Orlando Quotes

Doc Rivers:
On who’s going to guard Baron Davis
“Everyone. By the end of the game, I would say Darrell, Troy, Tracy and maybe someone else will guard him because he is the guy that has really hurt us. Really their whole team has hurt us in spots, but Baron is obviously the most dominate guy for them in this series. He’s the guy we’re going to have to pay the most attention to.”

On the condition of Tracy McGrady’s back
“Tracy felt great today. The fact that he was out there (participating at practice) is a good sign because in the past he wasn’t even able to stand up. He’s feeling a lot better, but of course, he not going to be healthy until next season.”

On Tracy McGrady’s prediction of a win in Game #4
“I have no control over that. If he says it, then that’s fine with me as long as he backs it up. You know sometimes guys do that and come through it, and then sometimes they don’t. I hope that he is right.”

On making the necessary adjustments in Game #4
“We have to do what we do better. When you look at the entire playoff series, one point separates the whole series. So, we just have to do what we do a little better, and if we do that, then we should be alright.”

On Orlando being out rebounded opponents
“It concerned me before the playoffs, and it’s concerned me more now that the playoffs have started. It’s probably been the one area of disappointment for me because even though we knew we had a problem going into the playoffs, I did think that we would still do a better job on the boards. We didn’t, and now we have to.”

Mike Miller:
On Tracy McGrady’s guarantee of a win in Game #4
“It’s got to be a victory. If we lose, then we’re done so we’ve got to go out there and play and hopefully come away with a win.”

“The great one’s guarantee it. We’re on his team and we’re going to ride into battle with him and stick up for everything he said in what we do.”

“We do need to help him. The bottom line is that he can’t do it all by himself. That’s something that’s been shown with a lot of other teams. You can never have one guy do everything. We need to help him, and I’m looking forward to doing that.”

What he’s learned from veteran teammate Patrick Ewing
“The guy is (NBA) top 50 of all-time. Just watching and understanding what he goes through…he’s 39 years old and he’s still the first one here and the last one to leave. I look at him in almost amazement because he’s accomplished so much, but still working to prove that he’s still good in this league. He goes out there every night to prove that he’s still capable of playing.”

Tracy McGrady:
On his guarantee of a win in Game#4
“It’s what it is. It’s either we win or go home and we definitely don’t want to go home, so I’ve got to guarantee it. I don’t see us losing and we definitely want to be back in Charlotte on Friday night. My teammates are in this with me. They know where I’m coming from.”

“We all have to play well. From the starting five, to the last guy off the bench. Whoever comes in has to contribute so that we can get this win tomorrow.”

“I really think that (Game #3) was a game we should have won, but we didn’t. We should have won Game #1. This series should have been over right now, but Charlotte has some key veteran players on their team and they found a way to win. Now it’s our turn to find a way to win. I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it.”

On guarding Baron Davis
“For a guy like me it’s difficult because he’s smaller than me, he’s quick and he’s strong. So to keep a guy like that in front of you is tough. When a guard like Darrell is guarding him, he’s just going to overpower him and shake him in the post. He’s going to use his strength well and elevates so high on the jumper that he just jumps right over Darrell. He’s a smart basketball player, but at the same time you have to take him down on the other end of the court and make him work.”

On the team playing with a sense of desperation
“I think that if they’re not ready to go on vacation and they’re not ready to end the season, then they’ll play like it. This could be the last game, so we’re going to go out and play both ends of the court and execute. Hopefully everybody will go out and do just one more thing…one more extra thing that we didn’t do in Game #3.”

Charlotte Quotes

David Wesley:
Thoughts on Tracy’s guarantee:
“Well I watched the news last night, I saw him guarantee a win and a game five. What else is supposed to say? You know, he’s young. He’s going to make statements like that. He’s the guy putting up all the numbers… oh well, we got a job to do. Were going to try to get that second win here in Orlando and end this series.”

Are Tracy’s words additional motivation?:
“If you need additional motivation at this point, then check your pulse. Our motivation is to get into the second round. Our motivation is to win a championship. Him running his mouth, that’s not additional motivation.”

How Baron is handling Tracy’s talk:
“That’s the big thing. When we win this series, Baron doesn’t have to say a thing. That’s all that matters. There’s a lot of guys in this league that run their mouth and are talking, but it’s about what you can do, not what you can talk about doing. Right now, we’re up 2-1, and Baron has done his job. That’s all we can ask of him. He’s going to come out on Tuesday and do his job again, we’re going to find a way to win.”

How do you think Tracy’s teammates react to his comments about him carrying the load?:
“You can’t be very happy with statements like that. You’re on the team you’re on. You find a way to win with the team you’re on. If you’re that good, then maybe you find a way to make the guys around you better.”

Head Coach Paul Silas:
Do Tracy’s comments affect your team?:
“We feel that if we can execute our game plan, we give ourselves a chance to win and that’s all we really concern ourselves with. So what someone else says has no bearing on us at all.”

Are you surprised to hear Tracy say stuff like that?:
“Hey… nothing surprises me, I’ve been around too long. I’ve heard it all.”

Does it give you any more motivation?:
“I can’t say. I don’t really concentrate on that kind of stuff. My players are really focused now, and we really want to end this thing. That’s all we really care about is playing well. If we play well, we think we gives ourselves a chance.”

Are you happy how the team rallied after the game-winning shot was waved off?:
“That’s the way it happened. It turned out that way, but I didn’t know what to expect really. I think that we did take a real step towards maturity because of that play and because of the fact that we could put it behind us and go on and win the game. Perhaps that did serve us well, especially to win under those circumstances.”

Can Baron perform again like he did on Saturday?:
“It’s hard to duplicate that, but I expect him to play well. I expect them to counter and try to come with something to slow him down as we’re trying to slow Tracy down. Great players, and I don’t know if I put him in that category yet, greatness comes over time, certainly he’s a quality player right now and it’s going to be impossible to stop a quality player consistently. We just want him to come with the mindset that he still has to play hard, contribute and be productive.”

About Baron stepping up in the playoffs:
“That’s when reputations are made during the postseason and certainly he’s kinda the talk of the league right now, I just want us to be the team in the league at the end.”

Success on the road:
“We know what we’re up against on the road, hostile crowds, the team that we’re playing is going to play that much harder and we know that we’re going to have to play exceptional basketball in order to win on the road and I think we’ve been able to do that. Certainly our focus, our mindset, is defense first, offense second. If we come in with that and can shut people down, keep them in a half-court set, then we have a chance to win every game on the road. At home we have a situation and it’s been difficult, but we’ve maintained even there. To have a winning record at home under those circumstances is nothing short of phenomenal I think.”

Baron Davis:
Thoughts on Tracy’s guarantee:
“Don’t matter. Don’t matter to me, man. He’s just trying to rally his troops. He’s gotta do whatever he’s gotta do. To guarantee victory, that’s a lot of pressure on them, they gotta win.”

Thoughts on Tracy saying Baron has it easier than him:
“He’s carrying that team, you got to give him a lot of credit, he’s been doing it all year. I think we are a more talented team. He’s one of the league leaders for the MVP, so he’s definitely an MVP candidate. I ain’t got nothing to say, I’m just going to let my play on the court talk.”

“I ain’t going to trashtalk. I mean, if I was in that situation, I would probably say the same things. It’s motivation. It’s motivation for your teammates. He’s probably challenging his teammates to step up. We all know that Tracy McGrady is a phenomenal player, one of the elite players in the NBA. By him guaranteeing a victory, I don’t know what that do, I guess they want a response so they can get a little bit more hyped or some fuel to get hyped up. Who care’s? We’re going to come out and play. We’re going to play the way we’ve been playing, and hopefully come out with the victory.”

Why does Charlotte play better on the road?:
“I think on the road we’re a lot more focused. We’re playing in front of capacity crowds and you’re going to be hyped up and anxious to play and you want to perform at your best. When we come on the road, it’s all or nothing and that’s the mentality we have going out on the floor.”

Is the team excited at chance to end series tomorrow?:
“Most definitely. We’re looking at this game as a must win for us. We have to go in there with the initiative to come out and play hard and pull out the victory. We don’t want to go back to Charlotte.”

About Mashburn:
“I think it’s week to week. We just hoping that he gets well for his family, for his health. When he’s able to play and come back, he’ll come back. Until then we just gotta hold down the fort.”

What does the win in overtime say about this team?:
“We have strong character. We’ve been through a lot this year. I’m kinda glad we did go to overtime to win it, because it gave us a little more confidence that ‘hey we can pull it out in even the toughest of situations’ and that’s what we did. We can together, we got stops and we were able to score the basketball in overtime.”