Postgame Quotes-vs. Houston 03/21/04 

  Rick Adelman

  “We just really played well  the second half – fourth quarter – actually
  I thought the third quarter we played really well too until the last minute
  and a half when they got  six straight points.  I don’t know what is going
  on in the first half  – I’ve been trying to figure it out –  but we made
  big plays down the stretch,  moved the ball well down the stretch, got more
  active defensively. Houston played well.  Obviously Vlade’s shot was huge.
  It’s a solid win. We need to just keep winning, and backing up the Indiana
  game, we needed to win today.”

  When asked what he attributes the slow starts to in the last four games:
  “I have no idea. I don’t know; we’ve talked to them about it… I think
  one of the things is  we aren’t really  very active  or aggressive defen
  -sively.  The teams get off to where they’re  just kind of running their
  stuff and getting shots.  I think that’s one of the problems. We need to
  pick our intensity up at the start of the game and be more active and not
  be so reactionary and be more aggressive and we don’t do it until we get
  down. That’s probably one of the biggest reasons I see.”

  On adjusting the starting line-up:
  “I don’t put it all on Vlade – there’s four other guys on the floor and
  they’ve got to go out and play too. If I want to get Brad on the floor for
  as much as possible, it’s easier to do that if he starts.  You can get him
  38 to 40 minutes  if he starts and you can bring Vlade in  for a ten minute
  stretch while you alternate Webb(er) and Brad. Right now, it’s hard to get
  Brad more than  36 minutes  because he comes in  and plays  the rest of the
  half.  So that’s one reason why I’m thinking about it – if I want him on
  the floor more,  you want Vlade to play a steady stretch,  but then when he
  comes in the game he’s got to be ready to play.  I’ve been thinking about
  it – maybe we’ll do it sometime.”

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Peja Stojakovic

  "(On game turnaround) Effort, it was effort on the defensive end. We kept
  trying and trying.  We knew even if we struggled on the offensive end, we
  could keep getting offensive rebounds with effort  and we'd be okay.  The
  intensity of the game was great; it felt like a playoff game.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Vlade Divac 

  “It was one of the options, when I shot the ball I felt pretty good. Most
  of the time I don’t feel that good about those shots, usually air balls.”

  Defense on Yao Ming:
  “Well I tried to  come out  and be really  aggressive,  it is really hard
  playing defense against him, he can score so many different ways. Yao will
  be fine playing against me, it is difficult, I am tricky on defense.”

  On the slow starts:
  “I don’t know the reason, we have been trying to find out why.”

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Chris Webber

  “I think that Vlade’s three was  what put on us on top for good,  and
  Peja’s outstanding shooting  really helped out.  We rebounded well and
  turned up the defense in the second half.  They made some shots that we
  usually give up to them.  Our plan was to make certain people shoot and
  those certain people  hit their shots,  so you have games like that and
  we are just happy that we pulled out the win in a tough game like that.”

  “I think we really showed the resilience of our team, the team work, and
  shows what we can do.  It showed that we can pull out the win and that we
  got guys that can make the big shot.”

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  HOUSTON ROCKETS

  Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy:
  "We were not  at our best  when we needed our best.  We missed  a lot of
  layups. In the fourth quarter, Yao (Ming) didn’t play a whole lot. They
  take away the paint, we’re going to have to shoot the ball and shoot it
  better. We had chances to widen to cushion but missed.  We had some turn
  -overs again. We have to play better.  It’s not just one thing. We have
  to have  more resolve.  And we don’t have resolve  to finish right now.
  They just  play better than  we did the  last three quarters.  Give them
  credit."

  Guard Steve Francis:
  "You want every game. And this is definitely one of the games that we let
  slip away. I thought we played hard.  We gave it our all. We were intense
  throughout the game.  And you know what, man?  Hopefully,  we can learn a
  lesson from this that execution is very important. Because I don’t think
  we executed like we needed to late. We’ve had a lot of turnovers."

  Forward Jim Jackson:
  "Playing  on the road  against a  championship-caliber team,  when you got
  them, you have to make sure you keep them down. If the come back to within
  two or three points, at home, they become confident. For us, if we want to
  be a team that contends  for a championship one day,  we have to learn how
  to close out games.   Offensive  execution,  getting key rebounds  when we
  needed key stops.  When we went on our five-game win streak,  we did those
  things. "


  http://www.nba.com/kings/news/Postgame_Quotesvs_Houston_03-103741-58.html