of open shots. The ball didn’t go in the first half. We were 13 for 31 in the paint, so we’re getting it to where we want to go. I think we were one from six, at that point, from the three. So, people are packing in, there is a lot of traffic in there, but certainly at the end of the second quarter it was a problem.”

On multiple big-loss games this season:

“We need some energy. We need some length at the rim. Certainly our inability, like I just said, to score the basket ball is just like we put our heads down, like, ‘here they go and they’re going to run away from us,’ because to stop great players, you’ve just got to contest shots. You know, a lot of guys this year have had big nights on us. Russell Westbrook, now it’s Kevin Durant, who had a very easy 32. I know he was 11 for 14, but that’s hard to do. He’s a great player. Russ (Westbrook) had him. I don’t know who else dinged us. (Damian) Lillard’s dinged us up pretty good, and the dude at Golden State, Steph Curry, is pretty good. So, some of those guys have had big performances against us, but it was a tough night.”

On Marc Gasol’s injury:

“We’ve known this has been coming for a long time. We’ve been running Marc a ton of time and he carries a heavy, heavy load. We’ve just been trying to fight our way thru.”

 

GRIZZLIES FORWARD ZACH RANDOLPH (9 points, 1 assist)

On the game getting away in the third quarter:

“I think it’s the worst loss we’ve had against them, especially at home. I can’t put it on the head. I didn’t have a good game, guys didn’t have a great game. They hit 13 or 14 threes, offensive rebounding…just a bad game on our part and not where we want to be right now, so we just have a lot of work to do.”

On recovering from tough losses:

“We just have to keep playing. The season is still early and we just have to keep playing. This is a tough one for us, but the great thing about the NBA is you have another game tomorrow. So we have to put this one behind us and go to Detroit and try to get a win.”

On a pattern of losing to top teams:

“Against the good teams we haven’t really played good and that’s the truth. We didn’t play too well against Phoenix, New Orleans, they scored 38 points in the first quarter, so it’s just a lot.”

On what Grizzlies teammates are saying to each other:

“Just to stick together. Everybody has to look themselves in the mirror, do better and be accountable.

 

GRIZZLIES GUARD COURTNEY LEE (9 points, 1 steal)

On recovering from tough losses:

“First and foremost, we have to stop letting these games get out of hand. It’s embarrassing, especially to lose that way in front of our home crowd and whatnot. These are teams that we faced last year and took them down to the wire and we were getting wins and so now we just have to figure out within ourselves. Is it us not competing and whatnot? And just go back out there and fight. But to lose by that much at home is embarrassing.”

On there being a common thread between losses:

“Coach hit it on the nail. He said they threw a punch at us and we didn’t punch back. They went on their run and we didn’t respond. The thing is, when a team goes on a run, you have to be able to get a stop and go back and try to go on your run and we didn’t do that tonight.”

On being happy to have back-to-back tomorrow:

“Yeah, that’ll help get this bad taste out of our mouths quickly. If we didn’t it would just be a game that you sit and watch film and be mad at yourself and your effort for awhile. But it’s the NBA so we have one the next day.”

 

THUNDER HEAD COACH BILLY DONOVAN:

On tonight’s offensive performance:

“I can’t say enough about what Russell (Westbrook) did tonight. In my opinion, he’s one of the rare guys in this league that can dominate a game without scoring. What he did tonight, setting up his teammates, the 16 assists, and the unselfishness started with him and Kevin (Durant). I thought Kevin passed up some wide-open shots to get some other guys even better shots. I think that trust and confidence in his teammates really went a long way. I thought he was efficient, and obviously he had 32 points, but he made some really great plays.”

On the run that extended the Thunder lead:

“It came from Russell and it came from Kevin. It came from playing the right way. I think they (the Grizzlies) tried to change up the game by going small, playing zone. I thought our guys kept their focus, and continued to play the right way and share the ball. I think when Russell and Kevin do that, it makes it a lot easier for the guys around them.”

On playing small:

“There’s times when you get into those matchups and say, ‘Let’s stay small, because I know we have an advantage on the offensive end. Let’s see if we can defend.’ I thought we did a really good job and Kevin (Durant) did a great job on (Zach) Randolph. The floor was spaced, and we were able to get it into the paint and to the three-point line without getting hurt on the other end of the floor. Sometimes you have to see if your advantage is going to work out, or if theirs is going to work out, and see how it works out.”

On improvements he saw:

“Coming out of the Sacramento game, we played that third quarter at a really high level, but we had a stretch where we lost a 17 point lead because of turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds. I thought we gave a more consistent effort for 48 minutes tonight.”

 

THUNDER GUARD RUSSELL WESTBROOK (13 POINTS, 16 ASSISTS)

On the offense:

“We just keep the pace hot. They kind of like to rough you up a little bit. I thought we did a good job of setting the tone on both ends of the floor and it showed tonight.”

On setting the flow and rhythm:

“I have got to do the same thing for us to win games. I try to set the table for guys and try to find ways to get everybody going. Especially on the road it is very important. It worked out for us tonight.”

On Serge Ibaka:

“It was just something that I read throughout the game. I can just read and see different things that may be going on. It’s hard to leave some of our shooters so I just try to read and put us in opportunities to score the basketball.”

On the second quarter:

“I don’t know but I’m just happy that we got a win on the road and we are getting ready for the next one.”

On distributing the ball:

“I just read the game man. I just read the game. The game tells you to pass, that’s what you do. You just got to read the game, play the game the right way and that’s what I do every night.”