Mike Montgomery Quotes (110 Quotes)

The experience of, for anybody, being a head coach, having to make the decisions, I just think it helps your understanding of the whole process. Just confidence and making his own decisions and being in charge, I think it helps everybody.

Ike was going to have to work his way into the rotation with the guys we've got back. Any rookie needs experience. It's not something you step in and dominate. The best place for that would have been exhibitions, but that's not available to us, so we have to go to Plan B.

We needed this win very badly. It was probably a little surprising that it came in Miami as compared to some other places.

The difference between tonight and 15 other games was we made big plays. You've got to give Jason Richardson credit. He made two big baskets down the stretch. He wanted to make them.

We're having a really hard time defending people right now. You can't give up 60 percent. You can't give up second shots. We're just making too many mistakes.

The other area is certainly an area for debate. We'll just have to see it plays out. I understand both sides of the argument.

The difference is astronomical in how you evaluate yourself and how you're evaluated in those situations. But that's just the way it is. We just got to stay positive. You really got to guard against defeatism, if that's a word.

But they're really taking individual challenges personally. We've had some crummy shooting nights, yet you look up and we're in the game with a chance to win. And that's what defense will do for you.

We came out and played like we were playing in training camp, where our offense was clicking and they were really getting at it defensively, but then got tired and started committing lazy fouls and mistakes.

We're having a miserable time starting games. I don't know what the answer is. ... I just don't understand what our mentality is.

MP is capable of defending -- he's got the size, quickness and wherewithal to defend.

I thought we were better on defense tonight it gave us confidence,

The obvious thing is we get three shots at the end but we never should have been in that situation. We should have had a lead early and been able to sustain and get away from them.

Kobe Bryant is a load down the stretch. We had some opportunities to make plays down the stretch but couldn't get it done.

We've just got to make sure we're not going to do anything that's going to harm it. It's been four weeks almost. You'd hope that it would strengthen, get better, as time goes on, but we're just going to have to wait and see.

J-Rich had a monster game and he needed some help from other people.

It has to help the guys' confidence to know that we can do this. It doesn't count any more if you look at the overall record.

I'd like to get Chris Taft on the floor if he's proven that he can be ready to go. He just needs to prove to us that he's not going to hurt himself.

I thought we were better on defense, and it allowed us to get out on the break more consistently. I think it was important for us to get a split just so the kids will get some confidence in themselves and what we're doing.

When we've played well, sometimes I don't think we've maintained that same level of play. That's something we have to learn, there's no question.

Everybody on our team sure liked Matt. He works hard and he makes open shots and it seems to me like he's playing with more confidence.

It's more difficult not being able to affect change as much as you thought you could. You're pretty much set with what you have, with the players on your team. You don't have a lot of practice time to do things. It's been a challenge.

Jason Richardson's given it everything he has. He has showed tremendous heart. But it's a team and it's a team game. We can't do it with any one guy. We've got to get a first and a second and even a third guy. You need to get guys playing well and playing with confidence.

He's been well coached having Roy Williams and Bill Self. They put him in position where he understands how to do things. But again, coming in here with some pretty good players and being able to hold his own like he has, it's pretty impressive. He's not backed off. He's been tough. He's shown leadership.

You've got to admire his courage. He wasn't getting any lift off the ankle early and kept coming up short. You knew he was hurting but he didn't want to come out and let it stiffen.

He's a steadying influence. He just keeps the ball in his hands and guys know that he'll be able to get them the ball.

We're a pretty good percentage shooting team. If we can learn how to play off one another I think we will cause people problems with match-ups. Obviously, Baron is a big key to that. . . . He's bound and determined to come in here and make an impact. His willingness to make others better surprised me a little bit.

Tie game, he's the decision-maker. Worst we get is overtime. It's a pretty good situation to be in.

He's been good and it helps to have another guy. Mike has come to life the past two games. He's been really good. All of a sudden, it makes a whole lot of difference when you have a second guy that can put the numbers up. He's hit some timely baskets with

I thought we were in pretty good shape. They're not a team that scores a lot of points.

Some of the nuances just took some time, ... As a coach, I've been doing this for a long time. At Stanford, I got used to coaching a certain way with a certain kind of kid. The major adjustment is dealing with different personalities. ... Yet I still have to get them to respond.

We still missed some free throws, but not at the end. It helps to make baskets in the fourth quarter. In this league, you got to make plays in the end.

Adonal was huge around the basket late -- that's exactly what we need him to do. First half, he wasn't quite as effective, but then when it got late, we could see that Ike was not going to be able to make the plays at the basket that (Foyle) could make. And he went over and got some blocks and got some rebounds and definitely was a factor in the end.

We were having a tough time with Garnett. They did a good job of moving him around in the fourth quarter. But if you're going to foul, you've got to foul hard rather than give up the easy one with a tough foul.

Kobe's got such confidence in shooting the ball. He's got the ability to drive and the ability to shoot over the top of you as he falls away. He's certainly one of the toughest guys to defend around the league.

In college, you're in charge of everything. In the NBA, you're in charge of nothing.

It wasn't a matter of us not being able to score, it was a matter of us being able to defend. You give a guy 45 and a guy 34, you're not going to be in great shape. You've got to defend.

It's just little things that make such a difference. It's a matter of decision-making, making a pressure shot, something at the end of the game that just gives us some life.

We're going to hear a lot about playoffs, and that's fair, but it's not a make or break thing,

At practice yesterday we could barely get 94 feet we were so tired. We just couldn't run and it carried over to today. The break really took its tool on us and Jason (Richardson) is a little under the weather. Troy is coming back from about 2 12 weeks of not being able to do anything.

We're not going to live and die on that. But that's who we are, we're a pretty good shooting team.

Richardson has been really good. We just have to find some people to join him.

The better he gets at his low post game, the way more valuable he has. If Troy can get where he can finish at the box and be a real good post player that can command a double team... now we're talking.

You've got to force him out of his comfort area and I don't think we did that consistently.

In retrospect, the one thing Derek isn't gonna be able to do is keep Kobe from shooting off the top of him. Lots of shots that Kobe took late wouldn't have made a difference who we had on him. (He) just turned around, spun off and jumped off people.

We were in the lead and all of a sudden you give up five straight points and it takes some of the steam out of you. We just got killed on the boards in the second half. It seems like we lost our confidence again.

They were very, very good. Baron, in particular, was really economical with his game. ... That's the best he's been this year where he's had confidence with what he was doing. He felt like the ball would go down, and if you look at his shots and you see it rotating the way it was rotating, he's pretty good.

Well we're not good enough to not come out and play hard, we just didn't have the same amount of energy that Orlando did. Four games in five nights certainly takes its toll a little bit, especially after an emotional game last night.

Baron was under the weather but came out and had a great first half. He got tired in the second half. We just didn't have other guys stepping up and helping him out there offensively. We let our offensive performance affect our defense too much.

Obviously if you make these shots, you look like a million bucks.