Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle

Postgame Quotes February 28, 2016 Mavericks vs. Timberwolves

Bull Head Coach (

(On defense) “The defense was better than it had been in recent days. The key to the game was the starters getting off to a great start in the beginning of the game and the beginning of the second half. Parson had a huge impact game offensively, which carried us once Dirk (Nowitzki) got in foul trouble. We went to him a lot and he delivered. He played a really smart game. He really attacked well tonight.

(Expectations of Parsons offensively) “We want Chandler Parsons to be aggressive. Any player on our team is going to be a more effective offensive player of the team is getting stops. We were getting more stops tonight and that led to a good, hot start as a team and he was one of the recipients of that. He’s one of many weapons and he’s clearly one of our best players. We need him in that attacking and play-making mode. We need him to play solid and be resourceful on defense.”

(How far has Parsons come since Houston) “It was going to take time. I’ve been talking about this all along. He’s come a long way. I don’t think we’re completely out of the woods yet, but he’s right there. Now it comes down to the ability to sustain. We have some spacing between games right now, which is very helpful for him and some of our other veterans. We got to take advantage of it.”

Timberwolves Head Coach Sam Mitchell

“Well, we’re tired. Couldn’t make free throws, we just were a step slow tonight, [but] we’re just tired. We’ve got 9 guys. We’ve been playing G [Dieng], and KAT [Towns], and Andrew [Wiggins], and Zach [LaVine], Ricky [Rubio]—we’re playing these guys 38- minutes a night. We’ve got to get some help. We get tomorrow off, but we just look like a tired basketball team.”

(What do you when you’re amidst the crunch time of the season and you have tired guys?) – “Try to get them some rest, but we see a guy prepared to play—I’m not disappointed in the guys, they tried, [and] the effort was there. You could see it in their eyes. Sometimes you’re a little tired. I look at the box scores today and LeBron James is getting a night off for rest—LeBron James. There’s nobody in that locker room right now that we can rest. And some of our guys—we need to cut the minutes back a little bit, but we don’t have anybody else to put in the game right now.” (The 23 offensive rebounds is one of those signs of that effort…) – “Yeah, it was there. Getting to the free throw line; yeah, we could’ve passed better, our defense wasn’t as good, but a lot of that stuff is just mental and physical fatigue. And I appreciate the guys’ effort. They gave a hell of an effort last night against New Orleans. That was a hell of a win for us. And we got down early [tonight]. They jumped on us. We cut the lead to 7. Our guys, they don’t quit, but some nights the mind is willing, but the body just couldn’t follow tonight. So, I’m proud of the guys for the effort. They didn’t quit. But tomorrow is a much-needed day off for us—just mental and physical.”

Mavericks Forward Chandler Parsons

(On the game plan going into tonight’s matchup)

“This was a mature win for us. We haven’t had many of these games where we could blowout a team. We’ve gotten big leads, but we let the team get back in. This was huge for us, to be able to stay out of the fourth quarter. Everybody played really big minutes and now guys can get some rest. We have a little bit of practice tomorrow, lift, and ride this streak on into the next game.”

(On what the teams mindset was after going through a tough stretch)

“We were just staying confident. Obviously we haven’t been perfect and we’ve had some inconsistencies, but we are sticking together. We are still in great shape and somehow we are still in position to snag that fifth seed. It’s so competitive that every single game matters as we finish the season.”

(On what’s been the key to this stretch of success that he has been on)

“It’s a little bit of everything. I didn’t touch a basketball for six months and I knew it was going to take some time. I was able to get back and that minutes restriction was tough, trying to get in and find a rhythm. I almost felt like I was kind of ruining the team’s offensive flow just because I was stuck in there four minutes in and four minutes out. Now that I’ve gotten my regular minutes down, a set rotation, I am in game shape and as lean as I’ve been all season. I am playing at the highest level I’ve played all season. My teammates are doing a great job of finding me in the right spots and I’m just knocking down shots. ”

Timberwolves Forward Gorgui Dieng

(On fatigue in tonight’s game)

“It was a tough night. I think it has to do a lot with fatigue. We just tried to push it but we were tired.

“That’s part of playing a back-to-back.Your shots are going to be short, your rotations are going to be slow. You can fight through it, but they (the Mavericks) were just the better team tonight.”

(On playing with a short roster)

“From a team standpoint, we’re short in the rotation but you just have to keep playing. You just have to step up and be ready to play. I think we play with a lot of energy and a lot of effort but tonight it wasn’t there. We’re going to try to get ready for the next one on Wednesday.

“I’m not going to complain about playing minutes. All I can do is make sure I am ready and when I get my name called I’ll be on the floor to do my job.”