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
basically bench bit giving guys playing start three
We wanted to try to start establishing our bench more, so basically we're playing three guys and giving those guys a little bit more minutes.
far iceberg tip
We are at the tip of the iceberg as far as where we are and where we could be.
far happened playing playoff prepared throw thrown
We still only had 10 turnovers for the game. They were magnified as far as when they happened a little bit. When you're playing well, they try to throw everything at you. From that standpoint, as I say, the more things that are thrown at you, the better prepared you are come playoff time.
gave helped negative
The only negative was I wanted to play Carlos (Delfino) and I didn't. I think he could have probably helped us. We went with Mo, and Mo gave us energy.
conference developed few good gotten teams western
Part of it is teams that were not very good have gotten better, which makes for a much more competitive conference. What developed for a few years in the Western Conference has now come back to the East, where there aren't really any gimme games.
coast energy game passion seemed terrible trip west
The first game back after a West Coast trip is always dangerous. I thought we had terrible energy and terrible passion in the first half. We seemed very disinterested.
attention chase closed conference division games happening toward turned west
Our division was closed with 20-something games to go. The conference was closed with 10 or 12 games to go, so everyone turned their attention toward out west and the chase that was happening out there.
accomplish game guys nice step win
You want to try to win every game you step out, but I think it would be nice to try to accomplish something like that at home. It's one of these situations, when we go in, all 12 guys got to play well because all 12 guys are going to have opportunities.
cities common dead game games half happened last percentage rough second seventh shooting sign stretch three
This is our seventh game in seven different cities in 10 days. This has been a rough stretch and I think the common thing that has happened to us the last three games is that our shooting percentage in the second half is going down, which is usually a sign of dead legs.
finals last playing playoff team understand
The thing is, we're not going to change. You have to understand something: This team has a lot of playoff experience. They've been to the Finals the last two years. They're not playing differently than what they've played. That's how they play.
exactly number time true
Every time it happens, you always try to find out if there's questionable ones. I don't exactly know what the number is and what the true number is.
supposed
You want to go in, play solidly for 48 (minutes) and play how you're supposed to play.
continue next shake
A lot of things could still happen. We will continue to look and see what's available. There will be things that could shake out in the next day or so.
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.