Maurice Cheeks

Maurice Cheeks
Maurice Edward "Mo" Cheeksis an American retired professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. He was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons from June 10, 2013, to February 9, 2014 and has also served as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth8 September 1956
CityChicago, IL
challenged defense defensive game great memphis night quality team
This game was a quality game for us because Memphis is a quality team. The other night I challenged our team on the defensive end and our defense was great tonight.
defensive
I think we're getting a little better on the defensive end. If we're going to make some hay, we're going to have to do it on defense.
blocking defensive great shots
Deng Gai did a great job, clogging up the middle, being a defensive stopper, and blocking shots when we needed.
ability certainly creates defensive easy fourth gotten offensive player realize tendency
Certainly you have to make adjustments on the offensive end. When you have a player like that in the fourth quarter, you have a tendency to look for him and realize he has that ability to take over a game. On the defensive end, he creates some turnovers for us and easy baskets. And we haven't gotten as many with him out of the lineup.
camp charges defensive fact impress offensive played plays talked three
I talked to him about it before the game. He had about 11 charges during camp and he had three today. The fact is, he played an offensive game, he plays a defensive game, he does a lot of things to impress you.
allen defensive game knew offensive raise tonight
Everything we did tonight was energized by Allen not being there. We knew we had to raise our game on the offensive and the defensive end.
attention beginning detail ready
a lot of things ... about energy, getting out and being ready to play from the beginning. From the start, our attention to detail was great.
samuel steven
I just like the way Steven has been playing. At some point, Samuel will be starting. No rush.
chicago
I thought Chicago had more energy, that's for sure.
factor losing obviously offense
Our turnovers obviously were a big factor in losing the game. We had 14 turnovers at halftime, but our offense went astray.
hit pierce
(The game) got away when Pierce hit those two threes.
allen allow ball hands player three trying versatile
He's a very versatile player that can play the one, two or three positions. You're trying to put the ball in his hands and allow Allen to come up and make a play.
allen certain chris continued drive guys jump needed open penalty score shots stretch wide
I thought down the stretch of the game, when we needed those two guys to score the points, that?s what they did. That?s what they have to do. We got to the penalty at a certain point, Allen continued to drive the ball, and Chris had wide open jump shots because of it.
allen
Having Allen back rejuvenated us a little bit.