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.
score stay team trying watching
You're kind of watching the game, watching the score up there, trying to see what this team is doing, and then you're watching your team, and your team is trying to stay focused.
forward looks pierce shots team thrives
Pierce thrives in those situations. He looks forward to his team being down so he can take the big shots and make the big shots.
haunt second teams
If you give teams like (Detroit) so many second chances, it is going to come back and haunt you. And that's what it did.
beat best coming establish four games home realize teams
It was important for us coming home for these four games that we establish some home-court (advantage), so when teams come in here they realize they have to play their best game to beat us.
beats coach happens lost puts reflection regardless shoulders team whether
Anything that happens with the team is a reflection of myself. Any coach puts it on his shoulders when a team comes in and beats your team, regardless of whether you lost by one or 20.
allowed early lead missed nba run shots team time
Every time you're in an NBA game, a team is going to make a run and they're going to make some shots at some point. Early on they missed a lot of shots, which allowed us to get the lead that we had.
bit certainly defense game gets needs overall team unfolds win
That part of the game is better than the overall game. We'd like our defense to get better for 48 minutes. But I think as the game unfolds and when another team needs a basket, I think our defense gets a little bit better. Certainly if you're going to win games, it has to be better down the stretch.
chance happened nba people rely stranger teams
It's unfortunate that we have to rely on other teams to try and give us some help. But stranger things have happened in the NBA where people get a chance to get in.
creating example forty intensity points prime team tonight
Forty points and 10 assists. When he wasn't scoring, he was creating opportunities for other guys. Tonight was a prime example of a team effort. Our intensity was much better from the start.
move team veteran
They had 30 assists and we had 11, and that's not going to work. They look like a veteran team when they move the ball, and we look like a team that has to get better.
ball himself people seen selfish shooting takes talk teammates tries win
People talk about him shooting the ball a lot, but it's not a selfish thing. If we get down, he takes a lot on himself to go and win the game. I've seen his maturation in the way he tries to will his teammates to win.
attention basketball building chance coming detail game good last minute playing points team
Coming into a building like this, playing a very good basketball team like this, you know if you get up 20 points they're going to make a run. They had a chance at the end. But our attention to detail was big, from the first minute of the game to the last minute.
basketball effort example game lose prime team trying
That game was a prime example of a team effort and a team really trying not to lose a basketball game.