We did well in not hanging our heads and kept fighting. |
We didn't have our legs. It should have been 4-1. I thought we gave the game away against Orlando last night, but Washington is a good team. |
We got to get that hunger back. Last year is over with. It's a whole new ballgame. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We're not labeled as that sorry team anymore. We might be now, but we were a good team last year and we weren't when we started this year. |
We said at halftime that the first one to play defense was going to win the ballgame. We gave up a lot of points in the first half and we felt like we had to step it up on the defensive end. |
We showed some fight, but it wasn't enough. We need that from the start and not just wait until the end. |
We talked about how they embarrassed up in their house. We didn't want them to get back on the winning track here. We expected them to play well. We wanted to match their intensity. |
We talked about it at halftime and said the first team to play defense was going to win this game. |
We're all playing harder as a team. You can feel the intensity. Even in practice, we're going a lot harder and doing a lot more running. You can feel it the next morning when you're stiff and have a hard time getting out of bed. |
We've always said we need more than me and Ray. When we get other guys coming on like that, it makes things so much easier. |
When you are sitting there talking and guys get stiffened up, then you go back out and scrimmage, then you are not moving as fast or going as hard because you are stiff, |
When you see one of your teammates go out like that, especially an All-Star player, we are behind him all the way. When he was ejected, I knew I would have to be a lot more aggressive. I was going to have to give myself shots and get my teammates open shots. I knew I was going to have to score a lot. |
Yeah, we knew we'd go a little longer than we did in the first game, but I don't think anybody thought we'd go that much. I played [32] minutes, which is a little long for a preseason game, but we had to. |
You can tell they're a better defensive team. They took me out. I couldn't get anything rolling. |
You can't let the other four starters hurt you. Those guys are good players, too. It's not just about stopping Kobe, but it helps. But they have other dangerous guys on their team. |
You've just got to give him some time. Sometimes when you get injured you lose a lot of rhythm. You're not in as good of shape as you would be at the start of the season. |