Our identity as an offensive team is set. As a defensive team, we're still a question mark to the masses. But we know we're capable of winning that way. |
Our veteran guys have to step up. Our younger guys, we can't expect them to be there yet. As talented and as good as they are, we can't expect them to create their energy and their enthusiasm. Sometimes you've got to force it out of them and I think that's what Avery wants to see happen and that's what we've just got to do. Quite frankly, we haven't been doing as good a job as we need to be. |
Since he signed a letter of intent, why not? He can't help that he's so good he just had to skip over and go to the NBA. He was on the right track. |
That team plays hard. You're not going to find any team in the NBA that plays harder than them. It was a good test for us. |
The game ball goes to those guys. If they keep playing like that ... all I can do is keep shaking my head. |
The kid was very enthusiastic and gave us a lot of energy. It was good to see some of these young kids play with all the injuries we've been having. |
The only thing we need to be working on right now is getting stronger and improving our seeding for the playoffs. |
There were some botched plays and missed dunks. ... You have to win like that sometimes. |
They did a good job on him early, but as the game went on we found ways to get him some shots. Josh Howard kept us afloat and then Dirk was huge in the second half and down the stretch. |
They got off to a pretty good start, and we were pretty much sleepwalking through the first half. Really the key was our rebounding and getting them to work on the offensive end. We started to get some second-chance opportunities, and we held them to one shot. |
They're going to have to do something different in the future. I don't think they're going to be able to play Bruce Bowen on Dirk anymore and put Tim Duncan on Josh [Howard]. |
They've really become important to me. I've had a couple groin injuries and they help me get comfortable. I wear thigh sleeves, too, and the tights also help keep them from sliding down my legs. They just hold everything together. |
This is starting to become who we are. We feel that we are going to win these games and have the wherewithal to sustain anything any team throws at us. |
This would really cap off the trip to come back home and win. It's almost like a six-game trip. |
Tonight was a big night for us. But so is (Saturday) night. If we stub our toe (against New Orleans), then this one means nothing. |