Grizzlies 86, Orlando 84

Post-game quotes

Grizzlies

Head Coach Marc Iavaroni

On the win:
“We did a much better job in the second half. I think it was evident that the only way we were going to come up with the victory. There were some mild swings – 60 percent field goal percentage defense in the first half, 39 in the second. So obviously we did a much better job. We fought and we took them out of their pick-and-rolls. They were hurting us in the first half. We straightened it out and the guys responded. That’s a good sign for a young team.”

I felt like we deserved it. I felt we shouldn’t have to go to overtime to get it and there was one guy in the building I wanted to have that shot and it was Rudy Gay. We had some other options. Conley smelled it as well. We got the ball, and we had enough time outs and good execution by the whole team.

On Rudy Gay:
“Obviously, it was the Rudy (Gay) show. They just loaded up on him. So the impurity was going 1-on-5 because that’s what they had committed to. They thought that they could guard one-on-one. He made some good plays. He made some incredible shots and the last one was the winner. Credit to him on the offense.”

On substitution:
“We went offense, defense. We felt that the Q(uinton Ross) was giving us great defensive effort and we really needed that, more than we needed the offense because of Rudy Gay because of the other guys. We committed to that. We came back with O.J. (Mayo) and some offensive possessions. Once we went back to defense, we went back with Q. There is a big reason why he is on this team.”

Rudy Gay

On the win:
“It was great for our team. We needed that. We are a team of firsts, there are going to be a lot of them. Hopefully we can keep it rolling.”

On his game-winning shot:
“I didn’t have the chance to think it was off (the line). I was thinking the whole time that I practice this a lot so I’m going to go out there and do what I practice.”

On the team’s growth:
“I feel like our whole team grew up. Darrell (Arthur) is growing every game. He is a great player who gives us what we need. Marc Gasol played great defense on Dwight (Howard). Hakim (Warrick) came in and gave us energy. Kyle (Lowry) came in and was thinking the game as the point guard is supposed to do. We are definitely growing as a team.”

O.J. Mayo

On his first home game:
“It was really exciting. I think we really matured as a team.”

On the development of the team:
“It is really fun because we are all growing and we really matured tonight, going into halftime down by 12 and later by 16. We kept chipping away with our defense and we cut the lead down to seven going into the fourth quarter. Before you know it, it’s a two point game going down the stretch.”

Darrell Arthur

On winning the home opener:
“That was a great effort by the team. Rudy (Gay) stepped up and hit a big time shot in the first game I start, so I can’t really complain.”

On the team’s development:
“I think it’s great. We did a great job of coming out with force. As a rookie, being a part of this is fun. A lot of guys here are under the age of 25 so it is like being back in college again.”

Magic

Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

On the loss:
“The biggest thing was that we were lucky to have it tied at the end. It was a bad play call by me, and a bad decision by Hedo (Turkoglu). I’ll take the blame. Last year we never had adversity hit. We got off to such a good start, that when even when we lost some games, our record was still good. This is the first time we’ve really seen some adversity since I’ve been here. Turnovers and forced shots killed us tonight. When the game was on the line, we didn’t even jump for the rebounds. We forced shots on drives; people were wide open to kick out to on defense. Things went so well for us last year that now that it’s hard now, we haven’t handled it well.

We have to get back to moving the ball, I just don’t understand it. We had no energy, no ball movement. If we’re not moving the ball and playing together we’re going to struggle, and tonight we didn’t. We just couldn’t buy a shot in the second half, and when that happened we panicked. Our free throw shooting was terrible tonight. If we’re going to score in the 80s, we’re not going to win games. With five guys who played together coming back, I felt we’d be ok early. We’re in a bad frame of mind right now. The Grizzlies really fought to stay in the game tonight, even when they were down 15."