It went from bad to worse.

That was probably the biggest win in the history of the franchise.

You got to want it more than them. When the ball got loose, I thought I might have gotten fouled but I am not going to look around, I am not going to complain. I...

Cliff is the ultimate professional. He’s not just here to play games, just to say, ‘Hey I’m here in my 17th year.’ He’s out there to compete, to play at a high level, and the...

You know, we lost (Game 1), we give them all the credit. It’s unfortunate that when we win, it’s because of other things. You have to play against different people certain ways. Jason Collins and...

Opinions, right or wrong, aren’t going to help or hurt the situation. They are what they are. (NBA commissioner) David Stern will do something and you have to live with it.

It was important for us to defend, make them play half court and limit them to one shot. It was an all around great effort by every player.

A.J. has never done that before. He had a great game. To act like that’s going to be the norm over the series, I think everybody knows that’s not going to be the case. He...

We were a team that could turn it on and off. People say you can’t do it, but we were that team. I’m not saying it was often, but something wasn’t clicking. Our chemistry wasn’t...

There’s a lot of ups and downs to every playoff series. We didn’t really get dominated. It was a game that was back and forth. They got (a questionable foul) call with 0.9 seconds to...

You can’t make excuses for missing a player. They just wanted it more and they were more aggressive.

You have to get it done in the playoffs before people talk about what you accomplished.

There are about five or six teams that realistically have a chance of winning a championship. I definitely think we’re one of them.

We were the last team to beat them in the Eastern Conference. We still have confidence against this team.

I want to play for a championship team. I want to win a championship.

My first three years here is all about team and having lots of players around me. So you had to learn how to maximize your few opportunities. I was never a volume shooter. You look...

Sometimes there’s just no explanation.

I think he started at center in [two] NBA Finals. In those Finals he was going against Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan, at the peaks of their games.

I haven’t run like that in a while. I was a little tired. I had to come out.

I think they have come down a little bit to Earth after their fast start. It is extremely tough to live up to that hype. Everybody was talking about 70 (victories) after 35 games. I...

Hey, we’ve been playing the same way the whole year and we’ve been successful. I believe in my teammates. I believe in my coaching staff. We’ve been playing one way, all year long.

We understand that this next game is going to be the hardest one of the series.

Some nights, things just click. It’s a combination of good defense. But they also had some good looks. They had some shots that they normally hit. You combine that with good defense and it was...

It’s always your move next. What are you going to do to make an adjustment to our counter? What are you going to do now that we have played this type of lineup? It’s all...

If in the next couple of weeks he has to take time [off], and you can still get him back before the playoffs, then that’s what you want to do. If he can get through...

My situation was pretty easy. My high school is a Nike school; I went the University of Arizona. It’s not like it was bad choice, or I went there just because it was a Nike...

We put ourselves in that position. We didn’t do a good job early.

We’ve spoiled people early. We could win the rest of our games, but we’re going to be judged by how we play in the playoffs. This is good. This is great. But we understand that’s...

You can do that because you won the first game. Just wait until after Game 2.

He took control. He did what he wanted, on the pick-and-roll, he got to wherever he wanted, he found open guys, he got to the basket. He got to the free throw line. I think...

They played the way we [had]. We normally get down, then you fight to the end and you don’t seem to have enough.

We would drive and kick it to guys with wide-open looks but couldn’t get anything to fall. For the most part we played good defense, but you have to be near perfect on the defensive...

Maybe the 1 o’clock start helped us. Dirk and those guys didn’t wake up until the second half.

I believe we’re going to be OK. Fortunately, it’s not the best-of-1. This isn’t the NCAA Tournament. You have a few more games to play before it’s over with. So we just have to do...

I had been on ice for 3 ‘, quarters. I was watching Vince go to work, he’s unbelievable. Then coach put the ball in my hands and I tried to be aggressive.

Our offense failed us. A lot of the decision-making.

After a while we wear on teams, … That’s what’s going to happen.

We didn’t really shoot the ball very well as a team. When you attack the basket and try to get to the free-throw line, that’s something that can kind of help you out. When you’re...

This one has showed us that we’ve got everything going again and we’re back in the groove.

Coming into this series, he wasn’t really known as a defensive stopper. But he’s been coming in and giving us unbelievable minutes on Stevie Jackson. He’s been in the passing lanes. He’s been a great...

Sometimes he gets so excited. It’s like.

He received criticism from the media, he received criticism from different people, but it wasn’t from anyone in this locker room. It wasn’t from anyone in the coaching staff, because we believed in him and...

It’s big. We want to get home court. Detroit has separated themselves from the rest of the league. We can’t get Detroit, so let’s get the other. It’s not too far-fetched.

There are five or six teams that can make it to the end. Nothing’s changed.

He hasn’t lost a step, let that be known.

It’s a nice stretch against very good teams. So it’s going to be a tough stretch for us.

He’s been playing well for them all year. He’s a guys who’s been experienced for them, he’s played in the NBA Finals, so a first-round playoff game, there’s not so much pressure on him to...

We had plenty of good looks, especially close around the bucket. We missed some easy shots.

They have an unbelievable crowd here. But for us, it was, ‘OK, they hit a few shots, let’s calm down. We felt confident and it worked for us in the end.

You give them credit. They played good defense. Some shots didn’t fall down for us. Fortunately, it’s not the best-of-1.