vs.
POSTGAME QUOTES
NOVEMBER 5, 2002


On the Sonics:
"Seattle is the most offensive efficient team that I have seen. (Gary) Payton, I don’t even want to call him an old pro, because he didn’t play like an old pro. He’s really good at finding people. And they’ve got an arsenal of shooters. We tried several different tactics. Yet, he (Payton) had an answer for every one of them."

On the game:
"I think we played the game the right way. We played a pretty good game for three quarters. The third quarter we went into one of those logs that we are seeing everybody have. We couldn’t hit a shot. We tried a little bit of zone, they tried a zone. They were making threes, we couldn’t get it going. The gratifying thing was though, that my team’s got heart. They are not going to quit. And they fought and fought."

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On the game:
"They (Seattle) played a good game tonight. They shot 61 percent from three-point range. When you shoot 61 percent, it is really kind of hard to beat you. I think we passed up some shots and that broke our rhythm."

On the Sonics:
"They are just a really good shooting team. G.P. (Gary Payton) did a heck of a job keeping his guys in it. They are a good catch and shoot type of team and I think we need to take a page out of their book."

On the Rockets' third period collapse:
"I don’t know (what happened). G.P. was playmaking and doing a lot of different things out there. They were getting some easy shots that even high school kids could make."

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On the Sonics' third quarter run:
"They just got hot. They distributed the ball well to their guys who were open and they made a lot of threes. Unfortunately for myself, I was on the bench with some fouls and watching those guys knock those threes down really hurt. I thought they opened the game up with their outside shooting. They hit a lot of shots that we really didn’t have an answer for."

On Gary Payton:
"I’ve watched him long enough to know what to expect, how he is going to play defense and things like that. It’s a good experience for myself, playing against a guy like that."

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On his play this season:
"This is totally different from last year. I have more confidence in myself. I think my teammates and coaches have more confidence in me as well. It’s a big difference."

On the game:
"I thought we played them pretty good for awhile. But then they got into that zone (defense). We went cold when they went into that zone."

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On the game:
"I thought we played well and followed our game plan and did as good a job of containing Mobley and Francis as we could. Part of our game plan was to box out and keep Houston off the boards, and we did it well. We had 27 assists and when we move the ball around like that, we will find somebody that will shoot it."

On Payton’s single game assist high (18):
"I thought Gary did a good job of reading the situation and dishing it off to our shooters. He had a great overall floor game."

On Yao Ming:
"He is going to be a good player and he has a good feel for the game and in time he will be a good player in this league."

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On coming home to Houston:
“It was good for me because I knew my family was here and I was able to perform well."

On the game plan:
“Our game plan was we tried to pressure Francis and Cuttino and make them put the ball into the other players' hands and make them shoot. I thought we worked our game plan well."

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On the Sonics' fast start:
"I don’t know how much better we could be, 4-0 is a pretty good number."

On the game:
"This is the kind of team we can beat because we have tremendous outside shooting. We have the snipers from Yugoslavia firing away from the outside. You live and die by the outside shot, so you better make it. Jerome James definitely played his best game of the year."

On Payton’s assist record:
"Houston couldn’t defend Gary in the low block and then when he was doubled he initiated moving the ball around. I wish he would do more of it."

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On his single game assist record and passing Bob Cousy on the all-time assist list:
"Nate game me the ball in the post and when Houston doubled I got the ball to our shooters."

On passing Cousy:
"I didn’t even realize it until just a few minutes ago. I’m not really thinking about it right now but I will let it all soak in and when I get home I will think about it more."

On the Sonics:
"Everybody on this team knows what we have to do and now all the hard work is paying off for us."

On the Rockets:
"Houston is going to be a good team and they will get it together. Yao has a lot of ability and he has to keep working hard and he will be alright."

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On Yao Ming:
"In a couple of years, that guy will be fantastic. The advantage I had was this was my fifth year in the league and this is only his first."