Madison Square Garden New York Knickerbockers vs. Los Angeles Clippers February 10, 2013 Head Coach Mike Woodson On the bench play: Their bench has been good for them and our bench has been good for us that was the difference today. We have had our struggles here and there. We haven t had a whole lot of practice time. They are in and out so much that we don t have any closeness especially the second unit defensively. We have to get them to feel good about themselves defensively because they can score the ball as well as their second unit can. On Iman Shumpert: It isn t only about the offense. We didn t rely on him to score a lot of points last year. I like him from a defensive standpoint. On the fourth quarter: I sat Melo (Carmelo Anthony) to start the fourth to give him a blow. In hindsight I should have let keep going. That two minute stretch we dug ourselves into a hole. I didn t give them enough time to get back in it, I went back with our starters and at that time Melo had cooled off and we couldn t get into an offensive flow. We couldn t get stops. The ball was bouncing in their favor. We got outrebounded badly today. It is a combination of things. We have to clean up. They are one of the best teams in our League but we have to get better. Carmelo Anthony Today we couldn t get over the hump. We got the lead, made it a game, but those guys got some hustle plays, made shots and it opened the game up. On the Clippers defense: They started doubling more on the pick-and-roll and getting the ball out of my hands. They fronted the post. They made adjustments to take the ball out of my hands. We had our spurts today. We didn t put a complete game together. As a result of that we lost the basketball game. We have to make adjustments and get ready for Wednesday. More on the Clippers defense: They were sending two guys at me they were trapping the pick-and-roll. They made an adjustment especially in that fourth quarter.
We have to make plays. We have been doing that all season long. Today we didn t make plays in the fourth quarter. We didn t win the game. We didn t make the adjustments. We have been very successful the way we have been playing so far so we don t need to jump the gun right now. Amar e Stoudemire They played with a lot of energy (and) they played great basketball. We fought back in it but couldn t get enough stops to win. He does a phenomenal job of scoring so teams key on that. We don t want to take his aggressiveness away. We had a little trouble. They are a great team. It is tough coverage. It is a game of adjustments. We have to learn from our mistakes and get better. Iman Shumpert On coming back from his injury: When your mind and body is in different places it is hard but I am going to keep working. I am getting adjusted to it. More on coming back from his injury: I know it is a challenge to continue to guard guys but I am going to work and get better. He played awfully sharp but we definitely have to chip in and do the right thing as far as making the open shot. When he and Amar e (Stoudemire) attract double teams we have to make sure when we get those looks we make them. Tyson Chandler Very disappointing. I thought once we started to get the stops we needed to get we d make a little run and that would carry the momentum into the fourth and I thought we would pull this one out tonight. I thought we had the energy we needed. We made a couple mistakes, but for whatever reason we didn t finish out the game the right way. When he gets it going, we have to continue to feed him, but your right we got to make sure everybody is involved. We got to make sure the machine is hitting on all cylinders.
On the Clippers: They move the ball around well and they exploit your mistakes defensively. That s one thing we did early in the season and we have to get back to it. Raymond Felton On getting hit today: I felt like I got hit like a ping pong, just getting hit from different sides. I m alright I ll be feeling it in the morning when I get up, because I it s a little sore right now so the best thing I can do is put a little heat on it and see what happens in the morning. On the Clippers: They got some good guards over there. I felt like we played some good defense. They hit a lot of tough shots. Jamal Crawford hit a lot of tough shots, CP (Chris Paul) hit some tough shots. There will be nights like that, I think overall we did a good job at keeping those guys in front of us. They hit some good shots. Things happen. One of those games when shots don t fall. Our bench has been great for us all year and the ball just doesn t go in the basket for us, it s just one of those days. Head Coach Vinny Del Negro I thought Grant (Hill) was the difference in the game really. I mean in a lot of ways. I thought his defense was very good, boxed out a few times, got us some loose balls. Carmelo (Anthony) is such a difficult cover, but we stood with our game plan on how we wanted to execute defensively. Jamal (Crawford), Chris (Paul), Blake (Griffin), I mean everybody. It was a team effort. Everybody stepped up at some point. Eric Bledsoe I thought had a fantastic game. A good solid team win for us. Bled (Eric Bledsoe) changes it just with his athleticism out there, puts a lot of pressure on your defense. Made some shots tonight, controlled the tempo. Obviously when you have Chauncey (Billups) and Chris (Paul) out there, Chris can get off the ball a little bit because Chauncey has so much control of the game and they can work that out a little bit. We did a really good job finding Jamal (Crawford) when he was hot, wanted to attack certain things with him. But it really came down to our defense, our rebounding. We knew how well they shot the three, we did a much better job tonight focusing in with a sense of urgency We lost a few times in transition, but overall just a solid win for us. Blake Griffin We had some lapses defensively, especially trying to slow down Melo [Carmelo Anthony], but overall I thought we did a much better with communicating, rotating, and playing to the basketball.
On Chauncey Billups and Chris Paul: It really just gives us confidence as a team that the ball is going to be taken care of. We really just need to go to our spot and its going to be kind of a methodical style of basketball. Everything is really thought out. There are no careless mistakes. It helps when you have two guys who are on top of their game at controlling. On the win: It s a big win. They re a great team. They play well, especially here. I think the biggest thing and the best thing for us was that we stuck to our game plan. We had a few lapses here and there, but we stuck to our game plan. Chris Paul On the fourth quarter: We did really well. Our second unit really got it going. You know at the six minute mark, we were up eight so it s a lot easier being up. We had a great team playing for us tonight and a lot of it was Grant (Hill) too, he did his part. On Grant Hill: He is smart. He never rests. He s always guarding you and messing with you. He understands how you can t give a guy a steady diet. On Jamal Crawford: Jamal just hit shot after shot and that s the Jamal Crawford that we love to see. Me and Chauncey stand back and he can go back to his natural position..which is score. When he doesn t have to be the point guard he can be him and he s one of the best in the League. Jamal Crawford On playing in New York: I feel like I have grown from a young boy to a man being here. I am excited they have a good product now. On returning to the Garden: It is always special to come back to the Garden. It is my favorite arena to play at besides Staples. It is fun to come back. On the team: Everyone is comfortable with what we want them to do. With Chauncey (Billups) and Chris (Paul) out there we know they are going to make the right decisions. On Grant Hill: Carmelo Anthony is probably the best scorer in the world and I don t think anybody can stop him but he definitely played great defense. Chauncey Billups
On the team: There is a little bit of an adjustment period getting everyone back. I am on a little bit of a restriction so it is going to be tricky. Melo (Carmelo Anthony) was having a huge night but that was what we were giving up two pointers instead of the three. On playing in New York: I enjoyed my time here. It was fun. It was great. There was a lot of excitement. I hated that I got hurt in the playoffs. I felt like it could have been different. Everything happens for a reason. They got a great player in Tyson (Chandler). Everything happens the way it is supposed to. On returning to the Garden: It was great. I didn t come last year because of my injury. It was fun.