One step forward, two steps back. It's reflected in the record -- 2-4. Looked at one way, it's not surprising Dallas lost. A team, any team, struggles when it's missing 40 points and 11 rebounds. Looked at another way, it borders on inexcusable. Dallas falls, 99-95. And really, the only reason the score is that close is DeShawn Stevenson hit a couple of 3’s in the final minute.
OK, let's do it. Quoteboard:
About Shawn Marion's scalding-hot night -- 12-17 from the floor for a team high 25 points . . .
“My teammates were looking for me and the ball was coming to me and I was making things happen, but our emphasis was winning this game.” -Shawn Marion
Regarding Jason Kidd's ice-cold night -- 0-7 and no points (being fair, he also had ten rebounds and seven assists) . . .
“I thought I’d have a couple of shots go in, but if my game was ever judged on me making baskets I probably wouldn't be in the league. I had some good
looks. They just didn’t go in.” -Jason Kidd
On the Thunder's defense in the second half . . .
“Terry had his way with us in the 1st half and I thought Kevin’s length is tough to shoot over . . . That’s a long arm to shoot over the top and I
thought he did a great job on him.” -Coach Scott Brooks
“We just made him shoot tough shots. He didn’t play as much, I don’t think. But I think we did a good job of helping each other out, helping Jeff out
down there. In the first half, he hit some tough shots. We had to live with those. In the second half we did a better job of making him shoot some
tough ones.” -Kevin Durant
About opportunities missed . . .
“We had them on their heals and we didn’t put them away when we should have. We had a 10 point lead and we should have pulled away and left them at
the gate . . . We went away from what was working in the first half that we didn’t do in the second half.” -Shawn Marion
“In this situation tonight we kind of had them on the ropes and let them off the hook. We had a 10 point lead then I felt like the momentum changed at
that point in the game . . . When you give a team like that life they feed off it and took the lead in the 3rd quarter. It seems like we were never
able to catch up.” -Tyson Chandler
“I really thought our undoing was not having a stronger first half . . . We had ten turnovers for 12 points and a lot of them were timely -- lot of
those four-point plays, where you don’t get two and they get two . . . They’re a good team, they made some good things happen in the second half.”
-Coach Rick Carlisle
More about how and why Life Without Nowitzki stinks . . .
“They’re a faster team without Dirk obviously. They got out in the open floor in the first half and got some easy baskets on us. I think in the second
half, Coach gave us a great talk at halftime, and we came out and executed and helped each other out on the defensive end.” -Kevin Durant
“We miss Dirk the entire game. He changes the game. When he’s in the game he stretches the floor on both ends. He’s a bigger body and he plays great
team defense. He gets a lot of slack for his defense but he knows how to play team defense, knows how to funnel and communicate out there.” -Tyson
Chandler
The Thunder are young, talented, and live next door, so is there a rivalry in the making?
“It doesn’t become a rivalry until you have playoff victories and playoff losses and it’s multiple years. With the location, it does make sense. But
right now, they’ve been places we want to go. And until it becomes a rivalry, we have to be able to get to those places.” -Coach Scott Brooks
"I was in Spain with Serge Ibaka, and he made it a point to tell me that they’re our rivals. And I was like, ‘You guys haven’t really beat us that
many times.’ And he was like, ‘No, we look at y’all as a rival, and we’re gonna try to beat you every time we play.’ If your name is not the San
Antonio Spurs, I don’t think there’s a rivalry there. But we know that they’re a dangerous team.” -Jason Terry (in the DMNews.)
The Maverick Mission Statement, for now . . .
“Right now, we just have to ride the ship, be patient, not get too crazy. And we’ve got to play with the players we have.” -Tyson Chandler
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