Allen Iverson Game Quotations

We just didn't finish the game off. We've been having that problem all season. Our problem is just stopping people and rebounding the basketball. Until we get that under control, we're going to continue to struggle through 2006 as well.

I just got more aggressive. I didn't have the ball in my hands that much in the first half because I was playing the 2-guard. When they took John out of the game in the second half, I handled the ball more and I was able to make things happen for myself and my teammates.

If I had an explanation, I would give it. We just got whipped from beginning to end tonight. During the season, you will have games like this.

It's just learning the game more. Just trying to approach it in a John Stockton-type of way, to where you don't play so much with your physical ability all the time. You have to think the game out a lot more. That's where I'm a lot better. I know the game a lot more. I see things before they happen a lot.

I?m used to us losing a couple of games and everybody pointing a finger at me,

Last night they kind of took me out of the game defensively and my teammates stepped up. Tonight was just a little different. I stepped up in the fourth quarter. We just need everyone to contribute.

Honestly, we know that we're fighting for a playoff position. I just don't want to settle for the eighth spot. If we play these games out and win most of them, we can get up to the seventh, or maybe even the sixth spot.

Every game is important for us. We didn't act like it tonight.

Yeah, I came down wrong. But we've got a game tomorrow and we've got to come to play.

It's sore, but that's what I expected. I knew that once I missed the road trip that I was going to try to go the first game back. We had a couple of days off and I had a chance to practice once, so I'll be ready to go tomorrow.

My shot felt good from the beginning of the game to the end.

It makes it that much more important. I don't think it will have us play any harder because if you're not playing hard at this point with these games right here, then you're not gonna play hard anyway.

That's what it is all about, coming in and playing a game like it is your last. That's what we did. We fought on the defensive end, we fought trying to get rebounds, and we let the offense take care of itself.

It's big for us because we know the other teams are right around us for the playoffs. (But) we are not approaching games like that. We are just trying to win the game. We don't feel like we need to settle for the eighth or seventh seed, we feel like we can get as high as we want to.

Just getting back into the game and making it a game is all heart. It feels bad, though, because we don't give that effort in the beginning and then we start showing the heart when we're about to get blown out. You have to play like that in the beginning and get stronger as the game goes on.

I promise you it's not that. If I can play the way I played the last two games from some controversy, I will hope there's controversy going on all of the time.

I was like a kid in a candy store. It felt like the first game of the season because I was excited to be back.

It?s going to be a tough week because it?s going to be a playoff atmosphere. It?s important for us to try to win one game at a time and just concentrate on that. Whatever opponent we have to play, just worry about those guys. And then worry about whatever happens after that.

I got us off to a bad start from the beginning of the game. The magnitude of the game and being in so many games like that, for me to be the one to act like I had never been in a game like that is unacceptable. I fully take responsibility for this one.

Not a game, not a game... practice.

I take everything I learned from the streets and put it in my NBA game.

I never took the game for granted as far as not having to work on what I needed to do to accomplish all of the things that I wanted to accomplish.

We have a tough week ahead of us and to get those games out of the way was important. It was easy for us to go up against a team that hasn't even won 20 games. They are playing relaxed and we are fighting to get into the playoffs.

We had a real good meeting before the game in New York and I think it helped us out be-cause it got us focusing on what we need to do as a basketball team. I look at the stats and see that they still shot 50 percent and they almost scored 100 points and that's not something we want to give up. That's something we've got to look at as negative even though we got a win and try to improve on that.

When you rebound the ball we're able to move the ball, and we want to get out and run, try to get guys some easy baskets. We don't want to come out and play a half-court game all the time.

Once you get away and come back, you're ready to go. But knowing it's a fresh start, like a new season; we're taking it one game at a time.

It was a fun game to watch. Everybody just came together. Chris just did a great job of putting everybody on his back.

It felt like it was the first game of the season. It was just fun to be back out there and be in the environment and playing with my team and trying to help.

We've got to come out the same way we come out in the second half, ... We've got to start the game with some sense of urgency. Once teams start hitting shots and get a read on us, it's gonna put our backs against the wall. That's something we need to be concerned about.

To fight like we fought the majority of the game and then for that to happen to us with 4.9 seconds on the clock is just devastating.

We had our chance to get back in the game in the third quarter when Dirk went down but Jet (Terry) and Marquis picked up their games and we didn't.

I talked to him before the game, and I asked him why in some games he is not aggressive, and some games he is. He gave me an excuse, and I didn't buy it. Andre is not selfish at all, but he has to be selfish in that sense, to try and get shots up, because we need him to.

We just got whipped from the beginning of the game to the end. They were making shots, they executed well both offensively and defensively. They just played real well tonight.

We just got whipped from the beginning of the game to the end. They did everything right and we did nothing right.

It's a big win for us...just because we've been struggling to win a game after a game. You feel good about not giving up one after we win one.

When you get down like that, you use up so much energy to get back into the basketball game. Then you have to be perfect the rest of the way. And playing this game, there is no way you can be perfect, because this game is so hard.

We're going to need team efforts, we're going to need each other down the stretch. With 29 games to go, we've got to win more than half of those to give us a better seed in the playoffs. We don't want to settle for the eighth spot. We want to try and get as high as we can.

It was important. We know they were a team that's been struggling all year and we just wanted to get this win tonight. Being that we got the one on their home court, we figured they were gonna try to come in and win one on ours and we did a good job of being focused and playing the game and finishing it out.

I feel like everybody knows what is at stake. Everybody knows the importance of every game. We had a good meeting before the game in New York and I think it helped us out because it got us focusing on what we need to do as a basketball team.

When we rebound the ball, we're able to do that. We don't want to come down and play a half-court game all the time.

I had my popcorn just like probably everybody else. I was watching, and I was calling people up on the phone to make sure they were watching it. It's like, when you see a game like that, you're so much a fan ...

I think it would have been good if we could have played all pre-season games together. It will be something we'll have to deal with, something we'll have to fight through.

We're just happy, ... We wanted to win this game so bad. I've got to take my hat off to my teammates. They played big. They really picked me up tonight.

To me it's like starting all over, ... If you've watched any of the games I've played at the point guard position, it's honestly hard for other teams to stop it, because I'm putting pressure on guys. We don't always have to come down and rely on getting points off a set offense. We get a chance to run up and down the court and get a lot of easy baskets.

Forty-one games in, you should know how to close out games.

If it didn't work out right, I'd probably be in here losing a lot of my money. That was bad. At that juncture of the game and on a significant play like that, you have to be able to see that play.

These guys don't have all the physical ability but they are able to win basketball games because they play the right way.

The whole team learned a lot tonight, ... I was glad to we had that situation where it was a close game and we had to get it done. We had to get a stop. We showed a lot of character there.

This would have been a bad one to lose, man, because we did put our effort on defense. We did play one of the best defensive games that we played.

The first appearance is always going to be the most memorable. This one is special because I'm 30 years old and you hear all the negative things about your game declining and at this point you should be breaking down. I still go out and play hard every night and give it my all. I guess the fans recognize that because they put me in the All-Star game.