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
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.
bench clusters couple effective five guys main meant team three together
The way this team is built, our bench guys are meant to play together in clusters with our main group. When you put all five guys on the floor, they're not as effective as when three of those guys play with a couple of starters.
bring change closer minnesota team
This doesn't change anything (in the East). Look at the Minnesota Vikings. Controversy sometimes can bring a team closer together.
bit eats guys happens minutes
So what happens is, it eats up some of those minutes and the other guys have to play a bit more.
afternoon far games nice
So your whole day is a preparation, really, for that game, as far as the night. The nice thing about afternoon games is you get up, go to the game and you're done.
counter far knowing main might option options run tendencies totally
So with different personnel, you can run the same play, but your option that might be one of your main options for one team, for the other team, it might be a whole totally different option. So they have a familiarity in knowing some things you want to run, some tendencies as far as what you're going to do. But we're kind of a counter puncher. You come out, we jab, we jab, we see what you're going to throw, and then we counter-punch that.
advantage beat create guy himself people plays took
Delfino really took advantage of his time. He's the one guy we have (on the bench) who can beat people off the bounce, off the dribble. He can create plays for himself and for other people.
four games holding prior reason straight teams tough
The one reason we have been in the games prior to this was because of our defense. We had four (actually three) straight games of holding teams in the 70s. That's pretty tough to do in this league.
group playing start
They showed us how to start playing again. Our first group started playing a lot of one-and-one, and that's not us.
against playing trying
They're trying to find out who they are. I think everyone who is playing against them is trying to find out who they are a little bit, too.
adversity built challenged love people rise team types
I think the one thing that people underestimate is that when there's adversity and they become challenged they rise up to the occasion. They love those types of situations. That's why this team is built for the playoffs.
becomes court eastern extremely home maybe playoff situations
I thought for playoff situations that was maybe the most important, to have home court in the Eastern Conference. With the way that it's set up, 2-2-1-1-1, I think home court becomes extremely important.
basketball bit fourth great nba plays quarter saw
I thought, especially for our league, the fourth quarter was a great quarter. They saw a little bit about what NBA basketball is about: great plays by great players.
bench extend game guys last situation stay
Last night's game was a big game just because it put us up (9 1/2 games) with 15 to go. Now we're in a situation where we want to try and extend our bench a little bit, get those guys more minutes, and get our guys where we can stay competitive and fresh.