two of the best players in basketball.

When you play good defense, you give yourself opportunities to beat teams. When you play bad defense, you give yourself opportunities to lose to any team.

It is just game-by-game now. You have to win. My concentration level was high tonight. I’ve just got an aggressive mind-set right now. I didn’t really do anything differently tonight – still rebounded and drove...

He was a good dude before. He’s an even better dude now. This is a guy who’s been through a lot. He’s one guy who knows how fragile life can be.

I got home, and my son told me how much he loved watching Kobe. We’re playing with somebody who’s making history as he goes along. It’s like traveling with a rock star.

It’s going to be hard for Kobe to beat teams when they’ve got two guys on him. Everyone’s got to contribute.

Some games you have to do the right thing basketball-wise to win and we can’t seem to do that. We don’t play a good offensive game and we can’t win. That puts Kobe in a...

Kobe, he has really strong will. When he’s in the zone like that, he’s definitely on an island by himself.

We can’t get stuck on yesterday’s game. We can’t forget what we need to do to win games. The series is not over yet, so we know we have to continue to play well if...

We’ll do it. If we have to do it, we’ll certainly do it.

It could have been called a foul. But if it’s not, I guess that means I just didn’t go hard enough. I thought it was a tough move.

Statistically, I suppose this was my best game if you want to look at it that way, but I think I could have made a few more plays. If we are going to win games,...

We’re over it. Everybody’s over it in this organization. (Nuggets fans) should have been over it. (It) didn’t happen to them. I don’t know why they take it so personally.

If this were football, I would be listed as probable.

I think with coach here and focusing on [defense], everyone’s going to be protected.

This group is a little bit closer because we’ve been together since training camp,

I can’t sleep and I can’t bathe properly.

We dug ourselves a hole. We can’t afford to go 18 down and expect to win.

He’s the best rookie I’ve every played with. He just makes plays. He’s not getting a lot of hype right now, but people are going to find out about Mr. Wade.

He was saying that I’m learning the role he was five or six years ago. So he understands. The triangle is different. You need four or five guys to understand what’s really going on to...

He raises the I.Q. of your basketball team – he helps us tremendously,

He’s very patient, … He takes his time with us. He’s what you call a team player right now.

Kirilenko must have thought he was in Salt Lake City tonight. A couple of times he made tough shots.

I want to play in the playoffs. I don’t want to be sitting at home and they’re saying, ‘Well, Lamar didn’t do enough.’ When we lose, especially when I don’t feel like I played the...

The hip-hop culture is part of the NBA, … It’s not going to leave just because we change what we wear.

So now that we go back home we’ve got to find a way to keep our ship afloat. In the second half of the season, every game is going to be towards gaining some playoff...

I’m disappointed to hear that because he’s my friend. Sometimes, we tend to do things at the spur of the moment that we wish we could take back because it hurts our image. But I’m...

This is a big road trip for us. We want to go in there [tonight], and it’d be a good time to play your best game of the year so we could keep it going...

We didn’t protect each other, … I actually had to go to an enforcer style, and that’s not my game. We were just really bad on team defense.

I’ll take the blame for that one. I got a little overzealous, I tried to get to the rack, and they got momentum from the charge.

Why would he do that?!

Without our best offensive player, we’ve got to play better defense.

Every game we play is going to be the biggest game of the year. … It’s in our hands. We can’t really worry about what other teams are doing.

This was not like having a cold or the flu, this was a complicated surgery. Some people lose their lives, not just their career. When you figure he’s been able to play for us, and...

That’s going to be his place in history. Right now, he’s really focused and feels like it’s his league. Before the 81 points, Kobe should have been getting his due as far as the MVP.

I think we’re not trusting one another offensively and defensively.

We get to have a light practice, lift a little weights, have a steak and relax a little bit.

We didn’t protect each other. I actually had to go to an enforcer style, and that’s not my game. We were just really bad on team defense.

They’re focusing on defense. You can tell.

Once he learns how to settle in … he will be all right. I try to tell him sometimes go easy and pick your spots … jab, jab, jab and then hook. But with him...

Right now you have a lot of power forwards who have small-forward athleticism and abilities,