Shane Battier
Shane Battier
Shane Courtney Battieris an American retired professional basketball player who played for various teams of the National Basketball Association. He has also been a member of the U.S. national basketball team...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth9 September 1978
CityBirmingham, MI
game good lose proud run teams toughest
This was probably the toughest game of the year. We're proud of ourselves. We could have packed it in when they made a run and just said 'we're going to lose this one.' But good teams don't make excuses. They find ways, and we want to keep this thing rolling.
brad choice defend excellent learned pass picking shoot success teams
Brad is an excellent choice, he can shoot it, pass it and defend on the perimeter. I think if we've learned anything it's that teams that have had success (in the Olympics) have done it with team play. I like that we are picking a team that can play together.
arena ball expect mental offensive rebounds shot starting talented teams together turn
They have always had one of the most talented teams in the league, and they're starting to put it all together now. You can't turn the ball over 19 times in Arco Arena and give up 20 offensive rebounds and expect to win. We shot the ball well, but made all of the other mental mistakes.
ball basic basketball decisions game good group guys lose morale national older positive rebound teams telling tendency younger
It's not that complicated. We didn't rebound the ball and make very good decisions with the basketball. Now, it's about making basketball plays. Basic basketball plays. The older guys keep telling us it's not the national championship game. It's a series. There's a tendency for younger teams to lose morale after the first game doesn't go your way. We're a pretty positive group and that comes from experience.
bench difference played
The bench played well. They would have made a difference had we played well.
block figure guys half means season second
Once he's been around the block one time, he'll figure out how guys play. He's doing that in the second half of the season and that means you can put him in more situations.
bizarre leave
It was a bizarre game. I'll leave it at that.
advantage best bit good job player using
They did a good job of using that as motivation. I think we let up a little bit and didn't take advantage of having their best player out of the game.
advantage best good job motivation player taking using
They did a good job of using it (Garnett's ejection) as motivation to play harder. And we let up a bit. We didn't do a good job of taking advantage of their best player being out.
best execution half maturity second
We showed our maturity. We didn't play our best first half and yet we were up a point. We executed better in the second half. Execution is about making plays.
ball heads turned
We turned the ball over too much and after that we had our heads down. We just didn't have it.
best confidence good
We all know we didn't have our best showing. They're really good here and they have a lot of confidence here.
dwelling lighting night past playoff sleep taste victory year
Every year is independent. What we did in the past doesn't come in our minds. Obviously, we like to taste a playoff victory this year, but it's not something we go to sleep at night dwelling on or lighting vigils for.
body good higher time
We've put in a good body of work. It's time to take it to a higher gear.