Avery Johnson Quotations | Page 3

I thought Damp (Erick Dampier) really shut down a lot of their penetrations in the fourth quarter. He got a couple of blocks, rebounds and I thought he was the reason we won the game.

This tragedy didn't hit Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It hit America.

My guys are pretty smart. They know exactly where they are. I kind of like that we have something to play for, playing against playoff teams.

I thought we were a little more physical with them. We seemed like we were apologizing for being on the court in the first half.

Jason wasn't 100 percent for us tonight, but he played big and gave us some offensive punch.

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.

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 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're all disappointed with this loss. You have a team that has a lot of character and they are very competitive. We are just disappointed with the way we finished the game.

What they have done the first half of the year, I wouldn't have disagreed with five.