Brian Hill Good Quotations

Obviously this was a much needed win. It was a good win that was kind of like Murphy's Law. Everything that could go wrong in the first half did go wrong. But we played very well in the second half and we clamped down on defense.

Carlos, having been a point guard his whole life, just has an understanding of where the ball should go. He's going to get the ball to the right people and knows when he's supposed to keep it himself. I don't expect him to go 7-of-11 every night, but he did a very good job tonight.

I can't say enough good things about the bench. I thought early in the game we lacked energy. Guys came in and picked it up for us; picked up our defensive intensity. It was basically the same thing in the second half. We got good shots and good offensive production from our bench.

This was obviously a real good win for us tonight. I thought we just really got excellent contributions from everybody at some point and time during the course of the game.

When he's getting to the line eight, nine, 10 times a night, that's when he's having a good offensive game.

He's a talented young man and wants to be able to do everything right now. But you have to take it in steps, and there's a natural progression to everything. To me, it's better to be extremely good in one area and then move on to another area, rather than just being mediocre.

I thought that was a really good win for us tonight. I was really proud of our guys, the way we played in the second half.

Pierce had a phenomenal game. But other than that, we did a real good job defensively.

Steve looked like, I think, the Steve Francis that you guys were used to watching last year and that we anticipate. He was aggressive, he was attacking, he did a good job defensively.

We couldn't make any shots and we didn't play very good defense in the first half, which got us in a hole. I give them credit - they're a heck of an offensive team. They're a tough team to guard. We shoot 38 percent and the other team shoots 53 percent, it makes it tough.

Dwight and Tony got every rebound. They didn't get second and third shots like they were getting in the first half. Because they had everybody going for the offensive rebounds, we were able to get out and run. That's what the third quarter was all about. Good defense, hold them to one shot and get out and run.

I've said all along that the key thing is that we finish up this season on a positive note so that these guys feel good about themselves and feel good about what we can accomplish next year. That's the biggest impetus and with the way we're finishing up, I think everybody feels the same way, that this team has a chance to be a real nice basketball team if we continue to work at it.

Sometimes the light goes on a little bit later. Maybe this is one of those situations where we just realize if we play together and share the basketball and play good defense and force some turnovers and get out and run, we can be pretty good.

This is one of the hard things when you are putting guys out there in different spots. Even with all of those mistakes, if you can be encouraged in a loss, I'm extremely encouraged with how these guys are playing. They could have easily quit. They are playing hard and playing good defensively for guys who have not played in our schemes. I like the way this team is competing right now.

They (Miami) had a tough game last night in Washington and we had to try and take advantage of that. We did a good job in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter shutting down the paint.

It's a real shame we couldn't win our last home game and keep our streaks going. Chicago showed why they are going to the playoffs. I feel I didn't do a good job coaching. It was a disappointing game.

It's one thing to be good and talented and deep. It's another to be good and talented and deep and injury free. If you look at the history of our league, that's paramount.

None of our guards are doing a good job of setting and using screens on the pick and roll and overall, we're just not paying attention to detail and executing.

They deserved to win. They played hard, they made big shots when they needed them and it probably wasn't one of our better offensive efforts from the standpoint of getting real good ball movement and taking care of the basketball.

I think (Nelson) just settles our team down a little bit, gives them some real good direction out there and he's very difficult to guard in pick and roll situations.

If he's open and in rhythm, and he's got a good look at the basket, he's got to take it.

He picked up some fouls . . . but that is where he belongs, out there. He worked hard tonight and did a good job.