What They Said! Grizzlies vs Kings 3-30-15

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Grizzlies Head Coach Dave Joerger

On the game:

“It was a good win. The guys played hard, but they’ve been playing hard. To be rewarded with a win feels really good. The ball was moving. We played a team that has won four of their last five and that are able to score over 100 several games in a row. I hope Rudy [Gay) is alright. He was certainly hurting us in the first half and got going a little bit in the second half. It was a good win for our guys. Twenty-two games 37 nights, it’s time for some rest and a day off. We’ll have a couple days of practice and some good practice time coming up. It’s a good chance to be at home for a little while and the guys are excited.”

On Jeff Green:

“He’s finding spots, and guys are opening up spots for him. What we try to do is keep him above the foul line and then to be able to drive north and south. His athleticism-he’s getting out and running. He’s attacking the basket and the number of times he’s driving into the paint has gone up and up and up since he’s been here. Obviously, he’s been able to finish at a high rate around the basket, especially when he dunks it. He’s got such big hands that he’s able to pick up the ball with either hand and finish. That’s been really good for us. He puts a lot of pressure on the defense because he’s a good passer. I felt like the ball got bing, bing, binged around and guys got open looks tonight again.”

On focusing on certain areas in practice:

“The guys have been playing hard. They just try to get their legs underneath them and find some guys that have had some problems shooting the basketball and catching a rhythm offensively. I’ve had some tough nights. The guys are trying so hard. We have the best fans in the league, and our guys are dying in there to have won one of those last three games, or two of them , or three of them . They want it bad. They feel like this is our year, and we all feel like this is our year to make the most noise that we ever have. We just have to get our legs underneath us, get our timing back and get a little more efficient on offense. Things that are happening against some of those big teams is frustrating. We are having some breakdowns on the defensive end. It’s not that we aren’t trying hard; we just can’t figure out how to get out of this right now. We’ve started making up our own system and plays defensively.”

On ball movement during the game:

“It was good. I think the energy that the guys get from when the ball is moving around … but also to see the ball go in a couple of times . We’ve been struggling to see it go in and it feels good. The positive reinforcement from a made basket for our whole team . Beno [Udrih] called a couple of really good sets, and he got a back door layup. We got some movement. We get a guy in the back door and all of a sudden we kick out to the corner and it’s swing, swing. On a back-to-back for us where this team was sitting here waiting for us, I thought it gave us a boost.”

On tightening the rotation moving into playoffs:

“We’ll see what happens with Tony Allen. We are in a situation where I’m playing Jeff [Green) at power forward and how the rotation works out for minutes-wise of who can guard who, and who can shoot, and who needs to play with this lineup or that lineup, and we continue to need shooting and need playmaking and length at the wing. You try to spin different guys around as far as how matchups dictate throughout the course of the game. I prefer to play Vince [Carter] on guys that go straight at him and try to play one-on-one. I try to play Nick Calathes when I need two ball-handlers and try to create some offense with that group with Beno, etc. Courtney Lee is coming around . He’s been aggressive the last three games and been looking forward to seeing that. That’s very good for us as well.”

On Courtney Lee:

“As long as he’s going north-south and when the ball is moving … He suffers the most when the ball doesn’t move. He never creates a closing. He needs a closeout to come at him, and then he can either shoot it or put it on the ground for either one or two dribbles and a pull-up, which I think is his best shot besides his spot-up shot. We’re going to try and get him on the move a little bit and get him curling into the paint. We’re getting there.”

Grizzlies Center Marc Gasol:

On the game:

“I thought we played better defense consistently, more ball pressure, more help and rebounding. We were more active on the defensive end. I thought we did a much better job tonight. I thought we did yesterday too, but the shots didn’t fall for us. And of course San Antonio is not Sacramento.”

On what goes through his head when he rips his jersey:

“Just remembering Darko (Milicic). I had my Darko moment. He’s my man. I miss him, miss him a lot.”

On balancing scoring:

“It’s great when you move the ball like that. It gives everybody a chance to get a feel. It’s a lot less predictable. It gets contagious. It’s the way we should always play. We make shots, miss shots, if we play like that it’s a lot tougher to load up and just slow, slow, and slow. We moved the ball from one side to the other. You make the defense work. You have a better chance for them to make mistakes. We just keep it on one side and everybody moves to the weak side, you have no chance to rebound. You have no chance to do anything but I thought we did a better job .”

Grizzlies Center Kosta Koufos

On the win:

“Most importantly, everyone played well. I’ve got to give credit to Sacramento, they played hard tonight. We played Memphis Grizzlies basketball which is defense and we did that tonight. The bigs were on their screens and guards got through their screens. That’s what predicated off our offense.”

On breaking down defensively:

“That’s what trial and error is for. We are going to keep pressing forward. You learn from your mistakes and that’s what we did tonight. We have a couple days before Oklahoma City. We have to get focused and turn the page and move on.”

On the conversations with the team in the fourth:

“It’s been a pretty tough stretch . We can’t make excuses. We’re going to keep on fighting and keep pushing through.”

Kings Head Coach George Karl

On Rudy Gay’s injury:

“I think the preliminary is that he has a concussion and will have to be under concussion protocol. I personally don’t know what that means.

“I’ve never gone through the concussion protocol, but I think right now the diagnosis is a concussion. I think for him to play again he has to pass some tests but I don’t know what they are.”

On the team:

“Well it’s difficult playing without your top two or three players. I thought we played hard tonight and in the second half we tried to cut into the game . Every time it looked like we had an opportunity, we’d bite ourselves in the butt with a bad pass or a bad decision. I thought Memphis was a very hungry team. They needed a win . They knew they were in a bad place after three tough losses and they played with a lot of pride and a lot of heart. I think we fought them hard with the players we had on the court but we just didn’t make enough good plays to make it close.”

On finishing the game without Rudy Gay:

“I think we’ve just got to trust each other a little more. When you’re shorthanded with your more skilled and talented players, you’ve got to play better as a team. Tonight I thought the effort was good and the defense was probably good in the second half, but our offense had too many mistakes and too many tough decisions and bad decisions. Once Rudy went out we didn’t have a high hand. We were searching for someone but no one really showed up.”

On shooting:

“With DeMarcus (Cousins) out you’re searching for points, but I don’t think you get it in one person. You try to get it from four or five different guys to fill in the hole. Tonight we didn’t get any hot guys and it was more of a defensive-minded game. We played the second half where our defense was very good, but we didn’t find the open man at a high rate, and we took too many shots in what I call ‘the crowd’. I think Memphis does that to a lot of teams. They are one of the premier defensive teams. They needed to get a win and they got a win. They had to kind of stop the momentum of their core play and I thought they came out wit h a lot of pride and played at a very good level.”

Kings Forward Carl Landry

On the game:

“They made defensive plays especially in the fourth quarter. It was a tough game especially without our leader DeMarcus (Cousins). But all the guys in this locker room can play. Unfortunately, we just didn’t make plays and step up on the night.”

On Coach George Karl:

“We’ve been winning. We went on a four-game winning streak last week. He just wants us to play fast. We definitely have talent in this room. Everybody can score 20-plus points every night. He is trying to utilize that talent by taking advantage of teams on the offensive end, crafty offensive coaching, and definitely focusing in on our defense as well. We haven’t heard of Coach Karl being a defensive minded coach, as of late he is definitely been preaching defense. I think that as we continue to get better on both of those ends, we will be a team to be reckoned with.”

Kings Forward Derrick Williams

“The first half, we got a lot of offensive rebounds . In the first couple of minutes, they gave up five or six offensive rebounds. We were behind from the beginning. We kept it close until the last couple of minutes. They are a big team . You have to always box out no matter what position you are.”

On Coach George Karl:

“Our team especially , we want to win the last 10 or 12 games that we have. Coach is really big on that. He is a veteran coach. We want to win every game as possible leading into next season and get some momentum .”


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