In pro sports, you want to win, not only now but down the road. If somebody does something, is it going to affect your ability to win down the road? You make your decisions based on that. |
In the back of their minds, there's a little bit of a mental letdown. The other team, when they're missing a player they always get a little more juiced up to play because they know they have to play at a higher level. |
In the past, you had a guy who got nicked up, you had to make a decision. You put him on the IRE and he sat out days and games, or a coach said, 'Well, we're going to sit him out, but we're not going to replace him.' Right now, you have the luxury of, if a guy gets the flu, you can sit him out that night and if he's better the next night, you can let him play. |
Isn't that right Ben? |
It didn't matter if (Bryant) had 50, 40, 20, 10 ? the idea was for us to win. The idea was not to try to expose our defense where all the sudden, you have other guys that have career games. |
It is extremely difficult as a young rookie to establish [yourself] in this league because you're going to have guys that can go at you on a nightly basis, |
It just means we can put different people out there and play different ways. |
It really helps any time you have it. The coach is the authority figure, and you've got to be able to communicate with players. Over the course of seven months, things are going to happen, and you've got to deal with those situations. The main thing is the players know that I respect them. It's because of that mutual respect that we're able to deal with any kind of situation. |
It seems like every team comes out and plays their best game against (us). As a team, it's like taking body shots every game. |
It was a good learning experience for those young guys to play a team that was basically in a must-win situation. |
It was a great reception. A lot of great fans, the people were great tonight and it was a good evening. |
It was a very entertaining game. You saw, both teams, who they are: meat-and-potato teams. Maybe this is why the game wasn't hyped as much. This is what basketball is meant to be like. Play defense, play team basketball. Not turn the ball over, and make plays for each other. |
It was intense. The players love to compete. The Spurs love to compete against big teams just like us. It was a good game to watch. |
It was intense. There's no question. |
It wasn't like he right away went for the head or whatever. They were both fighting for position. You talk about reputation. . . . That's not like Rip to just go after somebody like that. |