Grizzlies 91, Bobcats 79

Post-game quotes

Grizzlies

Head Coach Marc Iavaroni

On the win:
“What is most important is that we played harder, and longer, and stronger during stretches. We got up to 17 points and got relaxed again. But we just try to become consistent with our efforts first and we know that other things will take care of themselves. We were able to create 24 turnovers, that’s a good indication of us being into them. Which is good to see, us starting with the defense.”

On the team’s ball movement:
“The ball movement in the first half, especially the first quarter, was pretty good. We’ve really been encouraging that. Most importantly, off the defense we were back to twenty fast break points, which we had against Houston. We had ten against Washington. We have to create easy shots, we’re not a great shooting team right now, especially from three. We have to find a way to get to the rim. I thought (Mike) Conley pushed the ball well, (Kyle) Lowry got in there, and we did it without turning the ball over a lot. But we’ve got to get better, we have to keep improving. Our passes are still off. Our passes are not crisp and sharp. I think we have to be perfectionists, just like we are with our defense and keep the standards high, and keep demanding a lot.”

On Mike Conley’s consistency:
“He just seems much more sure of himself, he’s becoming a better floor general. I think he’s talking more on offense. He’s always been good at keeping the ball in front of him. He’s always been good at trying to find the open man and making simple plays. I think his assists will go up when people start making shots. I think he is one of the better passers on the team, obviously. He just looks like he belongs there.”

On O.J. Mayo’s shooting:
“I think he’s searching a little bit. He’s trying to do the right thing. He knows he’s here to score and to shoot. He’s going to find out as a rookie that when it’s wide open to take it and when it’s not open you have to do something quickly with it. The longer you hold it the more difficult it does become, and he’s figuring that out. He’s trying to do the right thing, and I that’s the most important thing. He will learn because he works hard.”

Mike   Conley

On the win:
“Coach and the players got on the same page with the passing. We saw on film that we were going one-on-one too much and we wanted to make that extra pass.  We were emphasizing that extra pass tonight.  As you could see for the first quarter, we started off rolling because people were actually moving the ball and getting people better looks than what they would have had.”

On getting more fast break opportunities:
“We all play better in transition.  We have a lot of bigs that can run and a lot of guards who like to play in the transition game.  Everybody is more comfortable playing that way so when we get our chances, we execute that very well.”

On getting good shot attempts:
“That’s what Coach wants, high percentage shots. If we are able to get to that paint, we feel like we have the right guys to finish and to make plays.  That is what we wanted to do.”

On winning their first game:
“It is very important because we are just so young.  Even though it is preseason, to us it’s not really a preseason game its almost regular season.  We have guys competing.  We have guys out there trying to get wins because we want to try and get the fans back, get the city excited again.  It was a big game for us and we are just happy to finally get that first win.”

On leadership:
“We are all around the same age, so it’s tough when you are trying to balance the leadership between guys.  Some guys who are the same age as you may not take it as well if you talk to them in certain way. We are all so young and in the same group.  It’s tough for us to take the lead and tell people what to do.  It’s like a full circle, you can’t tell an old guy something and than it’s hard to tell a young guy something when you are both competing for the same spot.” 

O.J. Mayo

On the win:
“In the offense we have to make that extra pass, make the confident shot.”

On Mike Conley:
“Mike is a very conservative player.  He makes a lot of good plays for his teammates and also for himself.  We are very lucky to have him on our team.”

Bobcats

Head Coach Larry Brown

On the loss:
“We have to teach a lot of these jump shooters to dribble-drive and get it to the rim.”

On the most surprising player::
“(Jared) Dudley has been the most pleasant surprise of all the guys.”

On playing other players besides starters:
“They got Rudy Gay and all their guys in late, but that’s what our job is, to give to those kids a chance.”

On hustle:
“I thought Andre plays so hard. This is what I try to tell these guys. We need a guy who can rebound the ball, try to defend the ball. All of them think, to impress us, they need to score the ball, but we need guys that can shine like Andre, Ryan (Hollins), and Jermareo (Davidson), to forget about that part and think about all of the other players.”