Mike Dunleavy Came Quotations

I thought our guys came out and gave a good effort defensively tonight. These guys were playing great coming in and to hold them to 36 percent (shooting) is a good thing.

I wasn't pleased with the way we started tonight. I don't know if it was a hangover from the road trip, but in the second half, the guys came out and played much harder and did a good job. We had a hot hand with Elton Brand and we just rode it.

To let (Sacramento) shoot 55 percent in the game and still be as close as we were was amazing in itself. We came down at the end of the game and executed pretty well for ourselves, but they had the extra possession.

That's what I get for showing our guys a film of how good we were defensively last night (at Houston). We started out good, then we got soft. Our bench came in and was soft. A team that loses eight games in a row is going to come out fighting for their lives. That message was delivered, and we didn't respond.

We've said this a bunch this season ... but we really played the game well and came up a rebound or two short. If we can move on from this and build, then it's a good thing.

We started out good. We started out doing what we wanted to do. Then we got soft. Our bench came in and was soft.

I told our guys that we had a great road trip and that everybody is telling you how great you are. The reality is, we have 35 games left and we have to take care of business. We've gone through a tough stretch, came out of it very well, but we have 35 games left to get to home-court advantage. We've got 35 games left to catch Phoenix. There are all kinds of things out there left for us to do. Right now, our goal shouldn't be to make the playoffs. Our goal should be to get home-court advantage.