"I think it started the last three minutes of the first quarter. You look at the gap, 25-16 with 1:40 ... from that point on, everything was on their terms. You look at the game as whole, they score 44 points on extra possessions -- whether it's second chance points or turnovers, which were obviously a huge problem. After that, 62 points in the paint, 30 points on the break, 34 points off pick-and-roll.
"The game changed obviously in the second quarter. Turnovers, not moving the ball and defensively giving up easy paint scores. And then, once we lost the lead and they totally became the instigators and aggressors. To me, Tony Allen and Quincy Pondexter changed the whole game just by playing hard guys. And then when we came back in, subbed back in, we never trusted the pass, our effort started to wane. The third quarter they score six straight like that. Tony Allen, slash-cut, Tony Allen offensive rebound, Zach Randolph gets an offensive rebound.
It was a very, very disappointing effort, other than the initial start. You score 30 points against the second best defensive team, we had nine or 10 assists, the ball was moving, we took care of the ball and then it was the total opposite. At least that group that finished the game, at least played hard, competed, shared the basketball, tried -- at least they played with more purpose than our group did as a whole.
"There are no secrets to what [the Grizzlies are] going to do. Tony is going to shoot the gap on every baseline screen, they're going to deny and get into your body on all dribble screens and dribble handoffs, all ball reversals they're going to try to deny.
"So what do you need to do? You have to own your space, you got to set your man up, you have to screen bodies, you have to execute what you do. When you don't do that, then you give them what we call gifts.
"So you have to give them credit -- but that's what they do. That's why to me, Tony Allen, c'mon man, that's why this guy is really good. Because it's not about shots, it's not about stats, it's about Ws. Pondexter, all he did is play hard.
"We just lost our way. To me it's just disappointing just in terms of -- we haven't had a ton of games like this, but just playing with more resolve. It's easy when you're leading. when things start going south, we need a better response. At least the group that finished, at least you saw the fight, you could feel the energy, it doesn't matter what the score is, you have to compete every play."
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