Mar.26 vs. Utah Jazz- Sam Mitchell andQuin SnyderPregame Quotes
Timberwolves Interim Head Coach Sam Mitchell
On how their scoring has improved as of late...
“When we move the ball and set screens and play with flow and play in space and get out in transition, we tend to shoot the ball pretty good because now we’re getting good shots. We still have our moments when the ball sticks too much and we have to continue to get better at that, but when we do move the ball, we’re tough to defend, because the good thing about our team is that we have three guys in our starting lineup that can play pick-and-roll offense.”
On how tired the team will be tonight after a double-overtime victory last night…
“I have absolutely no idea. I think for us it’s going be our guys have to play as hard as they can for as long as they can and it could be surprising. You never know. We’re going to coach the game and team like we always do and our guys are really good about when they’re tired, they ask to come out of the game. Our guys are good about that.”
On how satisfying the victory was over Washington last night…
“They all are. Every time you win a game and you have a young team, every win is satisfying within itself because you learn something different about your team when you win games. Every game has different sub plots and I just thought that what was satisfying about that game was being on the road, playing against a bigger, physical East coast team, that was a playoff team the last three or four years, veteran team, experienced team, they kept getting us down and we kept coming back, we didn’t panic. Guys making shots makes your team better. It definitely makes you a better coach when you’re making shots.”
Jazz Head Coach Quin Snyder
On the importance of beating a team with a losing-record like Minnesota…
“I know three of them are against teams with the top records in the league too, so I wouldn’t look at Minnesota and characterize them as a team that’s below .500, we’re a team that’s below .500. The point being, if you see the way that they’re playing right now, they just went in and beat Washington last night, the games they have lost recently have been very, very close games and they’ve been winning a lot more than they’ve lost.”
On how Minnesota has improved this season…
“They’ve dealt with a ton of adversity this year and they had it last year too. Obviously this year in a whole different way with Coach Saunders and they’ve done a great job just sticking together and competing and growing as a group and you’re seeing the fruits of that process right now, a team that’s maturing.
On the effect of a long road trip…
“I don’t know if it’s as much of mentally done as fatigue. You run into fatigue, whether it’s emotional, or mental or physical. I think we felt a little bit of that against Oklahoma City, there was some emotional fatigue because we won a game against Houston that was a game that took a lot out of us and we’ve had a day in between, and hopefully we’re refreshed and I think our guys know that this is an important game for a lot of reasons.”