That's What He Said - vs Bobcats 11/13

by **bobheckler** Thu Nov 14, 2013 12:17 pm

http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/twhs-20131113-CHABOS.html

Bobcats at Celtics
TD Garden, November 13, 2013

Celtics 83
Brad Stevens
Re: The loss being a result of missed shots:
"No. I think it was probably some of that; you can always point to that when you don’t win. But I thought it was a lot deeper than that; I thought they were just quicker to the basketball all night, in every which way, and I thought they did a great job right out of the gate establishing a tone of the way the game was going to be played and it was hard for us to manage that as we moved forward. We made some runs but I never felt like that game – you sit over there and I’ve been through not a lot of NBA games but a lot of basketball games, and there are certain games where you feel like the other team has got you a little bit of a stranglehold, and it’s going to be hard to overcome it because of the way the game was going. And kind of what the game was telling you at the start of the game. That’s the way it was; they had their way most of the night. They were very good."

Re: Boston's defense:
"Okay. They are not a three-point shooting team statistically, and the guy who had 11 of their 30 threes, (Josh) McRoberts, didn’t play. But they did replace him with a guy, (Anthony) Tolliver, who is a three-point shooter and he’s the one that hit all three. He had a very timely one, right in front of our bench at the end of the game. But I think that we did a better job towards the end of really clamping down and protecting the paint. But I didn’t think we did a very good job of that in the first half. Too many back-cuts, too many drives to the rim. And I thought Vitor (Favarani) when he came in gave us a little bit of rim protection and bolted the ball, but all in all I thought they just really set a tone in a lot of different areas and that was one of them."

Re: Jared Sullinger's absence:
"Any time one of your better players is out, that hurts. But it’s not an excuse; you’ve got 10 guys that played in the game and it’s a great opportunity for guys to take advantage of when a teammate needs you to step in and fill the shoes. Hopefully we can do that in the future. I’ve always been big on that next-man-up concept, and certainly can’t use it as an excuse if we don’t have success when he’s out."

Gerald Wallace
Re: The game:
"I think this was a great learning lesson. We got cocky with this four game winning streak. Our confidence was up. We felt like the Bobcats was an easy win. You know we don’t have to do nothing but put forth effort, like we could just turn it on like a light switch and win the game."

Re: 50/50 balls not going Boston's way:
"We won one loose ball. I don’t think we got one, I think they got all the offensive rebounds. All the plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet they won. It wasn’t even close. So, they are just prime examples of right there at the end we trapped at half court and they always seemed to come up with it."

Courtney Lee
Re: Missing Jared Sullinger:
"He definitely could have been big out there on the rebounds but you know we have a lot of guys that can fill in for him. We just didn’t play hard."

Re: If he feels the need to "take over" if his team needs it:
"Not really. That is just kind of my mindset. I felt we was a little slow and I felt the way to open up the offense a little bit was for me to attack. So I tried to open it up for my team."

Jordan Crawford
Re: What pushed the Bobcats past the Celtics:
"We started off slow and they played hard. They beat us to loose balls. That was the difference in the game."

Re: Why the effort wasn't there from the C's:
"We got a little lackadaisical, that’s all. You know they played hard. Charlotte played hard. You know its good to play them and it shows how hard we have to play. They beat us with effort, loose balls, all the rebounds. You know they started off better. We need to see if we can get better from it."

Bobcats 89
Steve Clifford
Re: What he's taking away from the win:
"The approach. We started yesterday in practice and continued this morning through shootaround. I didn’t know if we’d win, but I think I told these guys before the game I thought we would play well because we had the right attitude, and I thought we played with that. Things didn’t go our way, there were some tough breaks, and guys just kept going through it."

Re: Al Jefferson's performance:
"He’s still just getting in shape. That’s basically like his fourth preseason game. He’s an elite low-post scorer, he’s a much, much better defender than I had realized, but the thing that’s coming through now is his competitiveness. He badly wants to win."

Re: The Celtics' late-game chances:
"Well I think a lot of it was there were some gang-rebounding type plays that could’ve gone either way, you know maybe the ball bounced our way. But the point is, we had everybody in there fighting for the ball. We had some good defensive stops and then Al had the jump hook in the lane on the paint catch and then the put-back which really, Kemba made that play. He got over the top of their down which kind of forced the rotation and Al did a good job of getting in there."

Al Jefferson
Re: This being the equivalent of his fourth preseason game:
"It felt like it. I still missed a lot of shots that I normally could make, but I gotta get in better shape man. I know I gotta. There’s a reason why I’m not in top shape, but that’s the bad thing about getting hurt in the beginning of the year. When I miss a preseason game, it takes away from you getting in top shape. To come back here now, trying to get my rhythm and get in shape, it just can be tough on you, but it’s all part of the game, just gotta do it."

Re: Does playing well make you feel like you're getting in better shape:
"It’s a yes and no. There’s no doubt in me believing in myself. I know what I can do. But just like you said, I know once I get in better shape the game will come a lot easier to me. And I was a lot better tonight than I was Monday. I’m gonna get with the strength and conditioning coach tomorrow, get some conditioning in, and we’ll continue to do it and just try to get better."

Cody Zeller
Re: The game:
"It’s definitely a good win for us, especially since they’re a hot team, they won four in a row. Winning on the road is a big win for us and hopefully we can carry the momentum to Cleveland."

Re: If there's a lot he can learn from Al Jefferson:
"Yeah, definitely. Especially since he’s been through the league, he’s a vet. He’s been great for me trying to teach me different things here and there. On the court he opens up a lot of openings for me just because the defense has to pay so much attention to him that it opens up a lot for me."

bob

.