Antawn Jamison Quotations

When we first left, I think the most important thing was to come back and play well, like, 'You should have kept me around,' or 'You should have re-signed me. After that, it's just a point where you want to win, and we were fortunate enough to get the win, but also play pretty good games individually.

We feel bad for Andray but the positive thing is that he is healthy and that his career isn't over before it took off. It's sad that something like this happened to him during his rookie season, but he will be all right. We will continue to pray for him, hope for a speedy recovery and hold down the fort until he gets back.

We feel bad for Andray, ... But the positive thing is that he is healthy and that his career isn't over before it took off. It's sad that something like this happened to him during his rookie season, but he will be all right. We will continue to pray for him, hope for a speedy recovery and hold down the fort until he gets back.

We know what our crowd is going to do. It's going to be fun.

We know what Juan is capable of doing when he starts to feel it. We know he is going to be in the mind frame to show people why we should have kept him.

We have to give a better showing than that, ... I'm not worried about the offense. We know we can score. Give them credit, they hit some open shots, but we have to do a better job of getting a team out of their comfort zone, stopping their runs early. I know we were missing some guys and we're still trying to find ourselves but we have to play better than that.

We are almost where we were at this point last year. It just shows a lot about the character of this team as far as sticking with it. We believe that this is a pretty good team. The way that we are playing defensively and offensively, you can see that we have something special here. I think it's just a matter of time before we get even better.

The only times that kids can really identify with athletes is going to see us play in the arena. I wanted them to see another side of me. I wanted them to know about Antawn Jamison the person and just not the basketball player.

We've been hovering pretty much around .500 all season. There's no excuse for us that when these five games are over we shouldn't be two or three games above .500. Having said that, I think we all know the importance of this five-game stretch before we hit the road before the break is over with. It's a great opportunity for us.

Let's face it - when myself, Gilbert and Caron step up, we play a lot better as a team.

Oh yeah, ... Playoffs for sure. We could definitely make a lot of noise. We could make a run to win it all.

Phenomenal. He's playing the way he's been playing all year. He got it going and he tried to let Caron (Butler) and myself get it going. We kind of struggled a little bit, but the guy's playing awesome, man.

If we had lost this kind of game about a month or two ago, this room would have been awful. This is not the same team where a loss like this would have lasted four or five games. But we're feeling a lot better about ourselves than we have in a long time.

If this team has home-court advantage, they could definitely do some damage and make a lot of noise in the playoffs.

I don't know what his points-per-game average against us is, but it's really up there.

I don't care what he calls himself as long as we continue to win and he does his job. His job is to first come in and make my job and the rest of these guys' job easy. The guy is unbelievable and the scary thing is the sky's the limit. He's just scratching the surface and he's just learning how to play the game.

I'd be all for it. I know that's up to management, not us. But we might have to bring him back. We definitely need him right now. I know it's something that would have to be handled in-house. And Kwame would have to come back and demonstrate to them that he'll do what is necessary. But I'd love to entertain the idea. I might suggest it myself. He has the size and strength and toughness we need right now.

I had a step on everybody. So it was difficult for anybody to block the shot.

Gilbert told me going into the second half, 'You can't do anything if you don't let it ride,'? He shouldn't have to tell me that.

Gilbert, Caron and myself have got it going offensively. We know that night in and night out that we can do it offensively, it's just that on the defensive end we have to really give the effort 100 percent and really make it tough on our opponents. Once we do that, we really put ourselves in position to win games.

From Day 1 to now, it's a testament to how much he loves the game and wants to be the best.

He'd rather go bowling on a Friday night than go out to the club and party with his boys.

He's hands-down the best player on this team, and hands down a top-five guard in this league. But still, you get the feeling he's flying under the radar.

He's done everything that you ask an All-Star to do. It was definitely disappointing for his peers not to recognize the job he's been doing, pretty much being one of the best guards, not only in the East, but in the NBA.

He didn't really look to look for his teammates as often as he did in the first two games. I think he really took this game personally and he wanted to really come out and play well.

Guys just got tired of not playing up to our standards and not finding ways to win basketball games.

I think it's a slap in the face for people to say that we're not going to be a good playoff team because Larry's gone. We didn't make the playoffs last season because of one player.

I think this road trip is, for me, more personal. The last time we came out West, I kind of went into a slump. So I just didn't want that to happen again. The stakes are a little bit higher this time. I just want to make sure that I keep up my end of the bargain and make sure the team plays well.

I think we are really starting to click. We are starting to understand what it takes in order for us to be successful, with everyone getting touches. They don't know who to give all their attention. You concentrate on two guys and there is still another guy who can get 20 points a night. This is a great nucleus and I'm glad it's finally starting to come together.

It is not like this is the first time this has happened. We did a phenomenal job in the first half and in the third quarter we came out flat. We have to do a better job.

Our Achilles has been the beginning of the third quarter and the last five minutes of the game. But we did a good job of keeping our composure today. We stayed focused and stayed positive.

Rebounding. The only thing we need to improve on from the first three games is rebounding. If we box out and rebound, we'd be blowing people out instead of having to win these close games.

Rebounding, ... The only thing we need to improve on from the first three games is rebounding. If we box out and rebound, we'd be blowing people out instead of having to win these close games.

I think everybody is stepping up their play because they know the importance of these next 20 games. Let's be honest. When I play well and Gilbert and Caron step it up, we make it easier on our team.

That was big for me. For some reason, I just couldn't get it going. To knock the shot down and go to the free-throw line, it kind of got me into a rhythm and kind of got my energy up.

That's the way we have to play, and we know it.

You just hope that it doesn't come to any type of tiebreaker situation or anything like that.

We really put it upon our shoulders to come out and play well. Caron had it going early and I had it going late. Those are the things that we're accustomed to. Teams know that we're the highest-scoring trio in the league. If we're playing well, it's going to be hard to beat us.

We played poorly. We didn't rebound. They pretty much got 25 points off offensive rebounds, but nothing was gift-wrapped. We just stay poised. We didn't let our play affect us.

We were so disappointed in ourselves. To come out in the first game like that. National TV. The spotlight. And we pretty much laid an egg. We embarrassed the coaching staff, we embarrassed ourselves. We showed that in practice (Sunday). It wasn't one of those practices where we just showed up, took a few shots and went home. Coach was on us and we went at it. That's what you saw in this game.

We get paid to play ball, but it's good to do a charity game to put a smile on a kid's face and do it all for a good cause.

We aren't going to sneak up on anybody this year. Last year, maybe there was a sense that yeah, they are the same old Wizards. Now that we had some success, got to the playoffs, people are going to be up for us. We have to be ready for that challenge every single night.

Those are teams that are looking like playoff-caliber teams, so for us, it's going to be a good test. We'll have the opportunity to distance ourselves or put ourselves in a hole. They're going to have the same mind frame facing us.

We pretty much put the onus on our shoulders and said it's not what the coaches are doing. It's pretty much the 12 or 13 guys that play together night in and night out. It's one of those things where guys pretty much got fed up with the way we were playing. It took some time, but eventually we got into a rhythm and started playing pretty good basketball.

We didn't play well that game and I didn't play well that game so I really want to find a way to avenge that loss. We need to have a good game in front of our home crowd and get another win.

To blow a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, that's an embarrassment. There's no other way to put it.

We would get down, find a way to get close or take the lead, and they'd come on a nice big run. Those are the things you have to stop on the road. Every time it seemed that we got over the hump, they did a good job of staying poised and running their offense.

We're not a .500 basketball club, ... but we're playing like it.

We all know this team (the Warriors) likes to get on the break and play freely. We wanted to make it defensively hard for those guys and move the ball a little bit, and offensively, beat them in their own game.

We all know this team likes to get on the break and play freely. And we wanted to defensively make it tough for those guys and make them run a set offense and move the ball a little bit. We did a great job as far as staying poised and continuing to play ball.

Tonight was one of those nights when we were short-handed.

We knew if we lost this game, our back was really going to be against the wall. It was another show of character as far as fighting and finding a way to get a win.

You hear it every week: 'This is the most important stretch of the season. But, in reality, this is definitely the most important stretch.

We feel like we're going to win. That's what things were like last year with this team. If it was a close game, there was no doubt in our minds that we'd find a way to pull it out.

Being swept by Miami was kind of an eye-opener. It shouldn't have been as easy for him to do what he did, especially without Shaq out there. But there he was, doing whatever he wanted to against us. That kind of stuff can't happen.

Everybody knows Gilbert. We don't understand how it's possible (for him to be omitted). But it happened.

Everybody knows Gilbert. My thing is whatever lights your fire, use it to help you and benefit your team. We don't understand how it's possible (for him to be omitted), but it happened. You don't know who voted for him and who didn't. Knowing Gil, it doesn't matter.

There's only so many times you can say, 'This is the time to get things rolling. With me, I'm pretty much fed up as far as saying that. Eventually we have to pull it together. It's really no more excuses, the way we've been playing, not finding a way to win games, losing close games. It's pretty much put your money where your mouth is and find a way to do it.

There's no secret about what we need to do. We know we can play better defense because we've done it at times this season. We just have to find a way to do it more often.

I've been around a while and it's been frustrating lately. It's been tough to get up and enjoy the season. Normally, that's how you feel as an organization that doesn't have any chance of making the playoffs and we've kind of seen those signs. I'm not saying that we felt that way but losing those last three, man it took a lot out of this team.

Sometimes you do have a lot of minutes, but it's crunch time. We know when we're out there we give our team a chance to win, but we have to be smart about it. We know we have 19 or 20 games left and have to play smart.

Offensively, it wasn't there. We cheated the plays. We cheated our cuts. We weren't aggressive. We were lazy with the ball.

Offensively, I don't know what we were doing. They did a good job of staying poised.

The one thing that could make this thing go in the right direction is to get a couple games early. We don't want to do like we did the first road trip when we lost the first couple, and were scratching and clawing and putting pressure on ourselves.

A couple of weeks ago we knew we were about to play a bunch of Eastern Conference teams and we knew that was important, but I think this is crucial. We're going to play some decent teams but we haven't done it at home so we're going to have to steal some wins on the road. For us, this is a very important stretch. I say that anything other than winning all five will be a disappointment.

Now I have my pep in my step. I have that swagger. I feel like myself again. I'm just playing hard. I'm playing with a lot more intensity. I'm positive about everything. It's almost like a 180 from where I was when I was struggling.

Defensively, we've got to make it tough on them. They're one of the best scoring teams in the league and they're playing well. We need the same type of intensity and atmosphere we had when we played against Detroit.

That one felt good and earlier those that didn't feel good went in.

They were in a rhythm tonight and we couldn't get them out of it. They made it tough for us the whole game.

This is a game when Brendan would have helped. The big guy (Yao) earned his check and he put his team on his back and carried them.

This has been a phenomenal year for him. He's answered the call to just about every task.

They put a lot of attention on Gilbert,

Always fun to watch the two teams play. Both teams love to get up and run, put the ball in the basket. Both meetings you definitely got your money's worth. We stole one, they came out and stole one on the road, too. It's one of those things you've just got to put it behind you and get ready for the next game.

You don't want to come across a scenario going into the end of March or beginning of April when you have to win eight out of 10. This is a great opportunity for us to create some distance and climb up in the standings now. You don't want to continue to be around .500, one or two games above, one or two games below, and then in the last month or so you really have to turn it on.

I took it to heart. Because, in all honesty, if I was playing well, it would be a different story.

It's a wonderful feeling to have the opportunity make that team. It's something not a lot of players have the opportunity to do.

It is very disappointing. Tonight was a great opportunity to win. Unfortunately it didn't happen that way. We got a big game against Milwaukee on Wednesday. They're chasing us for that fifth spot, so it will be like a playoff game. Everybody needs to step up their game, and hopefully we can do something there.

For him to get snubbed is an injustice. It's not logical. I don't understand it whatsoever.

It's one of those things where you always want to get better, you always want to improve, ... Every season, you want to be working on something in your game and that's something, along with my defense, that I want to improve on this season. That's the approach we need to take as a team.

It's always good to play so well when you have the family and friends come out and see you play. It's always a good feeling.

It's always good to have my family and friends come see me play.

It's hard to say after a loss, but we made some good strides on the defensive end. We had a couple of breakdowns, but as a whole you can find some positives in our play.

It shows a lot about the character of this team, as far as sticking to it and not giving up or people upstairs trying to disassemble this team. We didn't think it would take this long to do the things we thought we were capable of doing.

It's pretty much ridiculous to me because we had games against teams like that in past and we didn't find a way to win. If you ask me, it's the opposite way around. We play well against the best teams in the league and played poorly against the average teams. We just need to get our act together.

It's six games, and pretty much everybody we're playing is a quality team. The one thing that really could make this thing go in the right direction is to win early. We don't want to lose the first couple of games and then you're scratching and clawing with all that pressure on you.

Everyone pretty much knows that the season is all downhill after the break. So this is real important for us.

Everybody's talking about Detroit, Detroit. They'll slip up and see the Dallas Mavericks with the best overall record when the season's over with.

It's been this way for the last week and a half. We didn't want it to come down to the last game, but this is fun.

It just shows you that after all the turmoil we've been through, we are starting to pick it up, and we're almost to the point where we were last year. It just shows a lot about the character of this team. We didn't get to the point where we are giving up or the people upstairs are trying to disassemble this team. We believe that this is a pretty good team.

It's hard, but everybody goes through it with the exception of Detroit, who hasn't had any injuries. You've just got to find a way to win with the situation. It's been hard because of late we had played well together. We finally got some great chemistry.

It seemed like every time I look up it was 'in and out. The only thing you can do about that is brush it off. I kind of hung my head down a little bit. I don't like my teammates to see me like that, but it's not going to affect the way I come in to next week and how I approach the end of the season.

I wanted them to learn about the difference experiences that I went through, and the different things that go on in my life

It's what we should have done a long time ago. It's what we expect.

I want to make it. Don't get me wrong; my loyalties are with this team and doing everything I can do to make this team better. But I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't want to make it. I'm staying positive about the whole situation. My job is to get as many wins as possible, and hopefully that will help out in the process.

That's a good thing, ... Bury this one. Forget all about it.

I knew it was good. I had the adrenaline going and I was feeling it. I didn't hesitate.

I knew I had to do something, but I got into a rhythm. Gilbert told me coming out in the second half to just let it ride. He shouldn't have to tell me that.

I knew I had to do something but I got into a rhythm.

I'm just trying to figure out how in the world this guy wasn't taken in the first round. He doesn't play like a guy who is right out of high school. It's too early to tell and you don't want to put a lot of pressure on a young guy but I think he has a chance to be a very good player.

I know a lot of people will say we're in the entertainment industry, but we represent franchises that are sometimes among the biggest businesses in that city. I'm fine with a jacket and shirt with a collar and pants that aren't jeans. We're professionals and we should be putting forth a professional image. I don't see what the problem is.