The Grizzlies came into tonight with high hopes against an injury riddled Jazz squad, but were sent home singing the blues, as Memphis was unable to take advantage of a shorthanded Utah team, and fell to the visitors 103-94 at FedExForum.
On the loss
It was a good game and a good learning experience for our guys. Utah has been doing this for quite a longtime. We are trying to establish toughness and discipline ethic and it does take time. I think we have learned a lot from them. You have to play every possession with your toughness shoes on, mentally and physically. They chip away at you. They are just so disciplined and they play very hard. I think it is a good lesson for our guys. They won one quarter by three, another by four, another by one and we did not win a single quarter. They make you respect the game and they make you respect the fact that they are going to play very hard, very physically. Hats off to them and our guys want to continue with this learning process. Unfortunately it is a painful one.
On the tone of the game
They came at us and kept Marc Gasol off-balance with some double teams here and there. One time they would come and strip him and another time they would fake and he would pick up the dribble. We would be standing in water there. I have to give them more credit than take from our guys. Our guys have been together for a very little time. They are trying to understand how hard you have to work in this league… the San Antonio’s, the Utah’s, the Boston’s - they show you with every possession how intent they are on stopping you and executing at the other end.
I don’t want to look at this as a downer. I want to look at this as a learning experience and I want us to grow from it. We are trying to build something here and let us apply the lessons learned over the last couple days.
On this learning experience
I think you have to remind them that the most important thing is that you are going to go through the painful learning process and the lessons learned you have to apply it. If not knowledge is power, it is the application of knowledge that is power and work ethic that are needed at this level. This is a tough, mean league. Unless you are willing to be into it mentally and physically with toughness then you are not going to come away with it with results. We have to earn the officials respect, we have to earn the opponents respect and we have to learn how to respect each other’s game and move the ball, respect each other’s game and help one another if there is a breakdown. We just have too many little breakdowns and not being able to get back on defense. I think the thing you learn from them mostly is that they are very unselfish. They have 29 assists and 41 field goals and we have 16 and 35. We are less than half and they are way over half.
On the team slump
We need to work harder and practice better. We need to work harder as a team. We have San Antonio on Monday so hopefully, we can pick it up.
On defense
We need to find a way to lock in as far as our schemes go. Hopefully we can bounce back.
Manu Ginobili’s playing on Monday
They are definitely a more dangerous team with him playing, especially on offense. He has experience.
On the loss
Those guys are going to play their style no matter what. We came out to match their energy and physical toughness.
On the Spurs
They are a tough team and they are going to be a tough task no matter what.
On struggling
We need to get back to our basic playing. We need to do what we do best.
On Grizzlies’ defense
Those guys executed on offense really well tonight. We need to settle down and get back to what we know we are good at and get everyone on the same page.
On the rotations
Our coaches are sure of what our rotations will be before the game. So it is what it is. I think we all know what our roles are and our jobs are.
On the loss
They played harder than us. They denied harder. They showed us how to play.
On the Jazz Defense
They played hard. I don’t think they played extraordinary. They played good defense at the beginning. When they tried to throw a zone at us, we had confidence but in the second quarter, we lost it.
On the win
I was really pleased with our energy. We tried to get out on the pick and roll more than we have. We needed to get out and play them harder. I think it helped us get our energy back so that we could compete. Guys off the bench stepped up and played a few minutes here and there. I thought they did a good job. We ran the floor better. We got a couple of fast breaks as we pushed the ball a little bit and got a couple of baskets that way. Hopefully they are learning how to compete on the road. It was good to see them have some success because they are playing harder.
On playing without some key players
That’s the most important thing: you can’t feel sorry for yourself. It gives other guys a chance to play and they should relish that and be ready to play when they get the opportunity. We are sorry that some guys are out. But we are still going to play the game. You have to come and compete and see if you have a chance to win the game. We have been able to win a couple of games with Deron (Williams) out, but we haven’t been able to win on the road. I deserve the same energy on the road like I do at home. Tonight, I saw more of that.
On the win
We needed to win for the confidence of the team. It was important the confidence of the individual players, for everyone to go out there and get minutes. The win on the road was big for us.
On Jerry Sloan's coaching strategy
“He did a good job of getting after us. The start was kind of slow and he changed the defense to make us work and we were able to get into a run. Then, we were able to get ahead and we started to execute.
On the win
Everyone was active on the defense end and we were able to help each other. We crashed the board and ran the floor. It was a nice game for us. We didn’t compete last night and had a tough loss. We bounced back tonight and everyone stepped up as we were able to win the ballgame.
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