I feel alive mentally and physically, … I was real excited right there at the end.

Scott can pass and shoot. He’s played in systems in Utah and Houston. He’s played with Stockton. He understands the game. It makes the game easy. He’s made some great passes on cuts. They’ve got...

There’s always room for improvement. We have a nucleus that’s pretty good. You want players that will help. That’s what I mean by an important summer. We’ve been through one tough summer [losing Kenyon Martin...

Last year, we felt that if we could have had him two or three weeks before the season ended we would have had a chance [in the playoffs].

I think (our execution) has been under scrutiny of late and it starts as a team. We all support one another and I thought tonight was a great example of those guys coming off the...

We had the game on the road and the ball with 12 seconds left with one of the best players in the league. He did the thing, just didn’t hit the shot.

It was unfair for him to be criticized for the 33 shots because we put so much pressure on him to carry us. He’s been focused. He wanted a playoff win.

We want that same call at home if we’re ever put in that position.

I’m a high-risk taker on the court in the sense of trying to squeeze things in there, so as a player, yeah,

We got off to a rough start up there and we had to get off to a good start. We got a lead kept our lead.

I think it was effort. The first half we were going through the motions. We weren’t playing with fire, and with energy and defensive presence.

Everybody is sharing the ball. Everybody is driving and kicking. When we have that kind of number (31 assists), guys are knocking down shots. It makes things so easy.

That same shot in Portland doesn’t go in. This one does, and we win. That’s how funny this game is.

I never play 82 games, not with the way I play. My body takes such a pounding. When I came in this league and didn’t play 82, so it’s not that important to me now.

The defense did a wonderful job. When we play defense, we have a good chance of winning. It was not a pretty game, but good teams win ugly games. We’re going in the right direction.

He’s been patient. He’s been around on different teams throughout this league and he’s showing the league that he can play at a high level in a big series.

Vince is not always going to be healthy, so (Jefferson) did a great job of picking it up.

At that point we had tried everything except going small. So I suggested something different.

The way we move the ball at home is the way we should move the ball on the road. That will help us to continue to keep pressure on our opponents.

Indiana is a very talented team. We respect those guys. They have a lot of talent over there. In my mind, they’re not a sixth seed. They are one of the top teams in the...

[My son] T.J. could have done a better job,

I thought I was trying to do my best and what he wanted me to do, … I was getting the grasp of it. I know everyone talked about my style of getting up and...

In that third quarter, we fell asleep at the wheel and they kept playing and they got easy baskets. When a team like Detroit gets easy baskets, you’re in for a long night.

We’ve beaten some quality teams, but we still have a long ways to go. We still have a chance to get better as a group.

I got a little contact, but I didn’t get enough.

If we can stay healthy and try to get better each time, hopefully we can be there in late June.

The first one is always the toughest. We haven’t won a playoff game for some time. It means a lot to us to get one under our belt and now we can move on.

He’s one of the best players in this league. We just tried to make it tough on him and try to wear him down so he gets tired.

I do that all the time, … I’m here to work on my game as much as these other guys want to prove themselves. It wasn’t anything special. The move presented itself and I just...

We would like to maybe accomplish 50 wins. I think that is a realistic goal.

The first half we were going through the motions. We weren’t playing with fire. And with energy and defensive presence, we cut the lead down and it was a tie ballgame. We felt comfortable we...

Everybody’s sharing the ball. It becomes contagious. Everybody’s driving and kicking. Guys are knocking down shots. Guys are getting wide-open looks. That just makes the game easier for us and for everybody because you can...

This is a funny game. I was telling (Chauncey) Billups that we acted like we couldn’t play on the west coast. Then we come home and we give them a run for their money. And...

(Streaks) can be dangerous, because you can get complacent and feel like you turn it on and off at any time. (Tuesday) was one of those nights. We have to understand that we have to...

When a scorer is going like that, you have to get him the ball. It puts a lot of pressure on the other team.

I’d rather have the win than a triple-double.

In the first game, we kind of were a little passive. Tonight, I think we all understood that we couldn’t go down two-love on our home court. So I think we came out with the...

We tried to execute but they picked us apart. We just didn’t execute the game plan tonight.

[Consistency] would be something that we definitely need to work on. To be able to not just play defensively but offensively. Everybody just getting into that roll that we were on during that groove when...

We can’t leave ‘Twin’ (Collins) on an island, and say, ‘You got O’Neal by yourself. We are going to help him as much as we can. Everybody is going to have a chance at O’Neal....

We couldn’t rebound and didn’t play defense. If we’re going to have a season like that we might have to re-evaluate and score over 100 points a game.

I have a lot of options, and one of them is staying in New Jersey, … We’re going to play them all out and see what happens.

Detroit, San Antonio, Miami, Dallas, Phoenix … those are going to be the teams talked about. Nobody is going to talk about (the Nets). We will let our play speak for itself and none of...

On paper you have some big names, but this team just got put together two months ago. It’s still trying to find itself.

That was my thought. I lost my concentration on trying to make the shot. I was trying to be creative instead of getting the 2 points. I thought that could be a play that could...

T.J. [Kidd’s son] wanted to congratulate him, … He thought the deal was done.

The first game we were more passive and tonight we came out with the intention of playing defense for 48 minutes. (The physical play) is what the playoffs are all about. It was expected.

We’re a team. We’ve played without guys that have been hurt for six weeks. Guys are going to have to step it up coming off the bench.

I think we’re going in the right direction.

I gotta give our guys credit. They could have folded the tent. But we fought back.