NBA Game Notebook: Nets vs. Mavericks

The following interviews took place after the February 10, 2008 game between the New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks.  The Nets won, 101-82.

Lawrence Frank:

Scott: “With All-Star weekend, do you kind of look at that as a start of a whole new season coming out of that half?”

Lawrence: “The All-Star break is obviously past the mid point. I think typically you can’t focus on the All-Star break. Sometimes individuals and teams start talking about the break a week before the break and they go on break. For us, we’re not in the position with the hole we dug ourselves, we just have to focus on our next opponent, Minnesota, who beat us in their place. Then once the All-Star break happens, basically that’s when you start seeing the teams start fighting for seeding, home-court advantage and entry. The games start to take a little bit more importance as you get down to 20 and then you notice the intensity level. Then as you get down to 10, the teams that are fighting for seeding and entry. It’s a build up. There’s the excitement at the beginning of the season, there’s the dog days and then as you get into the last third, there’s heightened intensity. For us, all we can worry about is having a good day at practice tomorrow and get ready for Minnesota.”

Richard Jefferson:

Scott: “Talk a little about the defensive effort tonight. It seemed like just a pestering on the outside too by Sean Williams and you guys inside.”

Richard: “Well, it started with Josh. It started with Josh Boone. You know, Josh did a great job. You look at normally he gets a lot more rebounds, but he was so zoned in on Dirk. If he got into foul trouble or we took him out of the game than Sean Williams did a great job. And their different type of defenders. Sean uses his length and athleticism; Josh is a more of a position and size guy. To give him different looks… it’s Dirk. There’s some nights where no matter what you do or who you put on him, you can’t stop him. Tonight we had a good rhythm defensively, but you never know, the next night you might never be able to stop him.”

Scott: “That’s a huge thing to have two guys like that be able to go up against one of the top 5 players in the NBA and be able to hold him like that.

Richard: “Yea, but Dirk has a great team around him too. It wasn’t all about us just stopping Dirk. Those guys are doing a great job, they’re coming along well and we just have to continue and hope they continue to grow.”

Jason Kidd:

Scott: “For Josh and Sean to have a game like that against Dirk, what does that do for their confidence going forward?”

Jason: “Well, I think those are two confident guys, talking about Sean and Josh. They’ve been coming off the bench in our plans and now starting, now Sean’s back on the bench and it shows the true professionalism of Sean. He’s going in and out, doesn’t know if he’s starting so for him to come and play with the energy he has shows the type of player. Those guys are working every day to get better.”

Vince Carter:

Scott: “Two good games, back-to-back, right now. You’re heading into the All-Star break and this really is the time you need to start picking things up.”

Vince: “It is. The sad part is we put ourselves in the hole. We’re playing catch up now, but we’re still putting ourselves in a good spot because we’re on a decent course. We feel our record should be better and we’re trying to do something about it. In my opinion, it is better late than never. You always want to play your best basketball going into the end of the season anyway. So hopefully get ourselves back on track. Hopefully work our way back to where should be.”

(The following interviews are archived from “Scott Stanchak Exclusives” on ScottStanchak.com)