Brown

On the difference between this year’s team and last year’s
"If everybody was healthy, we’re much better. But we had health issues last year. I really felt we were there on somewhat of a downer. But this year, the last game, the way that played out, the fact that DC (Derrick Coleman) and Keith (Van Horn) and Monty (Williams) were able to play, gives us a little hope we can be a little healthier."

On Jamal Mashburn
"He can score inside and outside. He’s too quick for some perimeter guys that guard him and (he) can take (them) outside and shoot the three-pointer. And he is overpowering for some smaller guys who try to play him inside. And then he’s got a team that can put scorers around him. You can’t just try to concentrate on stopping him, because (David) Wesley and Baron Davis can both score the ball, and they usually have three scorers out on the floor."

On his choice for the MVP
"The one guy that stands out would be (Tim) Duncan because his team had the best record, and obviously he had a phenomenal year. But you can make a case for Allen (Iverson), or Tracy (McGrady), or (Kevin) Garnett or again Jason Kidd. (Dirk) Nowitzki would be hard for me even though he’s been phenomenal, but they have (Steve) Nash and (Michael) Finley and whole bunch of other weapons. But I truly believe that you should look at a team that overachieved and won a lot of games, and I think that points right at Tim Duncan. Sixty wins is incredible. David (Robinson) was hurt a lot, they’re playing with a lot of new faces, a lot of young kids. But there’s a lot of guys…Allen has had his best year ever for us. Garnett has had a phenomenal year. Tracy, I don’t know where Orlando would be without Tracy. (Shaquille O’Neal) and Kobe (Bryant) have each other so that kind of cancels those guys out, and (Chris) Webber has a pretty good supporting cast."

Coleman

On facing his old team
"I don't have any thoughts on that. It's two good team and going to be a hell of a series."

What are the keys to the beating the Hornets?
"The key to any basketball game is limiting the turnovers and making sure that you get a shot at your basket every time. "

On Jamal Mashburn
"A player like Jamal Mashburn is going to get a lot of touches. More than anything, you have to limit the touches as far as places where he likes to score the basketball. If he has mismatches, he'll turn around and try to face big guys up. We just have to limit his touches and try to force him to take tough shots."

On how he feels
"I feel a lot better than I have felt. (The swelling in) my hand is finally going down. Other than that, I feel ok."

McKie

On defending Jamal Mashburn
"Push him out on the floor a little bit more. Try to make him put it down because the closer he gets to the basket, the tougher it is to beat him. We are talking about a guy who, in my opinion, should have been in the top three for the MVP vote. When your team is not one of the marquee teams playing on national television a lot, a lot of his play goes unoticed. He has had a great year."

"Slowing him down. He made a lot of big shots against us. I think in the three games that we played them, he pretty much had it. He can carry a team. He is capable of making big shots for them too.

What makes Mashburn so tough to defend?
"It's his versatility and size. He is a bigger guy, can shoot the three, put it on the floor and can post up. When you have that triple threat as a player, that is hard to stop. I don't care who is playing him. If he has a smaller guy, he can take him on the block. That will command a double team. If he has a bigger guy, he'll take him on the perimeter and that is going to command some attention. He is a tough match-up."

Snow

On seizing the opportunity for the older players on the team
"(Coach Brown) is just saying that it goes by fast. We are not young anymore, by what’s considered young in this league. You have to seize your opportunities because next year, the year after, there’s no guarantees. It’s not guaranteed that we will be in this situation. So whenever you have a chance to do something, you got to try to do it when you can."

On his choice of the MVP
"I think Kevin (Garnett) was in a situation where his team is the fourth seed in the West and which they played with Wally Szczerbiak for half the season. He led the team in double-doubles and triple-doubles for a guy that’s seven-foot. I think he’s done enough."

On Baron Davis
"I think we need to try to keep him out of the lane. Try to keep him from getting easy baskets and creating easy baskets, it’s probably more important than anything else."

On expectations being different this year than last year
"We’re expecting to win. We expected to win last year, we expect to win this year. The expectations are different now because we have home court and the four seed. Whereas last year, a six seed. But a lot of people were still expecting us to win that series last year. Now, since I’ve been here, we have had home court, we’ve been picked to lose. We’ve been on the road and picked to lose. We’ve been picked to win. It doesn’t matter. When you get out on that court, you just got to win no matter where you are at."