The reason why he's gotten better is because he works on his game every single day. I have a great deal of faith in him and he's going to be a very good player for us. This is just the start. |
The season is like one long train ride and each stop you want to get better. That's what we're doing, and the thing is it can't stop now. We have a lot of games to keep on going, so hopefully we'll keep on improving. |
The third quarter was the key for Indiana and you have to give them credit. We had shots at the rim and we especially couldn't make long range shots. |
Their bench plays a whole lot more than our bench. It's not a true comparison. You can't compare it by points. |
Their defense fueled their offense. They kept making stops. |
There are no excuses. We've got enough players on our team to play better than that. |
There are so many defensive and offensive possessions that could have changed the outcome of the game. |
There is nothing that the league can do that can stop Allen Iverson. You just try to make it as tough as possible on him and focus on the other guys and see if you can do a decent job on them. |
There's 17 games (left). Things change. |
There's not a lot of practice time in between so these are good opportunities to get better and develop rhythm and conditioning and all that. |
These are sometimes the hardest games to play because the other team has nothing to lose, yet they compete. |
They (Minnesota) shot 67 percent in the first half and 55 percent for the game with 40 points in the paint. That's not really the trademark of how we want to play. |
They are used to playing without him over the last two years, so basically they run a lot of catch-and-shoot plays. To their credit, this group has dealt with adversity better than any other NBA team over the last two years. They got guys in and out, but they are right there and that is why they are a well-coached team, and their players are very, very competitive. |
They aren't all masterpieces but we found a way to win. It's nice that you can win and shoot 39 percent. |
They got us a couple of different ways. They got 22 points on pick-and-rolls ... they got 22 points in transition, go to the line 30 times, every which way. |