Here are some post-game reactions to the 95-93 victory by the Dallas Mavericks over the Miami Heat Thursday night in Game 2 of the 2011 NBA Finals.
Dirk Nowitzki
I think in this league you have to play till the end. Especially this is The Finals. You can be down 20. You have to keep plugging. You never know what’s going to happen in this league. And we kept on fighting. And we got some lucky bounces there. LeBron went down the middle, had a wide-open lay-up, I thought. Short-armed it a little bit. We were able to get that rebound and go.
So you have to be a little lucky, but we kept on plugging. And look, I said it all playoffs long, we’re a veteran team. We don’t get too high with the highs and too low with the lows. That was definitely a little hole we got ourselves in, but we kept believing, kept playing off each other, and that was big.
Erik Spoelstra
Q. Erik, Dirk’s last basket, I think you guys had a foul to give. Was that a mistake?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It’s easy to say it right now. You know, we’re aware of it.
We talked about it. We’ve been in that situation before. We didn’t use the foul. Obviously, it looks like right now you could second-guess that, but we didn’t take it.
Q. No double on Dirk?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: At that time, they had carved us up enough on that, we left open some shooters, and they made us pay. We tried to do it with our normal defense. He made a heck of a drive. We cut him off one time, he spun, our help defense came, and he made a high-arcing lay-up, I believe with his left hand.
Rick Carlisle
Q. Was there anything said, whether it was you or whether it was the players, before you guys went on that really long run, anything that needed to be said or kind of was a motivating factor?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Just hang in. Let’s get some stops. Let’s give ourselves a chance. Let’s put some pressure on them. We really hadn’t put any pressure on them at all in two games to speak of.
It’s hard because they make a lot of — they put you in a lot of tough situations. They have a lot of breath-taking ability out there on the court. But by being solid and getting a couple of stops and scoring, we got some momentum, and it worked out.
Dwayne Wade
Q. Dwyane, did you guys at all when you were up 15 exhale? How do you explain the way that last final minutes went there.
DWAYNE WADE: Well, I mean, obviously they played very well. We pride ourselves on the defensive end, and they were able to break us down at the defensive end. And we made some mental mistakes. They got some open shots. We said in the huddle, we were up 15, that this team is very capable of coming back. They’ve proven it. They’ve shown it.
So we didn’t have to score another point to win the game. Our defense was what we lay our heads on. We didn’t play it the way we normally play. They deserved it. And we didn’t.
LeBron James
Q. Can you talk about the difference in your mindset from going up with a 2-0 lead, where they have to win four of the last five, to suddenly the series is even, they’ve regained home-court advantage, and you’re going there for the next three?
LeBRON JAMES: It’s a different mindset, of course. It’s a ballgame now. With the series tied 1-1, we’re looking forward to the challenge. It’s going to be a difficult challenge for us but we’re looking forward to it. We’re a confident bunch. We play great on the road. It’s going to be a hostile environment. Their fans and team are going to bring everything they have. We have to come out with it all. Play as close to 48 minutes as possible on both ends.