I kept myself in the game by rebounding the ball. There’s a lot of ways I can help this team. I just got to play good basketball, be smart with the basketball.

It sounds good, something like that.

That’s just the way he is. He’s always been that way.

This is why you come out and work. You put your time out in the gym, and being a little kid from New York, shoveling snow, dreaming of one day playing in the NBA playoffs,...

Inside presence, being physical, that’s what we need from him. The guy’s got the best body in the NBA _ he’s got to throw it around a little bit.

[The Lakers’ weakness in the paint isn’t lost on the team.] It’s my job to take some pressure off [Bryant] as far as making plays, … I wasn’t able to do that tonight. That won’t...

[Like teammate Caron Butler a year ago, he seems destined to finish third in Rookie of the Year voting despite impressive stats. Through Monday, he ranked third among rookies in scoring (16.2 points), third in...

I’m pretty sure if I can be on the court the majority of the time, if Kobe can be on the court most of the time, if we can stay healthy, we can make the...

The time off was good for the mind and body. I was just more aggressive tonight.

Different tricks of the trade, different ways to get open, different ways to play defense, different ways to play the game. He knows the triangle inside-out.

His ability is amazing, and his will is amazing.

I’ll take the blame for that. I should have let the clock run down more. It was a flop call on a team that was dead. I gave them life. He drew the charge, that’s...

We played a great defensive game against Detroit, a great defensive game against Oklahoma (New Orleans) and San Antonio, and we do the little things that it takes to win big games. Then we come...

I think that’s the strength to my game, … I’m not one-dimensional at all. I’m comfortable wherever he wants me to play on the court. I kind of pride myself being able to play any...

That’s too many points on your home turf. We got caught up probably playing their game a little bit.

He’s extremely disrespectful. I’m just going to leave it at that. It’s dudes like that why things happen off the court between players and their friends and things like that. … He needs to watch...

The third quarter is really biting us in the butt. It’s a team defensive thing we’ve just got to fix.

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

His mouth is horrible and atrocious.

Don’t have a choice right now.

We needed this game, so I just wanted to stay aggressive around the boards, find the basket, get some easy shots and go to the free throw line.

Kobe helps me too, because if I’m ever lying back too much, him trying to get open or him fighting wakes me up, … Kobe’s game is like smelling salts. If you’re lying back, he’s...

It’s too bad we let it get out of hand with what we wear on the bench. … I don’t think it’s going to change much. On the bench, I definitely understand. We shouldn’t wear...

I’m not scared to shoot it.

We don’t know how to win ugly yet. It’s either we have good offensive games or we lose.

We’re not going to get caught up playing their game. We’re going to execute offensively. We’re going to make them beat us. We’re not going to give them the game.

We’ve got to make every game a defensive game. … When you play the worst defensive game of the year, you get beat. Point blank.

Last year, we were a really bad defensive team. We’re better, but we’re still bad.

We just threw everybody at (Pierce). If you put two guys on him, you have a high percentage of stopping him.

I think that’s the strength to my game. I’m not one-dimensional at all. I’m comfortable wherever he wants me to play on the court. I kind of pride myself being able to play any position....

Hopefully we can steal the series. No one has us picked.

It’s a blessing to be out on the court with him, and tonight he showed why, again. It’s crazy. Eighty-one points, that’s a lot of points. A lot of players couldn’t do that because they...

I put Kobe in a bind out there. He has to score 40 points just for us to win. I don’t blame him for shooting 40 shots some nights. We should be embarrassed as a...

I think we are (a playoff team),

It’s like God put Kobe here for us to watch him play basketball.

It was fun. We gave them a show. I was glad a lot of the NBA greats came, too.

When we were down at halftime, (Bryant) was ticked. He said nothing and that was scary.

I’m kind of lost for words. It was a pleasure just to watch him out here.

We have to go into LA and defend our home turf. We had to win Game Two on the road and it was very important for us.

We played poorly. That’s just what you expect.

That’s just my coach telling me to go, and don’t worry about it.