Flip Saunders
Flip Saunders
Philip Daniel "Flip" Saunderswas an American basketball player and coach. During his career, he coached the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth23 February 1955
CityCleveland, OH
couple exhibition games good guys last lost recall regular start
I think I recall that we lost our last couple games in the exhibition season, and we got off to a pretty good start with the regular season. These guys have been there. They know that this is when it all begins.
bearing couple exhibition games good last lost regular season start whether
Whether we play well or don't play well come Sunday, will have no bearing on how we've done this season. As I recall, we lost our last couple games in the exhibition season and got off to a pretty good start in the regular season.
bowl games hunted people played prepared pressure regular season since super talk time
You have to understand, we've played 82 games to get here; 82 games of playoff-type basketball. People talk about the pressure of being the hunted. Well, we've been the hunted since we were 8-0. It's been like our opponents' Super Bowl every time they play us. I think the regular season prepared us for what's at hand.
coaches exhibition guess improve last maybe people ready regular season trying week
Very much so. It's something as coaches that we're not used to. You don't really go through that very much. I guess I would liken it to maybe the last week of the exhibition season when you're trying to get ready for the regular season. You want to improve and you want to keep sharp, you want to give people opportunities, you want to be competitive and you still want to win.
change months regular season seven style
We don't change our style of play. A lot of teams, they play one way during the regular season and their style of play has to change once they get to the playoffs. When you play for seven months one style, and now you're going to change in a three-day span, you're not as prepared, you're not as comfortable.
concerned everywhere except friday miami past people played sunday talked talking three walked
I was concerned because everywhere you walked the past three days, that's all people talked about. They didn't even know we played Friday night. I think most of the people were talking about Sunday -- except the TVs. They were talking about Miami and the Lakers.
came concerned couple guys heard machine mention might morning overlook played stuff
I was concerned because at shoot-around this morning I heard a couple of guys mention some stuff about Miami. I was concerned we might overlook Atlanta. But we came out and played like a well-oiled machine in the first half.
bit both lost played
I thought we played really well for stretches and periods, both defensively, offensively. I thought we got up 18-20, we lost a little bit of our concentration.
basketball definitely learning maybe minutes played supposed won
I thought we played maybe 10 to 13 minutes of championship basketball tonight. We didn't play how we're supposed to play, even down the stretch. We won the game, but there were definitely some learning experiences.
bit built control nice relax
I thought we did some nice things. We built a lead, then you relax a little bit and they made some plays, but it wasn't where we didn't have control of the game.
basketball might minutes played won work
I thought we might have played 10 to 13 minutes of championship basketball tonight. We won the game, but there are things we need to work on.
ability beat great second talk team turn turning
I thought we made great adjustments in the second half. You can talk about turning it up, but I think the big thing is that our team has the ability to see how a team plays, then make the adjustments to get into their weaknesses. You can turn up your energy, but you still have to be able to beat the other team.
passion seemed terrible
I thought we had terrible energy, terrible passion in the first half. We just seemed very disinterested.
passion picked played seemed terrible
I thought we had terrible energy, terrible passion in the first half. Just seemed very much disinterested. Then we picked things up, played with more energy, got the lead.