We were very, very fortunate.

It’s possible. I have the unfortunate experience of . . . whenever I have tried it, he has burned us. He has made (the free throws).

We know the odds. Ninety-five percent of the time, the team that is up 2-0 wins the series. I imagine we’re going to see the best Miami has on Sunday, and we’d better be ready...

Why would anybody want me right now?

They made three’s but the free throw disparity we could not overcome. We had a lot of head-hanging and guys feeling sorry for themselves. There are points in the game where there is a simple...

It’s not only that we talk to them. The league does a good job, and the players association, of going through all that at the beginning of the year. The players have union meetings where...

We started a different lineup and played with the same amount of energy, so it’s difficult to tell (the difference). We played better tonight, but I don’t want to put it on that necessarily.

You can’t stray far from our formula that we win with, … A lot of situations where athletically we’re a little overmatched, we know we’ve got to make up for it by defending and hustle.

The opportunities we had to see him play big minutes — when Brad Miller went down, he was forced into the starting lineup with Sacramento — he played well in that role. He knows and...

I thought we were active on both ends.

This is probably our season right here, to either get back in it or not. Obviously, we have to win our home games.

It’s as important as a regular-season game can get.

We had a better-than-average NBA effort. But that’s not normally good enough for us to win.

They do a lot of the same things. They’re both from the Ben Wallace mold where you can have an effect on a game without having to contribute a lot offensively.

We’ve had our ups and downs obviously this season. But the way they closed the season speaks to what kind of group of guys this is. We had many opportunities to not be as sharp,...

He could definitely help us by practicing, but I don’t know why we would even fool around with that [now]. The only way we could consider that is if the medical people said there was...

We’ll just have to rely on our depth. It’s not something we can control right now. I saw the play several times, and he rolled it pretty good.

Tyson didn’t do much this summer, from what I’ve seen, compared to last summer when he was here almost 75 days. It’s the old thing where your agent tells you don’t do anything until you...

He has been very good. We were a little concerned putting him back on the bench. The first couple of games off the bench he did not play very well and we were concerned. Since...

He is obviously a good shooter and moved down the floor well and scored in the post. I like the way he has played.

I do believe the officials are doing their best. They also happen to be one part of the league that is beyond comment ? above and beyond comment.

Luther’s been great. I liked watching him in college. I think he’s a great all-around player. My feeling is, wherever his career is going, he’s probably going to continue to get minutes. He looks like...

It would be nice if we could play well and put somebody away. We were fortunate to get out of here with a win.

There wasn’t much of anything that was called for us out there tonight. They literally complain about every call the whole game long. That’s their style. That’s what they do. They’ve had a great year...

I’m happy we played hard, but that should be a given. Our guys fought right until the end, but at this level, there are no moral victories. It’s a game we should have won.

That’s what’s a little bit odd about this, that it’s back-to-back afternoon games. I don’t know what time we’ll get in, but we’ll get up in the morning and have a breakfast-type meeting and get...

We got back in the game and then short-circuited a little bit with some offensive fouls. We battled them all the way to the end. We just couldn’t make the plays.

I’m not too worried about (Deng). I don’t get caught in injuries. Injuries are injuries ? they happen. It’s part of this (game). I can’t be distracted, because I’ve got other guys to consider. I...

People think it’s easy getting the ball to somebody, but it’s not always that easy.

I made it very clear to him what my view was. We have more plays in our offense (for Ben) than any team has in their offense for any player in the league.

We kind of lost our poise out there and they ran away from us. In a matter of minutes, the game was gone.

What we are seeing is we have 1-1/2 guys who are not doing what they’re supposed to do on a certain possession.

I thought overall we played better tonight. We have a lot of energy. We did a better than average job of following the game plan. We could have had the game in regulation. We just...

A little bit over 4 percent. But knowing the guys like I know ’em, it would be shocking to me if they didn’t believe in themselves.

We turned Chuck into an All-Star tonight.

[Gordon] knows what he has to do. He’s got to get back into the game during those periods, and he’s got to score for us.

Our defense kept us in the game. It was reminiscent of the way we won so many games last year. There are always points in the game when you struggle a little offensively. You hope...

They literally complain about every call the whole game. That’s their style. That’s what they do. They’re having a great year doing it.

(Friday) We could tell right from the beginning, we weren’t all there. Tonight, we could tell we were all there. We got really active. We put pressure on them. We were really in tune with...

I thought what we did particularly well tonight was that when calls did not go our way we did not go into one of our tremendously long droughts. We did not hang our heads and...

We just have to watch him — that’s why he’s taking days off of practice — and make sure he’s not overdoing it. But if he’s able to play, we’ll play him and worry about...

They earned the right to play however they wanted to play, based on what’s best for their franchise. We had to do what was best for us. We’re glad we’re in.

Just to run down and double-team Shaq all over the place, it normally doesn’t pay off.

We did what we had to do. We were able to get off to a better start. Our guys were confident and relaxed, yet focused from the start. We had good performances across the board.

Typical dad stuff, … Spending time with my two boys, going to their little league games. And following the NBA, like always.

I thought we played hard tonight. We kind of had a pop to our step most of the game. We made too many mistakes and missed too many shots.

We know what we’re facing now. We’re going down there, and it’s going to be some sort of onslaught early in the game. We’ll do our best to try and weather it.

Well, I normally err on the side of telling the truth, so I’m going to tell it. I’m really embarrassed by what happened out there. I thought we came out in the second half, we...

We are still trying to figure out how to fully utilize him. He is definitely a multidimensional player.

I don’t know how satisfied you can be when we still have a losing record. We feel like we’re definitely playing better. The reality is we’re about to find out. Our toughest West Coast trip...