POST GAME QUATES FROM THE MAVS LOCKER ROOM
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Mavs Head Coach Don Nelson Don Nelson
On game:
This is indeed one of the toughest losses I can remember as a coach. Having that big of a lead and losing, it but I’ve also been on the other end of a few. It’s a tough loss for our team, but we don’t normally lose games when we’re ahead, this is an exception to the rule by an exceptional team. I give the Lakers a lot of credit for coming back and outscoring us like no one else has done. We have only lost 3 games in 3 years that we had the lead throughout the game, the end result was they got momentum, we gave it to them by not being smart, by running a few turnovers and they got momentum, seized the moment and took advantage of it and they end up beating us. It’s a great effort by a great team in the fourth quarter.
On Lakers holding Nowitzki to five points in the fourth quarter:
I think they did a good job of taking Nowitzki out of the game. I also wasn’t running enough plays in his direction because we were playing very successful going into the fourth quarter and I thought we could regain that if we stayed with what had been working for three quarters. They made some adjustments and covered what was working in the first three quarters and the momentum changed. I think we need to go through this experience as a team, it's going to be good for us, hurts like hell right now but you also grow when you go through tough situations together and this is definitely a tough time for us.
Mavs guard Nick Van Exel Nick Van Exel
On the loss:
We choked, just flat out choked. They played like the world champs and we played scared, we played tentative and we just choked, choked.
Mavs guard Steve Nash Steve Nash
Sometimes it’s the hardest game to win, the one where it’s over in the first half and you stop playing.
On having a loss this tough:
I’m sure I have. I can’t remember. It hurts. We had it won a number of times and just stopped playing
