Rick Carlisle Game Quotations

We had a whole scheme set up to double-team him. He goes out of the game, it certainly changes the complexion of the game for their team.

Richard Jefferson is going to be more involved in Game 2. We know that Jason Kidd is going to be more involved from a scoring standpoint in terms of his aggressiveness. Carter, you can talk about his bad shooting, but he still had 31 points. He missed a lot of point-blank shots he normally makes. They're going to be more balanced in their attack.

Let's just say it's a short-term situation, which potentially makes it a little more than game-to-game possibly.

Jack is such an important guy on our team. Our players view him as one of our leaders. You have to have your top players involved and playing at a high level. I thought tonight Jack understood the defensive end was going to be what was going to win the game for us.

He wants to play. It's a significant situation. It's day to day, but it's one of those things that's tough to gauge. We're hoping he feels good enough for Game 6, but we don't know. We'll have to see.

He made a point tonight. He was a key part of the game.

That certainly was an important game for us, for a lot of reasons. We were sloppy at times offensively. The effort was really there and it was great to see. We've got some cobwebs to get out.

That certainly was an important game for us. We were sloppy at times offensively. The key for us was our disposition defensively. It was there today.

It couldn't have been closer. A couple of breaks went our way at the end, like the offensive rebound, and he (Johnson) made a huge play. We know we got lucky today because we know Vince Carter is not going to have another 1-for-8 three-point game or 12-of-33 game because he's a great player.

I thought he played well in the Houston game and he did some good things in the New York game. He's going to be an important guy for us with Freddie out.

Our start to the game was OK. But the second quarter, they had 32 (points) and we couldn't keep them under 30 after that. They played great offensively. During this 15-game period, we've competed hard on a consistent basis and tonight we had a letdown from that.

It happened awhile ago in a game at Detroit. He jammed it a little bit, but nothing serious, just a little swelling in it.

I thought defensively we were playing soft (in the first half) and not playing the type of game we needed to play to give ourselves a chance. The third quarter we came out with a lot of more aggression, and the third quarter was the key quarter.

I wasn't convinced that there was any way Steve Jackson could play tonight after the fall he took on Wednesday. I went and saw him at the hospital after the game and he was in a lot of pain.

Three days ago it looked like it might be a possibility. He is doing better. It's just not the right time to push it. Also, if we would have did it, he would have been playing a game without almost any practice time leading up to it, which would have been hard. It makes it tough because he does a good job on (Shaquille O'Neal).

We are in a precarious position right now. Nothing is a lock. To make the playoffs, we will have to have more of a sense of urgency at both ends. Tonight's game was a setback.

We have an 11-game season to make a push to make the playoffs. There's nothing guaranteed. We'll find out what we're made of during this stretch. The frequency of games is still there. We're a little banged up, but we have to find a way. I have a lot of confidence in our group.

We know that we got lucky today. We know Vince Carter is not going to have another 1-for-8 3-point game or 12-for-33 game, because he's a great player and he's going to make his shots. We got very fortunate that he didn't have his best game.

Michael Redd was a guy we talked a lot of about before the game. (Jackson) did a good job at the start and our whole team reacted to him.

We played hard for the most part, but that has to be a constant. We gave ourselves a chance to win, but had execution problems down the stretch. It's a game of inches for us right now and we have to be better.

We dug ourselves into a hole and spent the rest of the game trying to dig ourselves out. We managed to give ourselves a chance in the second half, but the Wizards were able to put together a few scoring runs, and we couldn't stop them.

We set a great tone early with a great defensive effort, and that sort of carried the day as far as the game went. Tonight we did a lot of things well and I thought we got better as a team, so that's a good sign.

We probably played 30 possessions of zone, which is more than we played all year. It gave us a chance to hang in the game because fouls were becoming a factor early. With zone, a little bit of it is luck and you have to hope they miss some shots. We were fortunate that they did with a lot of those possessions.

Early, you could tell he was getting his feet under him. As the game went on, you could see the things he has the ability to do offensively and defensively. He's going to be a very good defensive player.

At the start of the game he struggled. Of all the games that he's played in it was the worst start to a game that he's had. He got three quick fouls.

It was very tight the whole game and it couldn't have been closer. A couple of breaks went our way at the end. We know we got lucky today because we know Vince Carter is not going to have another (game like Sunday), because he's a great player and he's going to make his shots.

Detroit is very motivated for a lot of reasons. They're fighting for the best record in the league. They dropped a game to us, which will make them more motivated to win. We have to play our game and play it well.

Detroit played great. They really hurt us on the boards. We didn't play a good game and they had a lot to do with it.

They took the game to us. It just looked like they were everywhere and our feet were stuck in the mud.

The whole game we were shooting in the 30s and we could never get anything going offensively to set up our defense. When you get behind big you end up taking more 3s than you want to take, and 32 is a number that's too many. If you're taking that many, you're probably playing from behind and not in a very good position.

You never count a game as being won until the game is over. That's something we should all realize. On the disappointment scale, that's right up there.

If you play in the first round of the playoffs, it's a 100-game season. It's Game 1 of a 100. We got our eye on the ball and we don't want to take any unnecessary risk.

It's different, but he played college ball at Maryland in the ACC so he's very familiar with American basketball and he knows the NBA game because he studied it a lot and he's played against a lot of the players. The learning curve for him as a 29-year-old shouldn't be that great.

His conditioning for the game is getting where it needs to be and his rhythm is coming back.

I know it's hurting him. A lot of guys wouldn't play through this. He hasn't missed a game because of his hand. There's been times where it's swollen up like a balloon. You have to give him a lot of credit for wanting to help the team.

Before the game when (Foster) was warming up, before we went out for real warm-ups, he moved a certain way and it went out on him.

His abilities as a player are breathtaking. He's brought his game up to another level since he's come to New Jersey. I know Jason Kidd has had a lot to do with that. This isn't any news flash. This guy is a great player, he's been a great player and now he's a great playoff player.

He's experienced and has played him a lot. He's done well with him in the past and he's the best guy that we have. We're fortunate that he's feeling better for a game that we're playing against the biggest, strongest guy in the game.

He's a professional. He doesn't say much; he just works and wants to win. He wants to play the game the right way and wants to be a part of a successful team. Those are the type of guys you love to have.

This is a very important time for us if we're going to be a team that makes the playoffs. We can't afford to show up and not play a great game for 48 minutes.

It was a big bounce back game for our team. I thought Jermaine set the tone for our team early in the game. The way it unfolded, it appeared he had a pretty good sense on how to establish himself.

Their offensive rebounding hurt us. It was the first game in a while that the rebounding differential on the offensive boards came back to haunt us. You can make a case that was the game (considering how) much that happened at the end of the game.

The margin for error for us is nonexistent. You have to really be great in all areas and playing at the highest (levels) in all areas. There were some things that happened that were mistakes that can't happen on the court. From a coaching standpoint, those things are part of the game and one of the things that makes it so difficult.

The key part of the game was the end of the second quarter. They did a great job finishing plays and giving themselves a chance to win. ... We couldn't get over the hump.

You could make a case that those had as much to do with the game as the things that happened at the end.

You could tell it was affecting his game offensively just because so many things involved with shooting the ball happen with your left hand. Rhythmically, he just wasn't the same over the last week or 10 days.

It's always good to win and we had a lot of good things happen. The way we are structured right now, we have to play more up tempo, but the key to the game was the way we picked up our intensity on defense in the second half.

They played great and we didn't give them much of a game tonight. Our margin for error is slim. We can't have any slippage. Our rebounding was a disappointment. We've got to do better.

They got into the paint time and time again in the third quarter, and that was the story of how the game went. . . . You give up 29 points in the third and that tells you the momentum of the game, because we had put ourselves in a strong position before that.

It's a significant situation. It is day to day, but it's one of these things that's tough to gauge. We hope he feels good enough to play in Game 6, but I don't know; we'll have to wait and see.

We had the game going pretty well and we were playing good basketball. They made a run at the end of the half and they got the game tied and I thought that gave them a lot of momentum going into the second half. They did a great job of finishing off plays.

We got ourselves in some holes in the first half and haven't been able to dig out of them. They were playing (at the outset) their game better than we were playing ours.

This is the kind of game we talked about having to play. More up-tempo, more movement, less set offense. The game is in the hands of the players. We have a group out there that's a pretty knowledgeable group. They played well off each other. The critical thing is going to be our decision making. We need to play aggressively, but not frantically. When we played frantically, it got us in trouble.