Celtics-Hornets Post-Game Quotes New Orleans Hornets Head Coach Monty Williams On the biggest factors of the road win: “Well the defense in the fourth quarter, that we had ten consecutive stops in the fourth, and Robin just held it down tonight inside – we had a number of guys – Chief did a pretty good job on paul Pierce, I think they had 15 points in the fourth quarter. And our rebounding off those stops was pretty good for us. And guys just made plays. I think they had an off night shooting the ball, but overall I thought it was a great team win. We had so many guys that played tonight, and they made big time contributions. Things that don’t show up on the stat sheet but things we recognize as a coaching staff. On the guards, and Roberts’ injury: “That’s why your player development is so important. I thought Austin did a better job of handling the ball. Roger played more minutes. Donald Sloan even got a chance to play some. But after a while it just came down to Grevis sucking it up and playing more minutes than we wanted him to play on a back-to-back, but he’s done that for us for a while. We’re just thankful to get the win. Sometimes you make decisions and they work out and you look better than you should. Bottom line is, players just make plays. On Austin Rivers becoming the player he’s been trying to get going for quite some time: “It’s close. You know, wen hes defending like that, running the floor, attacking the basket – everything he did tonight was from the inside. That doesn’t mean he can’t shoot jump shots, but he’s so much more effective when he’s attacking the basket and I thought he did a decent job against one of the better small forwards of this era in Paul Pierce. When he plys with energy like that and he’s tough and effective for us – we just need him to do that more consistently. On winning a road trip on the East Coast 2-1 being a met goal: “You know me. I’m just glad to get the win. I’m not gonna make much out of it. With a young team, we’re just worried about the here and now. We did have a good trip. But at the same time I’m only going to enjoy this for two more hours and then I’m getting ready for the next game. I’m just thankful for the win. We certainly need more trips like this to help us – it’s good for our young guys to understand that you have to go into places like this in this kind of atmosphere to win games. The way we did it tonight is something we can build on. On the pressure on Austin Rivers: “Well I’m sure he hadn’t slept in about three or four days. That’s a tough one, you know, playing against your Dad, your Mom’s in the house, I’m screaming at him, and he goes out there and keeps his poise. I don’t understand that kind of pressure. I didn’t grow up in that. The only guy I know that’s close to that is Grant Hill to have all that pressure to perform like that, but this is a different deal. I’m just glad we got the win, and I’m sure that he can enjoy it better because we won the game.” On this as a sense of achievement/growth: “I’m sure there’s some confidence there. But if you look at our record, we’re in no position to laud or to be happy about a couple of wins. We’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m more concerned about our next practice, how our guys prepare and come focused to our next practice. That’ll tell me a lot about our growth. If we come in and think that we’ve arrived and achieved something greater than we have, than we haven’t grown the way I think we have.” On Austin Rivers as a one-on-one player: “Well that’s what he’s done his whole life. How good is he? I don’t know – he’s only played three months in the NBA. He has the ability to get to the basket - once he starts knocking his jump shot down a little more consistently we’ll find out. He’s a talented kid. He works at it – he’s had his struggles like most rookies, but we’ll see. Time will tell. On Rivers being an eager learner: “He has no choice. I’ll just leave that at that.” On Rivers’ confidence and performance tonight: “Maybe it gave him confidence when he got called to go into the game. He didn’t know when he was going in. And I’m sure with Eric being out tonight, he knew he was going to play. His mind was probably in a different place. He’s just gotta be ready when called. Anytime you get a win on the road in a game like this, which is pretty unique for a guy playing against his Dad, I’m sure that builds some confidence.” On coming back after being down in the first quarter: “Well we started the game jacking some jump shots. We couldn’t get past Bradley. And with so much pressure on Grevis and we just talked about attacking the basket, and even Ryan was going to the basket, and I thought that set the tone for us. He and Jason were diving and going to the basket and Robin had some stuff inside and that really helped us – and Chief, he always plays that way. That gave us a chance to get to the free throw line and set our defense. Grevis, when he can run the offense that way, if he can get past the first line of defense, it helps our team. We couldn’t get past the first line in the first quarter.” Austin Rivers Re: What did you feel like out there: “I felt good, just to go out there and compete. You know, at the end of the day I knew it was a different game and I didn’t try to pretend like it wasn’t. And I think that helped me, because I went out and there and I was just like concentrate, it’s a normal game, because then you’re just thinking too much. You know, I just tried to go out there like you know what, I’m playing against a team I know, I’m going against my father, let’s have fun and compete, and help my team, and let’s just see what happens, and I think that helped me tonight. And the team really did the same thing, and we really came out and competed. For us to come out here and beat a team like that after a back to back shows growth.” Re: How much does your father hate losing: “Well, he does hate losing because he’s a competitor, and that’s where I get a lot of my competitiveness from, just being around him. And I know, he’s obviously down because it’s his job, and part of him is probably happy because I played better and we won, not that we won, but that I played better. So it’s all good.” Re: Is it nice to have this behind: “Yeah, you know, I can just be like alright, finally, just went out there and played, and played well. Just move forward. Just keep going. You know what I mean, this game’s out the way and I can just go home and get my mind right because we play a good team, I think we play Golden State in a day and a half. So it’s like 48 hours we have another game. So that’s the thing about the league, can’t ever get too hot, you can’t ever get too low. And the same thing I said before the game where I was like I’ve got to keep my head up, and now I’ve got to keep my head, I’ve to stay in it. You know, so I just got to keep going.” Re: Will the next time be easier: “Oh yeah. We play them at home next time so it will be a different. But yeah, going forward, now that this is out of the way it will be a lot easier. I can just go out there and not worry about, oh man this is weird, because I’ve already been there before so I just have to go out there and compete.” Re: Did you say anything to each other during the game: “No. I was talking to the players a lot. You know, KG’s obviously talking. Courtney Lee and I are very close so me and him were talking the whole game. Jason Terry, and all those guys who I’ve known. I talked to him. But my Dad didn’t really say anything to me. Just you know, before and after the game that he loved me. And he just told me to go out there and compete, so I did.” Re: Did it help you to know this team: “Well yeah, I know it’s like a scouting report.