[rockets.com] Clippers/Rockets Post Game Quotes

http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Post_Game_Quotes_022206-169363-822.html

ROCKETS HEAD COACH JEFF VAN GUNDY

(on the defense of the L.A. Clippers) "They (Clippers) really weren't doubling Yao (Ming) very much. They did late in the clock, though, but it was more (Tracy) McGrady they doubled early for (Shaun) Livingston and I thought Tracy (McGrady) made some nice plays. Obviously we made some shots, but also Juwan (Howard) did some good things, screening the help. So, it was a combination of the 3 things."

(on the play of the Rockets' starters) "Well, I thought in the 1st half they played well, and in the 2nd half, obviously we didn't play as well. I thought our basketball IQ at the end of the game, up 11 (points), could have been a lot better..."

(on the Rockets' defense) "Well, you have to give them (the Clippers) a lot of credit, but it's not often that you get 2 guys scoring 30 (points -- Elton Brand, Cuttino Mobley) on you and you're able to win."

(on the Rockets' defense of Cuttino Mobley) "Well, it depends on which ones.
I thought the one when we were up 11 (points) was poor defense. I thought the one up 6 (points) in the corner was poor defense. I thought his 3s were poor defense. But he's a hard cover one-on-one. I know that, obviously, because I coached him. He's a very good scorer...very good."

TRACY McGRADY

(on the Rockets' efforts to get the win) "I think, for the most part, we played with a lot of passion out there. The energy was there, the intensity was there, we were focused. That was definitely a first-game-back from the All-Star break."

(on the Rockets' allowing the Clippers to make at run at them in the 2nd
half) "We kind of let our guard down a little bit. Those guys (the Clippers) made a run; we weren't getting back and they were making easy buckets. We were turning the ball over as well and they were converting on our turnovers. They made a game of it near the end, but we were fortunate enough to get the win."

(on the play of Yao Ming) "Yao (Ming) has been playing out of his mind lately. Since the guy's been back, he's been extremely aggressive, he's playing with a great deal of confidence."

(on how the team is playing better with both himself and Yao Ming healthy) "We know how good we are when the two of us are in the lineup. It showed last year. It was just a disappointing 1st half of the season. We were dealing with injuries, something that we couldn't control. Having him (Yao
Ming) back and having myself back, we're playing extremely well. In the remaining 28 games we have (left), we're definitely going to try to win a significant amount and make a push for the playoffs."

RAFER ALSTON

(on the Rockets' guards' shot selection availability) "You're always going to get good shots. When we've got 2 dominant All-Star guys on your team, I think guys just need to knock them down. David (Wesley) did a good job of knocking them down and I did a good job of pushing it. It was a total team effort. We just have to try to sustain it for 48 minutes."

(on the reason why the Rockets nearly blew their big lead in the 2nd half) "Intensity. We came out of the locker room feeling great and all of a sudden, they (LA. Clippers) made us realize it was an NBA basketball game and they came out storming. With a good team like that, you have to be ready for that kind of a run and understand that they're going to come out of the locker room with a certain kind of fire. I thought we were going to come out of the locker room and go on a 7-0 run; we all thought that we would do that. That's always the focus, but you have to start with defense instead of trying to start that with offense."

YAO MING

(on his slow start after the recent All-Star break) "I felt I struggled in the 1st quarter, particularly in my conditioning. I started to get tired really quick, but I know I have to go through it and I felt much better throughout the rest of the game. I've played one game already, but it really wasn't that bad. I felt better and I felt like in the 2nd half we played well."

(on the Rockets allowing the Clippers to get back into the game in the 2nd
half) "We wasted a lot of our lead. We have to learn that we can't always play half and half. We played totally different half and half. In the 2nd half, I think the worst thing we did was that we couldn't play focused. We kept thinking about how we were playing in the 1st half. We had 2 completely different halves against the same opponent."

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS HEAD COACH MIKE DUNLEAVY

(on his team's play) "The point of the matter is I love our effort at the end of the game. We went the first half without the effort and intensity and then we played great (in the second half). Our guys have to decide what they really want. They have to learn how to play smart to beat the good teams or we will come up short. It's been like this for us a lot this year on how we shoot the ball from outside. We have to understand who we are in order to get to the next step."

(on Yao Ming) "He's a very tough matchup for us. He has great size and agility and the skill level to get the job done."

(on the Rockets) "I think they are very good. With Yao (Ming) and (Tracy) McGrady they are a very tough team to beat."

DANIEL EWING

(on his Willowridge High School jersey being retired before the game) "It was a very special moment for me. For my high school to retire my jersey is a very big honor for me. Since I left high school five years ago this is the first time I have played in Houston and it was great for my friends and family to get a chance to see me play."

ELTON BRAND

(on the Clippers play) "We have to decide if we want to be a very good team or a great team. We've shown the talent at times but we have to learn to do it for the entire game."

(on the game) "We definitely need to turn around our rebounding and we know we're capable of it. In the second quarter our intensity fell down, with missed assignments and we took a lot of poor shots. We don't take anything away from our play at the end because we have to learn to play a full game."

CHRIS KAMAN

(on playing against Yao Ming) "He's always a tough match-up. He's a freak of nature and if he gets close to the basket it's impossible to stop him. He knows what he is doing and he gets a lot of opportunities in their offense and they know how to get him involved. He's unstoppable when he takes that fade-away jump shot."

(on the team's five game losing streak) "We've been struggling lately and we have to come out of this sooner or later. We have to take care of the basketball and not turn it over. We played well in the second half but we have to play well the whole game. We got killed on the glass."

SAM CASSELL

(on the Clipper's play) "We are still going to fight every time we go out on the court. Our season goes up and down and we are going to find a way to get it back. We don't have a monkey on our back, we have a gorilla. The game of basketball is so unbelievable. We have to help each other out to get open shots."

CUTTINO MOBLEY

(on the team's losing streak) "Definitely this was the same story. We have to play to win and not to lose and that's what separates us. You can't do it for only eight minutes but you have to do it for the entire game. I hope it's not a confidence thing with the team. We shouldn't be losing four or five games in a row and you have to get our of this thing. I'm just dwelling on these five loses right now."