Rick Carlisle Position Quotations

One of the things we talked about was our need to be more purposeful with our transaction offense. When we take quick, it puts us in a poor position defensively. The guys did a great job of decision-making in transition. Our execution on offense put us in great position to guard and rebound.

Our point guard position was really tremendous, especially in the second half. That's the kind of production we need at all our positions. Let's face it, we're the kind of team right now where we're playing eight guys (Friday). We need six out of eight (players) playing at a high level to beat a team like Sacramento.

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 hoped he was going to be open and have a pocket of space to get an open shot or drive the ball. Bosh did a great job of switching out defensively. I have to take the blame for that. That was a bad call putting a guy in a position that ended up not being a good position.

We're trying to condition him into a position where he can play with consistency. My decision was to play him heavy minutes the first half and then ice him down, have him for practice tomorrow.

We know any win we can get is really critical, especially on the road. We have a very busy month in terms of frequency of games. We're going to have to continue to hang in and fight every night and give ourselves a chance. We're right in the midst of this thing. There's a lot that's going to be going on over the next 25-30 games. You're going to see a lot of jockeying and a lot of position changes.

We didn't play a full, hard 48 minutes of basketball and we left too much to chance. You have those types of let-ups and tempt fate with a Pierce bank shot. We're not in a position to do that.

Every win is important. Playoff position is at stake and we just had a string of road losses that were tough on us so getting on track was important, and we're starting to get a little confidence in our overall situation as well.

Every win is important when playoff position is at stake. We've had a string of road losses that's been really tough on us so getting back on track was important.

It's been tough for Fred this year because of the thumb; he's been in and out of it. He played great in the first two games, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to start and play a real significant stretch of minutes. We struggled to get him the ball (Saturday). I have to do a better job of putting him in a position where he can attack the basket and make plays. He wasn't able to do that, that's his game.

It's clear off the last few games that he's a difference maker for us. I'm not going to look to play three guys just to play three guys. I'm going to look to try to have a rotation where guys can be comfortable. But you have to be accountable and play your minutes hard. Otherwise there are good players behind you; that's the fact. Our point position hasn't been this strong in a long time. It's good news for us.

Any loss right now is a big factor for all the teams involved. Another thing I think is important to point out is Tony Brown did a great job taking over for Doc Rivers. He's a former assistant coach of mine. I'm happy for him. I'm not happy for us. We're in a precarious position right now.

A.J. had a great night. In the second half he did a great job of running the team. His efficiency in shot making and courage to step up in some tough spots put us in a position to win.

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 just too bad, because we really played hard for three quarters. The second quarter was really a disaster for us. It put us in a bad position at halftime, but we fought back and really put ourselves in a good position to win.

It's going to be a tight race for whatever position you're competing for in the last week of the season. The history of five through eight this year has been that it's been tight the whole year. I think it's going to continue that way.