It is better. It is more a stiff back, it is not spasms anymore.

They’re not trying to miss shots.

There is no doubt about it, both teams pride themselves on defense. It’s not going to be a high-scoring game. It’s going to be that type of series.

I let us down in a small way. I was disappointed that we lost, that I got thrown out, but I wasn’t out here trying to prove anything.

He might not be happy, but he’d have to go there and play. I guess it would be like playing for Charlotte or playing for Toronto.

It was a good win. We struggled a little bit when we got the lead. We were able to withstand their run and we were okay.

In the first half, especially the second quarter, we were not playing D the way we needed to.

We did a good job early on Dirk. It was just a matter of trying to contain him.

We won the division (this way). You lose a game and have a bad shooting night and people question what you were doing. This is a guy who’s an All-Star and has done so many...

It felt really good after (Wednesday’s) practice. Then I tried to do more stuff Thursday when we were still in San Antonio and it went backwards a little bit. . . . It was my...

I tried to get my career high. J-Kidd, he was more going for NBA history. I’m going for personal history. NBA history is another thing.

Bosh posts up, but he likes to shoot jumpers, and we were able to take that away from him. You need to crowd and use your quickness on him.

He was unreal tonight — inside and out. His confidence just grew and grew as the game wore on and it was just great to see.

Certain teams set your goals at a certain level. For this team, if someone would have told you at the beginning of the year that we were going to make the playoffs, it probably wouldn’t...

Vince has hit some of the craziest shots in the history of this league. But the importance of that shot is what I am most proud of for him.

We just couldn’t hit a shot. It was one of those nights.

Vince is our primary scorer and that’s his role. When he goes down, it’s not a surprise that we score with a lot of crazy shots or play out of our heads. We’re just going...

We didn’t do a very good job of playing through each other or through the people we should have been. And then we got cold. They were hitting shots and mainly it was a lot...

Our expectations are high. But we’re just like a lot of teams at this time of the year. We’re going to try to win 16 games.

That was a huge shot.

In the past, a few years ago, it might have been cool beating them. But now it is just another game.

I was teasing him in the guts of the game. Hey, are you going to make a shot? That’s the way we are as a group. We have so much confidence in each other, there...

I felt good. It was a little tight and a little sore, but it felt good being out on the floor.

It’s big for us I’d never beaten the Dallas Mavericks in my career.

Vince hit some shots. He is going to shoot whether he is hot or not, but we have so much confidence in him. He received criticism from the media, he received criticism from different people,...

He’s always at the game and he’s a staple in New Jersey. People come to games just to see if he’s going to be there. He’s very positive when it comes to the team and...

I have no problem with anything and Frank knows that because he knows I’d go talk to him.

If he hasn’t let it go yet then you guys should be talking to him. It was an unfortunate incident that he got hurt. We moved on. Maybe except for Kenyon, who is no longer...

Do we get an advantage if we’re 3-1? Mental advantage my [butt]. I’d rather give them the mental advantage and we have home-court.

There’s a lot of balance. Vince really set the tone attacking. Curly was a force down low. J-Kidd, 15 assists, that’s unbelievable.

We just couldn’t hit a shot. We were driving and kicking, getting wide-open looks, but we couldn’t get anything to fall.

If I get an opportunity to play for a championship team, I’m going to go hunting for that. I have no loyalty.

We’re getting there. Late in the game, when we needed shots and we needed stops, they were there.

Our second quarter we’ve really struggled the last few games. I don’t know what’s going on with that or why we’ve struggled. We have to figure it out. We had some success in that first...

I say we can work. We won the division pretty easily. We had some pretty good stretches where we proved our dominance. I wouldn’t even say I had a great year.

More than anything, he just got comfortable. He struggled through the first half and didn’t get into the flow. But once he gets hot, he’s among the best. He’s very tough to stop.

It is huge. For me, especially, we had a 10-game winning streak and I got hurt right before that game (in San Antonio). I wasn’t able to play. So we got another streak on the...

Mike is such a great player, such a clutch player. I joke with him, because he doesn’t jump very high and he’s not very fast, yet he’s still one of the most effective guys in...

That’s a tough way to start a trip, but hey it’s one of those nights. Vince goes down with foul trouble, then got a little bit hurt and couldn’t get into a rhythm.

The ball was moving, to tell you the truth. It was drive, drive, pass, pass and then somebody had an open shot and we just knocked them down.

The guy (O’Neal) missed four shots, including free throws. The difference was that he was playing at home. A lot of things tend to go your way when you’re at home.

Any team coming in has the ability to beat us.

You don’t prove yourself until the playoffs. Detroit and Miami are the two best teams in the conference, and until someone knocks them off, they’re still the two best teams in the conference.

We’ve shown improvement and I believe our schedule gets a little more favorable. If we keep everybody healthy, I believe we can (win 50). I think we’re going to be a team that makes a...

I remember when I first got here, everybody was all excited about the division. Now it’s like you don’t even see that many smiles. This is a team (that) will be judged by what we...

It’s tough to put it into words. And that’s something that’s rare for me to say.

Right now, the team is struggling, I’ve struggled. And I think it’s a direct correlation.

I try to be as efficient as possible.

Realistically, I haven’t played well since I came back. Nobody plays perfect in this league but I haven’t played a good game since I got back. Tonight it was turnovers and missed free throws. I...

I try and get him to shoot more threes. That’s his next step. They’re right there. You can’t not shoot 18-footers like that and not be able to hit some threes. It’s just a matter...