Notes from TNT’s Coverage of the NBA Playoffs – Monday, May 11, 2009
TNT’s “40 Games in 40 Nights” NBA Playoffs coverage continues on Tuesday, May 11th at 8 p.m. ET with the Orlando Magic @ Boston Celtics (Game #5), followed by the Houston Rockets @ L.A. Lakers (Game #5).
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Cleveland Cavaliers (84) @ Atlanta Hawks (74) – Cleveland wins the series 4-0.
Announcers: Dick Stockton and Mike Fratello; with Cheryl Miller reporting
Stockton following a dunk by Cavaliers forward LeBron James: “For the most part this series has been too easy for the Cavaliers…two dunks in less than thirty seconds for the LeBron James.”
Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Woodson prior to the start of the game to his team: “Listen, let’s try and win. Let’s go out and try to win a game. That’s what we have to do, bottom line, to force Game #5.”
Fratello on the Cavaliers improved team defense: “They have a great team defensive concept and then each player has turned up their defensive mindset this year to become a good individual defender.”
Fratello following a Wally Szczerbiak technical foul for complaining after a no call: “One thing that the Cavs don’t need is to get this crowd, which was semi-asleep, back involved.”
Fratello on Cavaliers forward LeBron James: “The problem in guarding LeBron James is that he doesn’t stand still. He’ll move without the basketball and his teammates look for him.”
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown on coaching LeBron James: “He kind of reminds me of Tim Duncan in terms of his basketball intellect. As a staff when we prepare whatever we are going to give the players …I know for me the one challenge that keeps me on my toes is ‘this has to make sense to LeBron’ because of his basketball intellect he will sniff out what’s right and what’s wrong in a heartbeat.”
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T-Mobile Halftime Report
Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Chris Webber and Kenny Smith
Barkley on Mavericks owner Mark Cuban shouting an insult about Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin to Martin’s mother sitting in the stands, after the Mavs loss in Game #3: “Mark Cuban is my friend, I want to preface this by saying that. But he’s 100% wrong, especially if he knew that was Kenyon Martin’s mother. Kids, wives, girlfriends, they are off limits if you know who they are.”
Webber on Mavericks owner Mark Cuban implying that Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin is a thug: “The only way you can touch a real man is through his family and through his mother. If you would look at my mother and point at her and say ‘your son, too,’ that means the way my mother raised me, that means the character she instilled in me, I’m getting upset right now thinking about it. The only time you let your son fight in this world, someone says, ‘your mama.’ You look at him like, ‘don’t fight,’ but you give him a wink, like, ‘ok.’”
Smith on Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s words to Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin’s mother: “If (Cuban) actually said it to his mom, or any family member, pointing them out, it says more about him than them. What’s the worst case scenario? Let’s say Kenyon Martin is a thug. You go to his mother or family member to say that? To me, that says more about what you’re doing than him. That’s probably one of the worse things I’ve ever seen. That’s disrespectful.”
Webber on how Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin should react to Mark Cuban: “I think it’s for every man to handle that. I’m not going to tell a man how to handle a comment on his mama, I pray he doesn’t do anything stupid, but I’m not his priest. We’re not holy.”
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Fratello on Hawks forward Marvin Williams: “Marvin Williams in the offseason was told to shoot a ton of shots by (Hawks coach) Mike Woodson. He said, ‘you’ve got to be able to expand your range, you must be another perimeter guy, people are going to zero in on Joe Johnson.’ Marvin Williams is a great athlete, but he’s got so many pieces of his game he needs to work on.”
Stockton on Cavaliers guard Delonte West: “In a lot of ways he is the heart and soul of this team.”
Fratello on the Atlanta Hawks: “They face some big decisions here, the biggest one is (Mike) Bibby being a free agent. They made it in the second round. It’s taken them five years to get to this point. You don’t want them to go backwards now.”
LeBron James, interviewed by Cheryl Miller, on facing either the Celtics or Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals: “They’re both experienced. You look at Orlando with the big guy (Dwight Howard), the Superman in the middle, and they have so many shooters around him its tough to guard him. You have to close out on their shooters but at the same time you have to worry about Dwight. And with Boston they are just very experienced, it’s a championship team and they have a lot of things going, even with KG out Big baby has been doing an unbelievable job.”
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Gamebreak:
Johnson, Smith, Barkley and Webber
Barkley on the Hawks/Cavaliers Game #4: “I’m tired of this one, this was a waste of energy here”
Barkley on the Atlanta Hawks: “Their top three, four or five players do nothing but shoot jumpers. They need to sign a big guy to make the game easier…They have to make a decision who’s team it is, whether it’s Joe Johnson or Josh Smith…They’ve got to make a decision on which one of those guys they are going to build around.”
Barkley on the impact of the comments by Dallas owner Mark Cuban to Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin’s mother: “Mark motivated them tonight. I expect them to come out and punch them in the mouth, figuratively.”
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Denver Nuggets (117) @ Dallas Mavericks (119) – Denver leads the series 3-1.
Announcers: Matt Devlin and Steve Smith; with Marty Snider reporting
Steve Smith on the Denver Nuggets improved defense: “We always knew the Denver Nuggets can score the basketball when you look at this lineup, (but) their commitment to getting stops, possession after possession, and being able to play their guy one-on-one.”
Steve Smith of the Nuggets triple penetration hurting the Mavericks: “The Dallas Mavericks can not keep these guards of the Nuggets out of the lane. Bad things happen to your defense once somebody breaks it down; it’s either layup, or foul or easy jump shot.”
Steve Smith on the improved game of Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony since his Olympic experience: “He has a calmness about him, he’s not rushing. I think the first four or five years in this league everything was rushing, everything at a fast pace. It’s the same way on the basketball court, he plays at his pace now.”
Steve Smith on the improved defense of Carmelo Anthony: “It’s hard to say it’s a coming out party for a player like Carmelo Anthony, who’s already great, but this playoffs is still another chapter of his coming out party for what he is doing defensively.”
Steve Smith on the quick scoring Denver Nuggets offense: “This Denver Nuggets team can score 10, 12 points quicker than any other team in the Playoffs right now.”
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T-Mobile Halftime Report
Announcers: Johnson, Barkley, Webber and Smith
Barkley on the high amount of flagrant fouls being called in the Playoffs: “I think overall the officials they are just overreacting to everything…They get caught up in the moment or the emotion…They are trying to control the game instead of letting the game be played. There are going to be physical plays, but physical and dirty are two different things…Refs are like jocks, we all say the same thing ‘we don’t read the newspaper, we don’t watch television’, but that is the biggest lie in the world.”
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Steve Smith on Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki: “Dirk Nowitzki looks like he is playing HORSE; he’s shooting the one legged fadeaways.”
Steve Smith on Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups: “What you love about Chauncey Billups is he understands time and possession. He gets other guys involved but still knows when its time to take over.”
Steve Smith on Dallas forward Antoine Wright’s technical foul with six minutes late: “You have to understand the score. You also have to understand that is (NBA referee) Steve Javie and you can not wave off any referee.”
Dirk Nowitzki, interviewed by Marty Snider, on Dallas’ Game #4 victory: “We didn’t want to go home, we talked about it, we have some pride in this team. We’ve had an up and down year but we’re not done yet, we played for one more chance and we are going up go up to Denver and let it all hang out again.”
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Inside the NBA presented by Hyundai
Announcers: Johnson, Barkley, Webber and Smith
Barkley on Mavericks making the series against the Nuggets competitive: “Denver is clearly in the driver’s seat, but the Mavs are going to compete. Denver, you’re going to see what kind of killer instinct they have. I’m looking forward to the game on Wednesday.
Kenny Smith on the Nuggets needing to maintain control the win the series: “We’ll see if (the Nuggets) unravel here. The only way they lose this game at home is if they unravel internally, they have technical fouls, guys get out of control. That’s the only way they lose this game in Denver.”
Webber on the Nuggets needing to head into Game #5 with caution: “Denver really has to be careful. I’m a big believer in Denver, but they are a team we can jump off the bandwagon real quick. For instance, if the next game is really ugly and Dallas comes out and tries to pump them up and have them come off and do something different, they wouldn’t want to go back that way, but I think (the Nuggets) are in the driver’s seat right now.”
Barkley on the Cavaliers facing either Boston or Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals: “Cleveland is going to be the favorite; I think Cleveland beats both of those teams. LeBron James is on a mission, and I don’t think either one of those teams is good enough to win in Cleveland. Cleveland is going to beat both of those teams.”
Webber on if the Cavaliers would prefer to play Boston or Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals: “If there is a team who deserves it, it seems like Cleveland deserves it. They are playing like they deserve the companionship. I think they overmatch either team, but I would not play a team with Kevin Garnett anytime. If I could play a team without their best player, if (Cleveland) could get a team without that powerful, dominating center the hole would be open for guys to come in, but it really doesn’t’ matter because they are so powerful.”
Smith on Orlando and Boston bringing a different mentality to playing the Cavaliers than Detroit and Atlanta did: “I like Cleveland, you like Cleveland because of what they’ve done. But they actually played two teams who really didn’t fight back. Boston and Orlando will fight back. It will be a different series, it won’t be a 4-0 series, they won’t sweep, they will have to go through some adversity. I believe when both teams (Detroit and Atlanta) went down 0-2 in the first and second rounds, they didn’t fight back, they didn’t have the fortitude. They hadn’t been there before, they really didn’t want to be there, they were happy being in the playoffs and they were happy being in the second round. These two teams want a championship if you’re Orlando or are used to championships if you are Boston, so a different pedigree in the Conference Finals.”
Webber on Lakers center Andrew Bynum returning to the playoffs after being injured: “I’ve come back hurt in the playoffs. A lot of it can be up there (mentally) because you don’t have your timing and you’re worried about the way your body is moving. If (Andrew Bynum) meets a Nene in the playoffs or he meets other guys that run, it’s even not about the confidence of shooting, it turns into confidence of running, planting and stopping. Not having (Bynum) last year and him not being dominant, even just getting the rebound, going up and dunking, sometimes though play is more than two points and I don’t see that (from him) right now.”
Smith on what Lakers center Andrew Bynum needs to do to improve: “When you’re struggling, you get in the gym. You’re the first one to get there, the last one to leave and the biggest point of being a better player and getting your game back? Come back at night. After practice, you come back at 8 or 9 o’clock, and you get in the gym like it’s summertime and you work on your moves and you get your summertime confidence back. You’ve got to get in the gym, period.”
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