Here is what Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy and Bucks Head Coach Scott Skiles told the media after Orlando’s victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.
"“I was really really happy with that win. Number one because I have tremendous respect for the Bucks and the way they play…if they’re not the best coached team in the league they’re certainly right there with anybody and they play hard every single night. And so, to go out and defend them the way we did, I thought the last 15 minutes of the first half, our defense was outstanding. Obviously, we got off to a very poor start and their energy was great, they played great. But I thought the last 15 minutes of their first half our defense was great. Then we started the second half three or four minutes of not playing well, but then I thought the third quarter our defense was very, very good. Obviously, we had pretty balanced scoring, we got double-doubles from Dwight and Vince. Vince had seven assists, I meant a lot of good things tonight, so pretty happy. Plus, I thought we guarded their free throws very well. Very well, I mean they shot under 50 percent at the line. We’ve been working on some things and I thought we were outstanding.”"
On Vince Carter, J.J. Redick and Matt Barnes
"“Seven assists tonight, 10 rebounds, there’s not much to fault there. We left him on the floor for a long, long time tonight, which was good. He hasn’t been picking up huge minutes so that’ll push his conditioning out a little bit. So, I thought it was all good tonight. I thought he was good, I liked the fact that he put in a lot of minutes tonight. I thought J.J. was excellent too, as was Matt. I thought Matt in the second quarter, I thought his intensity defensively was a big key. I don’t really have a fault with anybody who played tonight.”"
On Vince Carter’s start
"“Well I think it certainly helps, but I do think he can’t be, hopefully, beholden to that. You know, sometimes when you’re in a slump you have to get off to a good start or you just think, oh, it’s going to be another one of those nights. I think that he’s got to get away from that. He has to remember who he is. He had one bad month, but this guy has had an unbelievable career. Almost 19,000 points, he’s averaged 23 points a game for his career. This is a guy who’s had unbelievable success. That’s what defines him, not one month. I think he’s got to keep that in mind, who he is and what he’s done and go out there and play with great confidence every night. It’s a lot easier for me to say probably than for him to do, struggling, because he wants to do well. But he has to remember who he is.”"
On J.J. Redick’s confidence
"“He always said and he’s finally there, I think we you talk to him, I think he would tell you what’s changed is he knows he’s going to be in there every night. If you look back, he had some bad shooting games in that stretch where we losing but he’s still going to be in there every night. I think that’s allowed him to relax…I don’t think he’s ever lacked confidence in his ability to put the ball in the basket, but he does a lot more than that now too…He’s a lot more than just a shooter now, he’s a lot better basketball player.”"
On Jason Williams
"“J-Will as a starter, not to have a turnover, that’s so key for us. He didn’t take a lot of shots, but very efficient…got some assists, five assists, didn’t turn the ball over, that’s key. I thought he was in control of that game. He’s touting his defensive ability because Brandon Jennings was 1-for-7 and he feels like he’s been a very overlooked defender throughout his career. He’s been comparing himself in a football analogy to Ed Reed. I don’t know if the analogy fits or not, you can decide.”"
On Dwight Howard’s pick-and-roll defense
"“He’s the best I’ve been around as a Center. He‘s an outstanding pick-and-roll defender because he can really move his feet for a big guy. He gets you at the point of the pick-and-roll and makes it tough and if you do get around, you‘ve still got to score over him. He can make it very very tough on guards. Dwight can do everything defensively, he‘s not just a shot-blocker. There‘s nothing defensively he‘s not capable of doing and when he puts his mind to it, he‘s pretty darn good. ”"
Bucks Head Coach Scott Skiles also had interesting things to say.
On why the Bucks lost
"“We got off to a decent start and we had some pretty good ball movement, but we can see our guys even winding down a little bit during that period of time. They basically outplayed us on every spot on the floor, except for the first few minutes of the game. They played much better than us and deserved to win.”"
On Dwight Howard
"“You may pump fake him once. He may occasionally jump into you and you may get a foul, but as I said we were a little stubborn when we kept trying to go at him. Unless you have the athleticism to elevate above the rim and go in there and try and punch it on him, he’s going to knock most of those out of there.”"
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)