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
again amazed beat ben catalyst defensive player score tough year
Ben is our energy. I would be amazed if he wasn't the defensive player of the year again just from everything he does. He's our lock-down guy. When we have energy, we are tough to beat and tough to score on. When we don't, we can be pretty ordinary. And Ben is usually the catalyst for that energy.
cause defending hope hot strengths takes team unknowns year
There are no unknowns at this point. But from their standpoint, the X-factor is that they are a team that takes as many three-pointers as anybody. If they get hot like they can, they can cause you a lot of problems. But, one of our strengths all year was defending the three. Hope that continues.
early everybody fresh given high playing ready reason year
You know, early in the year everybody was questioning his minutes. But given his history, there was a reason we weren't playing him a lot. We wanted to get him fresh and ready for now, and you see he's playing at an unbelievably high level.
knew rookie run year
I knew he would play. He's a competitor. That's why he's going to run away with the rookie of the year this year.
coming course game happened heals hurt last seem team time year
Coming in from the outside, you could see that this team was hurt from what happened last year in Game 7. Sometimes you think over the course of time, they say that time heals wounds. But time just didn't seem to heal that wound.
blocking defensive far might player send shots trophy year
They might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it. When you look at all the things he's doing as far as rebounding, blocking shots and steals, he's been phenomenal.
award blocking defensive last might mission player send shots steals three year
They might as well take the defensive player of the year award and send it to Ben. He's been on a mission in the last three weeks, and when you look at all of the things he's doing - rebounding, blocking shots and making steals - he's phenomenal.
blocking defensive far fourth last might player send three trophy year
The last three weeks, they might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it for the fourth time, or whatever, because when you look at all the things he's doing, as far as from defensive rebounding, blocking shots, steals, he's doing everything. He has been phenomenal.
basketball character credit extremely four goes high mark players talked team time touched turned year
The first time I talked about that, we went out and turned it over the first four times we touched the ball. That mark I credit to players who are extremely disciplined and players who know their roles. They don't play out of character and that goes back to what I've talked about all year -- this team has a very high basketball intelligence.
blocking defensive fourth guy might mission player send steals trophy year
The guy that has been on a mission here is Ben. They might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it here for the fourth time, because when you look at all the things he's doing - defensive rebounding, blocking shots, steals - he's just doing everything.
few games minutes start
When you get to 41 games you get him a few minutes at a time, start getting into the rhythm.
atmosphere best fired fun nba people
When you get in this place, there are 22,000 people and we've got the best atmosphere that you could have in an NBA arena. They get fired up and it's fun to play.
fun games gets serious start
When you get in these games, it's very interesting. The games start out being very fun and everything else and then all of a sudden, it gets very serious and very competitive.
exploit finding league playing shows team
When you get 30 assists, it shows you are playing team basketball, ... This league is about finding where the mismatches are and exploit the weaknesses.