This was a disgusting game for us tonight. We deserved to lose. Kobe was spectacular and we had no answer for him. You have to take your hat off to him.

We tried to bother him and make it hard on him. He’s been averaging 50 points on us and we didn’t want that to happen (again).

We’re excited to get out of here with a win. Those guys play physical, and they play hard.

He’s out for an extended period of time. We’ve lost an important part of our rotation.

I have been waiting for 79 games to get some internal leadership, and I haven’t gotten it yet. This is one of the most disappointing games that I’ve been a part of as Mavericks coach....

He just still doesn’t know all the ins and outs of the game. He started playing basketball so late in life that he’s still catching up.

Fifteen offensive rebounds…when did a Dallas team last do that. We put a lot of emphasis on that this year.

I just refuse to listen to any more lies. You hear them from FEMA, you hear them from Red Cross and I just didn’t want to hear it from him.

He’s our guy who penetrates and gets to the basket. We definitely don’t want any hesitancy there. The goal is to get him as healthy as we can for the playoffs.

We couldn’t be where we are had we not gotten those guys. There’s so many little ways, detail things, things that don’t show up on stat sheets. You need your stars. But their roles are...

He can’t seem to get it fully healed.

He’s definitely the best point guard in the history of the Spurs franchise.

I’m glad to get this series over. Obviously, we would have had four swings at it. I’m glad to get it on the first swing. Now it’s time for us to try to get some...

No question, this was a big win for us. I thought we showed a lot of mental toughness.

We just had to make some points about it. We’ve got to play our best basketball to win Game 1.

He had a little swelling. It’s nothing serious. It’s called old age. But we got to make sure we get that swelling down.

We just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. We’re still firm that they’re not going to come back until they’re ready. And they’re not ready. We probably won’t have them back...

They made some runs, but we weathered the storm.

Stack was solid, man. Stack was energized. He was ready to play. He was right in his comfort zone tonight. That’s what we need from him on both ends. Obviously, he scored a little bit,...

Our team has made some progress with being proactive on defense. There’s a certain mentality where I wanted us to be. … Forget statistics, forget about how many points we’re giving up, field goal percentage,...

It was a gutsy win for us tonight. That’s a scrappy team over there. They’ve been playing some very good basketball and we don’t take anything for granted. (Stackhouse) stepped up tonight and I thought...

I thought we were a little more physical with them. We seemed like we were apologizing for being on the court in the first half.

It’s a natural, because we still have to play some of those teams in the regular season. So we’re pulling double duty.

We feel fortunate to get out of here with a victory. Both teams played awesome defense. I don’t know if we win this game in the past. Now, we’re a different team.

We came into tonight’s game trying to cut off some of his passing angles, … We did not follow the game plan and [he] just shredded us tonight, shredded us to pieces.

We have to use him in the post more, … If we did it one or two times a game last season, we have to do it six times or so this season. Then he’ll...

Dirk is playing tough. We had a stretch there where we kind of reverted back to our old selves and got jump-shot happy for six or seven possessions and I really got on them about...

We want our main guys to start playing now. You’ll see some different looks.

We seemed to have a lot of energy tonight. I gave them (two days) off and they gave me one back by responding with energy and concentration pretty much throughout the whole game. It’s pretty...

We haven’t done anything. We can win 30 games in a row and what does that mean?

If we get both of those guys back by the end of the week, great. If not, we’ll have to wait until they’re ready.

We thought our first-quarter defense really set the tone. We worked on a lot of stuff this morning and we were fortunate to have some carry over.

We played a very small stretch of decent basketball out of a 48-minute game. We’ve been defending the 3-pointer pretty well this year, but it didn’t happen tonight. We pretty much know where we’re going...

Some of our players have made fun of our charge drill. But when you see them taking more charges in the game, it doesn’t seem so silly.

They were the aggressors in the first half. We really didn’t get off the bus. We’ve got some lethargic situations here that I’ve got to address. It’s really disappointing. Just got to crack the whip...

We got off to a good start in the first quarter and set the tone for the whole game. I thought our defense was pretty steady…we tried to contest as many shots as we could.

We’re going to win as a team. We’re going to win when Dirk Nowitzki continues to move forward and Josh Howard and Erick Dampier and Jason Terry give the consistency I’m looking for.

I’m going to stop saying every time we have games like this that I failed. I’ve been waiting 79 games to get some internal leadership. I haven’t gotten it yet.

He’s coast to coast, one of the quickest guards in the league. He causes havoc when he gets in the paint, and he’s a pretty good passer. He’s a one-man fast break, all by himself.

Teams are coming in here dropping 30-some points on us in the first quarter. We’ve been digging ourselves in a hole, so I’ll continue to work on finding the right formula to help get us...

We’ve had some guys out for long periods of time. We’ve got to whip those guys back in shape. We’re waiting on (Keith) Van Horn to come back, which we think he can come back...

I’m very disappointed. I’ve spoken to the league, and I can’t get into details on what was said. I can’t even find the words. I’ve appealed to the league about their judgment. I’ve seen a...

I’m going to think that I won’t have him, then hopefully we will.

We’re making progress, but it was just a tough loss.

He knows it’s not permanent. Stack has been one of our best hustle players. He’s wrapped up in that mode of being an offensive player. Sometimes you don’t notice the hustle plays.

It’s not even so much 2-0 for us, it’s just trying to play this game like there’s no tomorrow. When we do that, we seem to play better, we seem to play more focused, and...

You think a streak is never going to come to an end. When it does, it doesn’t feel good.

I thought those Pistons were pretty big. They got stops and they ran some of their plays that we couldn’t really plan for. They were definitely in sync and it shows how great the game...

It’s nothing about me. If we’re fortunate enough to be a part of that situation, it just shows that the guys that play for the Mavericks won some games and we’re in the heat of...

We have some injuries but so do they.