Avery Johnson Good Quotations

We didn't want him to play 40, but he felt pretty good and he looked OK.

Points are hard to come by against Memphis, and it's been that way for everybody because of their tempo ... and their defensive scheme. We've got to place a premium on getting good shots.

I don't think words could describe what that could do for the city. The city has been ravaged. They need some good news. Tourism is a big part of their whole economic structure. Hopefully they can get it pushed through really soon so people can start making plans for it.

If the commissioner changed the schedule and you had to play three or four games in a row, championship teams still find a way to win. So we don't use tired as an excuse. We didn't deserve to win. We weren't very efficient offensively. And give their defense credit. They did a good job of limiting Dirk and Josh's looks late in the game. They have a lot of pride in their locker room.

He's got to play more minutes and be more responsible. That's why it's team game. You can have a 10th man in the starting lineup. We have guys one through 12 that we feel good about putting in games.

He's coast to coast, one of the quickest guards in the league. He causes havoc when he gets in the paint, and he's a pretty good passer. He's a one-man fast break, all by himself.

He has been a big part of what we're doing. He's a guy in our starting lineup that I don't have to call a play for, (a guy) who just plays defense and rebounds. That's good for us. We needed a guy who doesn't want the ball. We wouldn't be here without him.

We thought we were pretty good defensively, for the most part, against one of the tougher teams in the Western Conference. We knew we had to be physical.

We thought we got our defense under us in the first half and kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. We had a little lull defensively in the third quarter, but they're a very good offensive basketball team and they weren't going to come out of the locker room lying down.

I was concerned about this game. Byron Scott has done as good a job as anybody in the league, and they have that team in playoff contention.

I think there's another level for us to go to. We did some good stuff. We did some bad stuff.

Jason came out firing, man. That's the Jason Terry that I see. I sleep good at night when he shoots the ball. I know he's not going to make every shot, but when he's aggressive to score that's one of the ways I sleep good. I don't elbow my wife when he shoots like that, so I hope he continues to do that so I can sleep good.

Overall it was a good team effort and we were fortunate enough to be able to rest some guys in the fourth quarter.

I'm so happy we went through that little period, because it seems to have brought our team closer together. Nobody pointed fingers. At the same time, we played against some really good basketball teams that were really hot.

We got off to a good start in the first quarter and set the tone for the whole game. I thought our defense was pretty steady...we tried to contest as many shots as we could.

We had some good moments of team defense, but there's nothing really to get too excited about, ... I thought the big guys really tried. They're making a conscious effort to improve.

Yao is playing some awfully good basketball. I had a firsthand look at him during All-Star Weekend, and he looked to be moving pretty good. Obviously he's a big focus of our defense.

We obviously have been playing some pretty good basketball. We knew we were on a streak. In my mind you don't think it's ever going to come to an end. When it does it just doesn't feel good.

We were not very good for the first three-and-a-half quarters, but between the fourth quarter and overtime we outscored them, 41-22. There's something unique about this team.

We have guys watching all of the teams we can possibly play against, logging the miles, flying across the country. I think over-preparation is a good thing.

We thought our defense and offense was good in the first half, but in the second we struggled. We had one turnover in the first and 10 in the second half. That is something we will take a look at.

The players challenged themselves to pick it up defensively. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight. We had a good team effort. We had a lot of contribution from a lot of different people.

We seemed to have a lot of energy tonight. I gave them (two days) off and they gave me one back by responding with energy and concentration pretty much throughout the whole game. It's pretty rare for us to play that long of a stretch of good basketball.

We were fortunate enough get some stops and play some tough, hard-nosed defense. This is the fifth win on a five-game road trip. We have been on the road eleven or twelve days and we played some pretty good defense against a team scoring 150, 120 and 115 points, so I am awfully proud of our guys.

We've had a pretty good year up to this point. So we don't want to let all of that go down the drain because we got four guys injured.

Tonight we needed a good start and that set the tempo for the rest of the game.

We knew it was going to be a dogfight coming in here, playing against a well-coached team. That's the sign of a good team. ... We were kind of on our heels, but we kept battling. It was a gutsy performance by our team.

We're disappointed with the way we finished the game. Our defense wasn't very good tonight. We gave up 65 points in the second half. We had a lot of things go wrong defensively.

You got to be able to go to guys one through 12. We're not afraid to go to D.A. (Darrell Armstrong). We're not afraid to go to D.J. It's a good positive.

Ron has impacted them. He wants to show he's a dominant player on both ends of the floor. He's playing as good on that left block as I've seen him throughout his career.

This is the best he's looked in the last couple of days. Hopefully, we can get in a good practice in Utah, and then we'll see how he looks.

They know I love to practice, and we don't really brag on how much we practice or how much we prepare like a lot of other situations. But they know I love to practice and I've been missing out on my good practices trying to just keep them fresh a little bit.

They had a great start to the game. They came out and really tried to throw a knockout punch on us. Fortunately, we were able to withstand it, come back and get our defense set and play some pretty good defense against a high-scoring team in the second, third and fourth quarters.

As we move forward, and especially in the playoffs, he's going to get their best defender. It'll be good to see if we've made some progress there.

For Josh, it'll be a test for him coming back for the first game, especially against a really good defensive team.

It's mostly what Devin's done. He's been pretty good for us.

That first-quarter defense probably was as good as I've seen in a long time. No matter who you do it to, when you hold a team to 10 points in a quarter, that's pretty special.

It was a gutsy win for us tonight. That's a scrappy team over there. They've been playing some very good basketball and we don't take anything for granted. (Stackhouse) stepped up tonight and I thought Devin really came on and gave us a big lift in overtime.

They made a run. They're a very good basketball team. The second half, they got it within two, and we just suggested 'stay tough-minded.' And we were able to get somewhat of a cushion.