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
ben final last lock minutes needed night played
Ben played 56 minutes last night (in Memphis), and he played 41 tonight. Yet, he was able to do what he did. When we needed to lock down in the final two minutes, he pretty much did it.
beyond die high level locker people shows win
As I said in the locker room, people die to get to 50 (wins). To get to 60 is really something. Every win beyond that shows that you've been able to play at a pretty high level for a long time.
ball locked moving playing shows
We were much better locked in defensively. Offensively we had 33 assists on 39 buckets, which shows you we're moving the ball and playing how we want to play.
bored curtain fifth gear goes guys locked maybe sixth
My take is that these guys need challenges. Sometimes maybe they can get a little bored out there. But when they're locked in, it's like a curtain goes up and you can see it in their faces. They go from fifth gear into a sixth gear.
ability defensive guys lock longer playoffs reason shots successful teams
The reason in the playoffs that defensive-oriented teams are successful is because the longer you play someone, you become more comfortable with how guys are getting their shots and what they're doing. You have the ability to lock down more from a defensive standpoint.
against ball both defense defensive game great lock minnesota movement offensive player reason side success
It's going to be a great challenging game for both teams. They are a great defensive team, but the reason we had some success in Minnesota was because of offensive ball movement and player movement. They want to lock you down on one side of the floor. If you can get the defense moving, you can have some success against them.
court home lock overall secure weeks win
It's a five-step process. One, you want to get in the playoffs. We did that about two weeks ago. You want to win your division, which is going to pretty much lock in home court, at least through the first two rounds. Now what you want to do is secure home court in the East. Then secure home court overall and then the championship.
defense lock
We know when to lock down. Our defense hasn't slipped at all.
five guys locked position prevent quick wherever
As well as he's playing, all five guys have to be locked into him. Nobody's going to take him one-on-one and prevent him from getting wherever he wants. He's too quick and too good. All five guys have to be in a position to help.
ball basketball care chances early forced locked score took turn
We locked down defensively to get the lead. We got to do what we wanted to do offensively. We didn't turn the ball over. We forced turnovers early and turnovers late. We took care of the basketball and didn't give them chances to score out of our offense.
came half kept locked lose second though three
After the second half started, we locked down and were a lot better defensively. Even though we got down, we didn't lose our aggressiveness. But we came down and ... scored three times on them. We just kept controlling it.
ability available basket both bring creating effective good instant knew offense scoring tony
Tony is in a good rhythm. We knew when he was available what he could bring to the team, and we knew he had the ability to score. I don't think everyone knew he could be effective at both perimeter scoring and going to the basket and creating for other people. Right now, he's kind of our instant offense off the bench.
calm lost playing starters thrown
We lost focus. When you have two starters thrown out in a three-minute span, I wouldn't say you're playing calm at that time.
energy passion picked played seemed terrible
We had terrible energy and terrible passion in the first half. We just seemed very much disinterested, and then we really picked it up and played with more energy.