That's What He Said - vs Knicks 12/13

by **bobheckler** Sat Dec 14, 2013 1:25 pm

Celtics 90
Brad Stevens

Re: Boston's resilience late in the game:
"I wouldn’t want to go through it again, but that’s exactly what our team needed. We needed to have a lead, lose it, be backed up against the wall, and figure out a way to win. Because we talked about how in some of these games, like Wednesday night, the air kind of went out of the tires in the third quarter and we kind of – we didn’t feel like we just stayed connected throughout the whole last 24 minutes – which is easy to do; 99% of the teams in the world will do that in those circumstances. In circumstances like tonight. But what you want to do is tighten, tighten it even more, stay together, become even more accountable, more resilient, and even tougher together, and that was what happened tonight. You know, we had 10 guys play well at different points in time throughout the game, but it was very unpredictable. But I thought the last group was really playing at a high level. Some of them had a little bit more rest than usual, and I had planned on that anyways but not quite that much. Because I thought our bench played so well in the first half that when we were losing that lead I wanted to get those guys back in quicker."

Re: Jeff Green covering Carmelo Anthony:
"Well, you talk about kind of an unpredictable thing because I like Jeff guarding anybody, but we really thought we had a good matchup with (Brandon) Bass on Carmelo, and we started that way. And Carmelo got going like Carmelo can get going and it didn’t really matter who was guarding him. But Jeff went to a different level in the last eight minutes than he was in the first stint at guarding him late in the first half. And that’s really encouraging to see, because I really thought he did a great job. But other guys did, too. We got switched on to him a couple times. Vitor (Faverani) got switched on to him twice, and did a phenomenal job keeping him in front and challenging his shot. You know, some of those shots are going to go in anyways, but it makes it harder if a 6’11” guy’s in front of you."

Re: Sticking with Vitor Faverani late in the game:
"Very little brain power put to it. All vision of, ‘Hey, that guy’s really in a nice groove.’ Bass is our best bet on (Andrea) Bargnani if Jeff’s going to guard Carmelo. And we’ve got a nice rhythm going. Vitor made a huge three, made a huge catch-and-finish with a minute to go, but more than anything I felt like we had rim protection at a pretty good level down in the paint with him in the game and we were also rebounding. So, all gut, no math or science behind that one. That was just one of those lucky things that happened the right way."

Courtney Lee
Re: Winning a game like this:
"It felt good to have a game like this but it felt even better to be over there and watching these guys continue to fight and win the game. I was happy for them, the players that were out there. I told Jeff in the timeout to get the ball out and make something happen and he got a big stop and then went and got an and one. So, that feeling is better than having an individual game."

Re: Being conscious of the bench not playing well lately:
"Yeah I know last game I had zero, I was mentally out of the game. I was over hyped to play against them and kind of messed up everything. Like you said, we watch film, we know what we got to do. Its our role to come in there and pick those guys up. If they are slacking we have got to bring the energy."

Kelly Olynyk
Re: Having a lead and losing it:
"It was definitely a roller coaster game. Like you said, up pretty big in the first half, they cut it down, they took the lead and went up double digits as well. So, you just got to keep fighting and keep pushing through even if you hit a wall and hit adversity. You got to overcome that and come closer together, and I think we exhibited that today."

Re: Boston being in a good rhythm:
"Yeah I think so. Especially in that first half, guys were making shots, playing together, moving the ball and coming together on defense as well. It was good to see."

Re: The bench carrying the team for a while:
"You know we are a team. You know that’s what teams do. Sometimes some guys aren’t going to have the best nights on the starting lineups and you got to come in as a bench and lift those guys up."

Knicks 86
Mike Woodson
Re: New York's defensive energy:
"Well I think it's been proven when Kenyon is on the floor they are a lot better basketball team, but even with that being said, we had shots down; they made shots at the end, we missed some good shots I’d call them. Bargnani passed up on about three shots and we missed the mark for a big, a big opportunity to go high/low with him then he was wide open and that’s just the difference. We've got to execute better, we've got to feel good about being open shooting the shot and making it."

Re: Carmelo Anthony looking tired in the second half:
"Well again, I’m not getting much from J.R. (Smith) or Iman (Shumpert) and Timmy (Hardaway Jr.). I didn’t play much tonight. Melo logged a lot of minutes and I’m still trying to work through my rotations with my guys coming off the bench and our bench guys got to feel good about coming into the game and playing and producing. Our bench is just as important as the guys who start the game and they got to understand that and be ready when they come in."

Re: The need for Anthony in the fourth quarter:
"Yeah, I mean, I need everybody. The shots were coming tough both ways, but they were driving the ball and we settled a little bit, but some of the shots that we passed up after going back in there and looking at it was wide open shots and Bargnani (Andrea) was in those positions a few times and I thought he should have just taken the shot because he had been making those shots pretty much throughout the game."

J.R. Smith
Re: It being surprising to not be able to score late in the game:
"Yeah, we got a great team with great offensive players, but at the end of the day if we score seven they should score six."

Re: The difference from the third to fourth quarters:
"They got their momentum going, we kinda got stagnant a little bit. We moved the ball but we just weren’t finding guys open. Playing in Boston when they get their crowd behind them, it’s always gonna be tough, but we gotta find a way. Our defense has to do a better job. I think we did a great job in the third quarter with our defense, but you gotta do better. We gotta be better in the fourth quarter. We gotta play a complete 48 minutes."

Re: Going into the game thinking about his offense:
"No, I was going into the game trying to make opportunities for my teammates to excel. We need playmakers more than just scorers. My job is to get my teammates the easiest buckets we can and we’re not getting those, so I take it upon myself to sacrifice my shot to get other guys going. And it might not be the right way, it might be the right way, I don’t know. Just trying to figure this thing out."

Kenyon Martin
Re: The game:
"Tough loss, of course, because our guys fought hard. We knew we had to come here with a certain mentality and we did. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t pull it out in the end."

Re: The losses piling up:
"You know, sometimes when it, the old saying goes, when it rains it pours. But we just gotta keep our heads up. We still got a lot of season to play, so that’s the way we gotta think about it."

bob

.

by **mrkleen09** Sun Dec 15, 2013 12:57 pm

Couldnt be happening to a bigger bunch of jerks.

That's What He Said - vs Knicks 12/13

That's What He Said - vs Knicks 12/13

Re: That's What He Said - vs Knicks 12/13