[monty55555]

Some great quotes from the Mavs:

JASON KIDD:

I'm exhausted and I just watched this game. I can only imagine what it must have been like to play in it.

Well, fortunately we don't have another one tomorrow. We get to rest and enjoy the new year. I thought it was a team effort. We were down big in the first but guys didn't quit. We kept fighting and we were hoping that with Minnesota being young we could hopefully use our experience to get back into it.



The biggest comeback in Mavs history, where does it rank in your career?
Umm , it's up there. It just shows that there are two halves and we played terrible in that first one. Then we played like the Mavericks in that second half. That's something we can build on going into '09.

When you look at how hard you had to play in that second half, you probably had to play more minutes especially with JJ out. Were you wondering how you were going to hold up?
I told coach I could go the whole second half if he needed me too. They found me a little break, but I wanted to get back in there. Everyone wanted to play and that is something that when you're down you want to see who is on board and everyone was. JET, J-Ho made big shots, Dirk played great, Damp, Gana... We got it from everybody. That's what we need if we are going to be one of the best teams in the league.

Coach watched most of this one from his office. Did that inspire you, fire you guys up at all?
We didn't know if coach just wanted to celebrate 2009 a little early, or if he just didn't want to see that basketball we were playing live and in person. I think for us being a veteran ball club we saw what we had to do. We had to regroup and that's what we did at halftime. Guys came out and played great in the second half.

JASON TERRY:

Largest comeback in Mavs history. You helped spur it with 29. It had to be so much fun out there.
So much fun. All the glory goes to God though, he gave us the strength and the energy. I thought the fans though, the fans propelled us to this victory. We didn't want to let them down going into '09. We could have easily blamed it on a west coast trip, lethargy or whatever, but we found the energy. Coach got ejected so you know that gave us a little spark. We came back out after half and played defense. That was the difference tonight.

Tell us about your mindset coming off the bench.
It's all about doing your job. We talked about that in training camp. Each individual has to do their job within a team concept and do it consistently on a night in and night out basis. That's what has taken my game to another level.

You said it was all about the defense and we were able to see that.
Yeah, we're in the top five in transition points, but you can't get that done unless you get stops on the defensive end. Look at the job Dampier did on Al Jefferson tonight. He said, "We don't need a double team. I can cover him one-on-one." That was tremendous.

Talk about Jason Kidd...
I've got to tell you, this guy has added four or five years onto my career. I don't have to work (laughter). Any time you are out there on the floor you just have to stay alert. If you get out and run the lanes he is going to make your job easy on you.

Talk about the fans. They were down just like you guys, but at the end of the game you were running off the court high fiving them.
Yeah, because we fed off the energy of the crowd. They are a young team, so we knew that if we could just get an 8-0 or 10-0 run they could lose confidence. We let them get confidence early, and they got off to a great start. But give credit to us, we dug deep and it worked out.

You guys had to remind them who you were.
Yeah, big brother showed up big in the second half. I think we just have to continue to work. Defensively is where this team has a large room to improve. If we can continue to do that in '09 the sky is the limit.

JAMES SINGLETON:
i'm exhausted and I just watched this game. I can only imagine what it must have been like to play in it.
Oh yeah, we couldn't sit down. In the first half we were a little down in the beginning but once we got it going we couldn't stop.

You came and igave some energy minutes, spelled some guys. Everyone did their part tonight.
Oh yeah, it doesn't matter how many minutes we play. Everyone did a great job today -- from the bottom to the top.

What was it like when coach Carlisle got ejected? Did you sense it firing up the team?
Yeah, I mean it lets you know that if Coach is going to step up like that and get ejected then we have to win this game. There is no choice.

What was it like at halftime?
We were down but we weren't out. We already knew.

Talk about the play of Jason Kidd tonight.
Finished the game with sixteen assists. I mean he was everywhere. The passes that he makes, the finishing. That was like one of the best games I've ever been involved in.

What does a comeback like this do for the confidence, and how will you be able to draw on this?
We're on our way up. Beginning of the season we were down, but it's about to get fun. Real fun.

For more: http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2008/12...back-in-mavs-h