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April 21 • Practice Report • Brown, Mckie and Van Horn quotes April 19 • Brown, Coleman, McKie and Snow quotes April 18 • Practice Report • Brown, Iverson, Thomas and Van Horn quotes |
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Practice Quotes - April 22
“My assistants talk about what (Hornets Coach Paul Silas is) going to do. I kind of tend to worry about what we do. I think the most important thing from our standpoint is that we play the right way. It all starts with defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball. I know that you can’t expect Allen (Iverson) to go 21-32 and get 55 (points), so we have to have some other people step up. But if our defense is good, that will give us easier opportunities to make other players more effective. And maybe we have to find ways to get some people off early, at least get their hands on the ball.” On the importance of the Sixers reserves “We had no shot if Aaron (McKie) didn’t play the way he played because he was the one guy that was looking to take shots. He made some huge plays down the stretch. He hit a big baseline jumper in front of their bench, he got a lay-up off a steal and then made a big steal late in the game. It’s huge, and we got into foul trouble with Kenny (Thomas) and even though Tyrone (Hill) played 15 minutes, I thought he was really effective. (New Orleans) have a deep bench and they had to use it because they got into unbelievable foul trouble as well. I think that’s probably going to be a big factor.” On the importance of Wednesday night’s game “Its huge, I’m not changing my opinion, they are a terrific team. I am hopeful that Baron (Davis) is going to be healthy. I would hate to see anybody go this far in the season and make a run like (New Orleans) did late, and put themselves in a situation like this to lose a key player. I think they are really a terrific team, and they play great at home, especially early in the year. We have to make sure we protect the home court, which has been tough for us both in the playoffs and the regular season the last few years.”
“Just approach the game the same way. Just play as hard as I can and whatever happens happens. I won’t try to really think about out doing my last performance or anything like that. You just go compete and whatever happens happens.” His thoughts on the Hornets’ defense approach towards him on Wednesday “I expect them to do something. Obviously, the playoffs are about adjusting whatever happens in the previous game. They have a great coach, so I expect them to do something different as far as trying to contain me. Hopefully, they’ll double or try to triple-team me. If so, I think that will open things up for my teammates.” On his confidence in his teammates “I am confident in them. I’ve been with these guys all year long. They have proven to be good when the time comes, (and) I expect everybody to step up big. A lot of guys didn’t play as well as they would have liked to play but that’s what this is all about. It’s a series. (Wednesday) we get another chance to do good things out there on the court, so I expect the guys on my squad to be ready.” On the Hornets belief that he can’t score 55 points again “I would love for (the Hornets) to play me the way they played me last game. If they’re going to play me one-on-one, that’s what I would want. But if they double, I want that too because it makes it easy for my teammates. Hopefully, they will come in with a cocky attitude and try to play me man on man. But I’ll be ready for whatever they try. It’s just about adjusting to whatever they do.” On some of his teammates lack of playoff experience “It’s kind of expected. I remember playing in my first playoff game and how nervous I was. Usually, I’m just nervous right in the beginning of the game, and once the ball goes up all the butterflies go away. But just thinking back to when I played my first game, I was kind of nervous for the first couple minutes. It took getting banged around a little bit to get out of it, so it’s expected. Hopefully, if those guys are nervous it won’t last too long. They just have to understand its over with now, they had their first experience and now its time to just play ball.”
“You always have to make adjustments. We won the game, and we still have to make adjustments. Just because you have success and win the game, doesn’t mean that everything went your way. (There were) some things (New Orleans) did that hurt us that we have to try to try take care of, and some things that we didn’t do well. On Baron Davis playing injured “I am approaching it as if he is the regular Baron Davis. I am not going to take him lightly at all because I know what he is capable of doing. If he’s out there on the court, I am assuming he is the regular Baron Davis. If he’s not out there, they have won without him this year. They still have players that are definitely more than capable of stepping in.” On the impact Coach Brown has made on his career so far “He’s been a big impact. A coach took a chance on a guy that was at the end of a bench on a team because he had seen something that I had done while I was in college or maybe one of the best games I played when I was in Seattle happened to be against Indiana when he was in Indiana. So I think he had seen something in me that probably 99 percent of the league didn’t see. So it was a blessing and the opportunity of a lifetime for me to come here. No. 1, for him to give me the chance to come here, and then play. To have confidence in me to put me out there on the court and help me grow. Even to this day he is constantly teaching to help me become a better person and better player. I think each year I have improved, and he has been a major part of it.” |
