Utah's Raja Bell says Jazz 'let our guard down' against Mavericks

Dallas — Official postgame quotes following the Jazz's 116-101 loss to the Mavericks on Friday.Jazz Forward Paul Millsap(You cut the lead down to 2 in the second half and then they went on thatrun...) - "Yeah, we cut the lead down to 2, and they got a steal and thenthey got out running and after a few plays they were back up by 8. And at atime like that we've got to tie out defense down and do better with it."(You've had some tough losses lately; what's you're read on where you guysare at?) - "We're still learn; we're still young. It's going to take alittle time for us to get better with our situational stuff, but we'llfigure it out."(You feel like it's the consistency for 48 minutes thing in some of thesegames?) - "Being consistent throughout the whole game, yeah, that's the keyfor us."(Do you feel like you guys were fighting an uphill battle the entire game,and that during their 22-5 run you guys kind of ran out of gas?) - "No, notat all, we just couldn't get stops. They shot overall 54% from the field,scored over 100 points - 116 points. I mean, our defense just wasn't there."Jazz Guard Raja Bell(You guys were hanging around most of the game until they went on that 22-5run in the 4th - did you guys run out of gas at that point?) - "I don't knowif we ran out of gas. I think we let our guard down a little bit. We mighthave thought we were back in the game for good and kind of relaxed. Andthey're a good team; they kept plugging away, and they really looked likethey turned up the intensity defensively there at the end of the third[quarter] going into the fourth, and caused us some problems offensively."(Talk about the defensive effort of the team tonight...) - "Yeah, I thinkthat we were spread out. We had some real problems with that pick-and-rolltonight. That kid's [Beaubois] really quick, and anytime you have himrunning on top of your rim all night you've got to collapse. And I thinkthey're a great ball moving team; so they found the open shooters and therewas nothing we could do."Mavs guard Rodrigue Beaubois(Why he plays so well against Utah) "I don't know. The Jazz are a great team, but my teammates pushed me, everybody was pitching in, so yeah, I've had some good games against the Jazz because of my teammates."

(On gaining confidence) "Like I said before, because of my summer, every day I planned to work on my game, get better every day, and so that's it"

(On stepping up with Jason Kidd out) "They told me that Jason Kidd was going to be out, so I just wanted to play the best basketball I could play and just wanted the team to win. Everybody did a great job, we knew Jason Kidd wasn't going to play and we know how important he is to us. Everybody stepped up and that was good."

(What it means to win with three starters out) "We learned that we can play well, but we just need to keep pushing out there, we're very close, but we just need to keep pushing and keep working."

Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle(On the team's performance) "Roddy was very good. I thought everybody on theteam played well. Jason [Kidd] went out early with a calf strain, all of asudden, a lot of things change for us. Again, you've got a guy likeDominique Jones who is able to come in and finish the game, keep some of theminutes down for some of our veteran guys, that's really key. Odom playedhis best game of the year. Marion was really consistent and Haywood was aforce inside. Carter tonight came in and gave us a huge lift at the start ofthe game when Kidd went out. He hit two or three shots immediately and thatgot the building going and got everybody into it. I really was proud of theway the guys competed because this is a very competitive team."(On Lamar Odom's performance) "He's doing what we're asking him to do; justkeep playing basketball, keep staying aggressive. I thought his all-aroundgame was tremendous; he defended, he made plays on offense. He made somereally high basketball-IQ plays; getting fouled at the three the one time.Not many guys have a feel for doing that when the shot clock is runningdown. He was terrific, and we needed every single guy, every single guy.""This [his play tonight] doesn't surprise me. This was coming and he's beenvery determined. There's been some bad luck along the way, but you've justgot to stay at it. Our crowd really likes him. They like him because of whathe's done with the Lakers for all of those years. I love him as a guy. It'staken a while for him to get a feel for everything. This is an importantnight, and now he knows what it's about."(On Rodrigue Beaubois)"I thought he played the point position as well as he's ever played it, interms of running the team, making reads. His defense was terrific, and yethe didn't foul. He didn't have any bad fouls. He really had a good feel forwhere to put everybody on the court. He made plays. He made important playstime and time again."The Salt Lake TribuneTwitter: @tribjazz