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After Al Horford Game 1 of the Mavericks-Jazz series both teams spoke to media directly and here’s what they had to say:

Jason Kidd

(On the guard play of Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwiddie…)

“They were great this afternoon. Offensively, they found guys [and] got shots but our defense gave us the chance to win this game. A lot of good, not just from those two, but from the team.”

(On the team’s ability to create looks without Luka Dončić in the lineup…)

“I thought we could be better at it. That’s an area we’ll talk about tomorrow because there’s a lot of wide-open looks for us. We just have to be a little bit patient. But the looks that we got coming down the stretch, we would normally make those. That’s just the game of basketball; sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. But I thought overall, we slowed the game down and gave ourselves a chance to win without Luka [Dončić] and that really just shows the sign of a good team.”

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(On getting out-rebounded…)

“I think we talked about it before the game and through the week — we’ve got to rebound the ball. We have to do a better job as smalls to get back and help. That’s something that, again, we knew was going to be an issue, especially playing small. I thought that the guys fought. That’s just something that we’ve got to get better at. If we can do that, then hopefully that will put us in a better seat to win.”

(On the third-quarter play of Donovan Mitchell…)

“No [I don’t think we lost control]. A lot of them were 2s. I think when you look at what they do well, they shoot the 3. And 2s in this league, they can help you win but when you’re a team that shoots the 3, they’re the No. 1 offensive team in the league. The things that we did defensively without Luka [Dončić] being able to rebound for us and participate defensively, I thought the game plan was great. They didn’t score 100 points and when you do that in today’s basketball, it tends to give you a chance to win. We just didn’t have enough offensive power coming down the stretch.”

Jalen Brunson

(On shooting 38% from the field…)

“You have to give them credit, they followed the game plan and made things difficult. There were a lot of easy looks there, a lot of great looks, just missed them.”

(On cleaning up rebounds…)

“Just focus on getting Rudy off the glass, that’s the biggest part of it. Fifteen boards is a lot for defensive rebounds, so getting the rebound, I think, is our carry over into game two.”

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(On adapting to Rudy Gobert…)

“I think we have to do a better job of making the easi Ben Simmons er shots. We missed a lot of easy shots and made a lot of hard shots. We just have to keep our focus when it comes to that. He’s a great defensive player. He got defensive player of Blake Griffin the year for a reason, so follow our game plan and stick together.”

Spencer Dinwiddie

(On the quality of shots mavs city jersey 2022 without Luka Dončić …)

“Probably a little worse than what it is when he is in, but we got some open looks in the corner for Maxi [Kleber], Josh [Green] and [Reggie] Bullock hit a couple threes. We had a chance, we had them under a hundred points, shout out to them”

(On rebounds in the next game…)

“Just rebound, everybody has to get back, get in there and send five guys to the board opposed to their two or three. We know Royce [O’Neale] is going to crash in the corners, Bojan [Bogdanovic] may crash and obviously [Rudy] Gobert and [Hassan] Whiteside are going to be in there. We just have to send all five and make sure we get the defensive rebound.”

(On taking away Luka Dončić’s offensive production…)

“I think also personally we lost by six, I missed six free throws right so we are right there. If anything this should be encouraging for the fan base in my opinion. We are disappointed in the locker room. This isn’t a game that we felt like- obviously give them credit-they went out there and won the game. [Bojan] Bogdanovic played great, [Donovan] Mitchell played great, but we had a chance to win it and we just didn’t do it. Myself, obviously first and foremost, feels li NBA Pet Gearke it’s inexcusab luka doncic jerseys mens le in playoff games to miss six free throws. Obviously, if you make those given the time period and they are coming down and hitting shots within two minutes, one minute to go. They are down four and cutting it to two and now we are the ones holding the ball getting fouled, so it flips the game. All and all, looking at it, like I said you knock down one more corner three and things of that nature and with them having their two best scorers go for 30 basically and still hold them under a hundred, I think overall there is a lot of room for optimism.”

Dorian Finney-Smith

(On keeping Utah off the boards after being out-rebounded…)

“Rebounding was one of the things Coach [Jason Kidd] talked about. We really just need to keep them off the offensive glass. Those second-chance points are big, especially the threes.”

(On forcing Utah to take mid-range shots…)

“I think our defense gave us a chance. Regardless of the rebounding, I think we still gave ourselves a pretty good chance to win the game. If we make a couple more threes and free-throws and it will be a different story. They were the better team tonight.”

Quin Snyder

(On what plays stood out to allow the team to come out on top tonight…)

“I think, not to diminish the importance of plays and execution, I think our group continued to attack. Obviously, Bojan [Bogdanovic] in the post, don’t know how many times he shot it, but I thought his wiliness to pass out of the post. When they went small, you guys realize teams go small against us sometimes, we outrebounded them by twenty rebounds.

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“A part of that is when teams do go small for us to use our strengths. It may seem like a really small thing, but Hassan Whiteside in a minute and a half got us a couple stops and an offensive rebound put back and those are the kind of plays that actually have the exact opposite effect of, let’s say, turning it over and giving up a three. There were some moments like that where I thought our mental toughness was challenged and we really responded.

(On Rudy Gobert’s defense tonight…)

“Rudy gets evaluated on a lot of different things sometimes two of them at the same time. The fact we’re even making that analysis of guy that can actually protect the rim and go out and contest the three says a lot about what’s he’s capable of doing. His ability to do that is essential on how we play defense. It’s not always going to work because the other teams are executing, they’re making shots, but I don’t know. For a guy that plays as hard as he did for a course of the game have a couple of guys blocking him out, to continue to run, and only get one shot, he got some free-throws obviously, but to stay as locked in as he was. If we can outrebound teams by twenty rebounds at some point people are going to have to think a little harder about going small.”

Donovan Mitchell

(On what he did better in the second half offensively…)

“Just being in attack mode. I came out a little too passive. Within the same respect, Bojan [Bogdanović] was rolling so I kind of let him go and not force the game. I didn’t feel like I was out of control or anything. Bojan had it going so I got to go out there and make the right plays. The shots weren’t falling so it’s all good, so come out in the second half, be ready to go, 2020-21 NBA City Jerseys and be in attack mode.”

Rudy Gobert

(On how the Mavs were able to hold him to one field goal attempt…)

“(laughs) That was good. I don’t know. They weren’t really pulling in on every one of my rolls. I do hope I get more next game but, at the same time, for the most part of the game, I thought we moved the ball. We talk about sacrifice: that’s what it’s about. One night it’s going to be me, one night it might be someone else, but, at the end of the day, we kept moving the ball, and that’s what matters.”

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