NBA Game Notebook: Nets vs. Warriors
Posted by Scott Stanchak on March 14, 2008
The following interviews took place before and after the December 22, 2007 game between the New Jersey Nets and Golden State Warriors. The Nets won, 100-95.
Lawrence Frank
Scott: “You guys are coming off a big win. How do you keep that momentum going and translate it into a victory tonight?”
Lawrence: “Well, I mean, momentum is a one-on-one game. I think, for us, it’s the consistency of habits, concentration, focus and preparation and execution. Every game, every possession, every quarter, you have to validate yourself as an individual and who you are as a team because the league is one of which there’s a lot of talented players and there’s a great deal of parody. If you’re not ready to play, if you can’t withstand adversity, if you can’t withstand playing through stretches that just aren’t going your way, you lose. So it’s that consistency, that focus and that commitment we have to adhere to on a day-by-day basis.”
Scott: “Knowing this team does a lot of scoring, are you guys going to try and slow down the game?”
Lawrence: “I think there’s a reason why they average 108, because they’re pretty damn good at influencing their will on the game. But I think, at the same time, the challenge for us is we have to develop a color of our own so to speak, our own personality. And one of the things is the game’s going to be one of extremes when we play Golden State. There’s going to be times you’re extremely fast because you want to take advantage of a lot of fast-break situations. But then the difference, where they always want to play like this, those are times we have to be extremely patient. That takes discipline. The other thing we’re going to have to do is take care of the ball. A lot of their fast break points is their ability to turn the ball over. We’ve struggled taking care of the ball, so if we’re giving them extra possessions beyond what they’re doing, it makes it really really hard to beat them.”
Antoine Wright
Scott: “Getting injured while your team is trying to put together a win streak has to be hard. What is your role going to be now?”
Antoine: “I have to stay in tune with every thing that’s going on. Our last game we made some adjustments later on that helped us win the game. I have to stay in tune with what coach is changing around to get us the wins and also have to do whatever I can to get better as quickly as possible.”
Sean Williams
Sean: “(Laughs) I don’t know, we haven’t had too many back-to-back wins and things like that. I guess just still learning team chemistry and who we want to be as a team. That’s what we’re searching for. That’s how we keep it going, by finding yourself in the game.”
Scott: “You’re going to be a crucial part of the game tonight because you’re facing off against a team that puts up a lot of shots. What’s your mindset going into tonight’s contest?”
Sean: “Man, personally I don’t take any different mindset to any of the games. I just try and come out and find the opportunities that present themselves on the court to take advantage of it.”
Jason Kidd
Scott: “Talk about the all-around offensive contribution. You guys knew you had to put up a lot of points, this team scores a lot, and you did that all around tonight.
Jason: “Well, I think the biggest thing is we tried to control the tempo and we knew we didn’t want to get in a shootout. They’ve got so many talented guys who could go big and get going, so we just tried to make it tough and make them work on the other end. We did that, but they’re a very talented team and they kept coming and eventually took the lead, but we didn’t panic, we got stops when we had to.”
Richard Jefferson
Scott: “Talk about the all-around contribution from everyone tonight. You knew you had to post a lot of points up against this team and did that.”
Richard: “We had a lot of contributions from different people, but we didn’t score that many points. We cracked a hundred at the end with some free throws, but with a team like this, I think they key was to get off to a good start and play the way you want to play. You slow it down; you don’t have to match them point for point when they start hitting threes. That was the biggest key for us tonight was just getting off to that good start.”
Josh Boone
Scott: “You going to have some good things to talk about over the holidays?”
Josh: “(Laughs) Oh yea, definitely, definitely. Man, it’s always nice when you get a win like that. That’s a very good Golden State team; they’ve been playing extremely well. You just want to find a way to play defense and defense is what was going to win this game. Even though we had 22 turnovers, we still played solid defense and kept them in check on fast breaks.
Vince Carter
Scott: “Give us your perspective of your shot that put you ahead for good?”
Vince: “I missed a few shots and had some turnovers out there, but I just wanted to be ready to shoot to get the ball and take the shot and make it. Just like last game was mine, I told R.J. (Richard Jefferson), do what he has to do, I’ll be there to knock it down. That’s how confident I felt with my shot and it happened just like I played it out in my head.”
(The following interviews are archived from “Scott Stanchak Exclusives” on ScottStanchak.com)
