Sixers vs. Nuggets Postgame Quotes: “It’s a great place to play and we have a fantastic crowd.”

Sixers

Brett Brown

On how it feels to be 13-0 at home…

It feels good, but I’d be lying if I told you that it comes with overconfidence. I just see all the areas that we can get better in. To truly feel the way that I feel and be undefeated with 13 wins at home is good, I suppose. It’s a great place to play and we have a fantastic crowd.

On Matisse Thybulle playing more minutes than Josh Richardson…

I thought that Matisse was really good, and it was Josh’s first game back. It felt like an eternity and I feel like he was out for a very long time. I will say that Josh making the three at the end was huge. His single made basket was good.

On Al Horford’s second half versus his first…

I thought we started to not turn the ball over, and Al started to come into jump stops. I thought there was an attack mentality and I thought he did a good job of continuing to stay aggressive offensively.

On the stretch that Matisse had, scoring the three and bringing down the offensive rebound…

You can feel the building light up. He really is an energy giver when he can make those types of plays. He continues to move up the food chain, in relation to the confidence that I, as a head coach have in him and that his teammates have in him.

On the defensive effort overall…

They had six points in the final seven minutes…that’s pretty good. It’s a team that can score. I think they average 107 points. As I’ve said all along, it’s going to be great once our offense catches up to our defense. Our end-of-game defense is pretty special.

Joel Embiid

On the playoff atmosphere that this game had…

It was great. There was some great defense from both teams, which was expected, and they are a pretty good team. They are one of the top teams in the West and it felt good to compete.

On how he thinks he’s doing being the ‘go-to’ guy late in games…

I’m not doing good enough. I’m still getting used to the whole season and I’m still trying to adjust. Obviously, it is not the same as last year, so the adjustment has been hard, but I am going to do what ever I’m asked to do every single night.

On how difficult it is to play against a guy like Nikola Jokić…

He’s great. Like I keep saying, I’m a big fan. He’s a childhood hero and I watch him all the time and I like his game. I just like him.

Tobias Harris

On the team’s undefeated home record…

It says we have a great crowd. We just have really good focus here. Every time we get on the floor, we embrace our fans and energy. Every night they bring that energy to us and we’ve got a great vibe here, night after night, so it says a lot about our, what you could call, home court advantage.

On closing out the game tonight in comparison to recent close games…

They’ve all been close games, but it feels good. I mean, I think throughout this whole year we’ve been able to find ourselves in a lot of positions late in the fourth quarter, where we have to really be in crunch time and be ready to pull out a win. And tonight was another one of them, where I thought we did a really good job of just getting stops and being solid. So I think obviously the big thing for us is to kind of limit ourselves in being in those positions and we’ll find ways to continue to do that.

On being one of Coach’s go-to guys along with Embiid…

Yeah, just being able to make the right play I think is just the biggest thing. And obviously, it says a lot that Coach has the trust in me to do that and a lot is expected through that. I thought tonight we were able, late in the fourth quarter, to get some good looks when the ball was in my hands, but didn’t necessarily end with myself getting the shot, but more us getting a good clean look. With the guys that we have, and the talent that we have in our lineup, whoever does get the shot is going to get a high-percentage shot. I thought a couple of them didn’t fall tonight for us, but overall, I mean that’s a position that I want to be in and I’m excited for that and look to continue to grow in that.

Matisse Thybulle

On developing his reputation as a reliable player…

It’s cool for myself, for my own confidence, just to see and prove I can do it. And then, I think it’s really exciting just to be able to impact the game, just be able to know that I had a hand in helping us win today is huge, and I want that to be something I can do night in and night out. I want to continue to grow that trust with Coach and my teammates.

On the team’s home winning streak…

Great. I mean you never want to lose, but you really don’t want to lose at home, and our fans mean a lot to us. For us to be able to maintain this streak I think is huge for us.

On his comfort level shooting threes and making plays…

Guys get me in great spots. We have such talented guys on our team that they demand so much attention, that a lot of times people just forget about me. I’m just a beneficiary of being in the right place at the right time and I don’t know, I was telling Tobias, “see a three, take a three, make a three.”

Nuggets

Michael Malone

On Nikola Jokić…

One thing that I regret, I gotta give Nikola more shots. He’s our best player. Yes, they’re a good defensive team, but the more he touches it, the more he shoots it. Good things are going to happen for us. That’s one thing that I noticed right away, we needed more Nikola Jokić shots.

On the impact of road trip…

I think we’re definitely fatigued. I think that’s definitely a part of it. I have to give them credit. You always want to make sure you give your opponent credit. They did a really good job. They started switching pick-and-rolls late, keeping bodies on bodies. Will [Barton III] got a good look off that double drag late. We just came up short, but by no means through a lack of effort.

On his team’s offense…

I think all season long, if you’re being honest, our offense has kind of been holding us back a little bit. Even when we were 13-3, our offense was not the offense that has been there for the last three years and I think tonight was another example of that.

Monte Morris

On how he would sum up the night…

Just keep going…we balled hard, we played real hard. The effort was there…and we were active, the ball was moving around, guys had good shots and good looks, we just came up short. They made some big shots too down the stretch.

On his mindset when Jamal Murray went down…

It was my first time playing 30 minutes in a long time, so just pacing myself and knowing that I was going to have to stay in. I was trying to pick my spots and things like that, but with Jamal going down, I just tried to be vocal and do something on defense, especially with some of my shots not going for me. I tried to step it up on defense on the bigger guys they have to make the offense a little easier for us.

Will Barton

On his hot start and how he felt…

I felt good. I just wanted to be aggressive and try to make plays for my team, not to just score for myself. I wanted to put pressure on the defense on the road, anything to get the win really.

On how they can jumpstart their offense during their upcoming homestand…

Taking the good things we did from this game and then emphasizing what we need to do better. Keep the ball popping, keep the energy, get out and run. I think we did a way better job tonight in spurts with that and then it’s maintaining that for a whole game.

Nikola Jokić

On his thoughts of the game…

The effort was there. They were playing good and we had some mistakes on our end. We had to get going in the third quarter. We had a little run, but then they came back. I think it was a game of runs, and they had the last run.

On how Jamal Murray going down affected the game…

He’s our starting point guard, he’s our captain and a leader out there. We missed him just as a threat. Monte Morris was playing, but he could not play the whole game, so we missed him and you can feel how we missed him out there.