Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle appeared on DAC on 103.3 FM ESPN Radio yesterday for his weekly appearance to talk Mavs/Cavs, Devin Harris, the win in Washington and more. Check out the full audio below, with some of the top moments transcribed to follow.
On the win in Washington: We made the decision early that we wanted to be a more up-tempo team, and we were getting the ball up and down, but we were really having trouble guarding people. So the game against Washington, we really did a great job as a team of running on misses. Look, you’re not gonna be able to create misses unless you get in a strong position to defend early in the clock. So our tempo-ing of the game was very good, our execution of offense was good, and when we did get stops, Smith, Barea, Ferrell, and Harris were pushing it. We just got a lot of good things happening. When you go through this kind of period, you relish these opportunities on the road against good teams to try to get things on track, and this was an opportunity our guys took advantage of.
On pushing the right buttons as a coach through this start: I don’t really view this as button-pushing. This is relationships and it’s communication, and there’s trust involved. We’ve got to really be together, going through a difficult time. The guys on the team are terrific people. We rallied in that practice in Washington, and the win was a big win. These last couple days I believe we’ve had positive practices. Then you turn around and play guys like Cleveland and Oklahoma City back-to-back. The guys that are pushing the tough buttons are the schedule-makers.
On Devin Harris and his brother Bruce, who tragically passed away last month: I cannot say enough about the Harris family and their strength, Mr. and Mrs. Harris, Devin’s dad and mom, are just such strong people and people of faith. We all went through this with him. Devin is such a team-oriented guy. If people knew everything that he went through to make his way back to Dallas — he gave up a lot of money, he gave up a lot of opportunity at other places, promises of this, promises of that — he certainly could’ve been a starter other places. But he loves Dallas. When he was drafted here, my understanding is he and his brother were living here, and then his family basically ended up moving to Dallas. Even though they’re from Milwaukee originally, they’re pretty much based here now. This has become the hub of the family.
On what Devin is going through: As much as you like to hope that there can be closure, I just can’t possibly imagine what he’s going through. It appears to me that his teammates and the profession of competing and playing basketball has been a healthy diversion from really a catastrophic personal situation.
DAC airs weekdays on 103.3 FM from 3-6 p.m. Carlisle appears every Friday at 4:43.
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