Eddie Jordan Good Quotations

We designed it just right. We just wanted to make sure that Kobe would not get a good look. Calvin was very instrumental in it. Kobe tried to turn and make a pass, and it just slipped out of his hand. That is a part of fatigue. He is a great player. We take the challenge to go against someone like him.

New Jersey stepped up when winning time came. They did a good job of picking their spots. I thought we got a little bit disjointed, a little bit distracted and we didn't have a clear head as a unit to get it done tonight.

If we continue to play like that, we are going to be a pretty good team to finish the season.

He has had a rough year, no question about it. But he knows that he's in the rotation now, and he feels good about his game. I think he's as healthy as he's been all year, and he knows we have confidence in him.

He gets out on the break. He runs well for a big guy. He's a good passer. ... We can't let him catch it too deep in the post - he's got too many nice post moves down there.

He looks to help his teammates, ... He does that first. That's what we preach. You do that and you're going to open up things for yourself. He's a good fit.

We lost to a very good team, a very well-coached team, and a team that has a lot of dangerous pieces. We did the best we could, but we got a little disorganized and distracted on the offensive end. For the most part we really defended well.

How will he react? Will he be focused to lead this team the right way to as many victories as we can get? Will he sulk for three weeks? My belief is that he'll be a focused assassin -- a focused basketball player to get the job done and lead this team to a good playoff position.

This was a good win for us tonight. We were competitive and were more organized down the stretch. Tonight we talked about not being impatient on defense, and playing each position for the full 24 seconds. There is no reason why we cannot play like this for the next 21 games. That is our challenge - to finish the season strong and to play with discipline like we did tonight.

It is good that we had the experience last year of going down 0-2 and winning the series. We don't want to do that this year. We don't think that is a good formula. I think we are going to show up better and give ourselves a better chance of winning.

I thought we had a good look. It was too bad it didn't go in. We did the best we could with Yao with the small lineup we played with. We made Yao miss some shots and I was proud of our team.

Larry has been playing pretty good defense on Gil and taking away some of the things we like to do.

I tell you what, Toronto's got a scrappy, young team, ... They kicked our butts on the boards early in the game and they just keep coming at you. The young guys really give them a spark and I didn't think Graham was going to miss at first and then they just started hurting us on the boards. It's a good scrappy team and we were lucky to get out of it with the win.

We played a very good team tonight. They were at .500 and they're very competitive so our guys played well. We have to play smarter at times, but for the most part we defended very well and we shared the basketball.

We played a very good team. They are a team we would like to model ourselves after. ... They beat Detroit twice, and that was no fluke.

We played a very good 48 minutes. We kept our focus on the road. We kept organized and we got through some tough stretches defensively.

We have a good group of young guys, a good core,

Today there was a collective effort. We are riding the momentum that we started three games ago. Caron did a really good job defensively. He is really embracing the role that we assigned him as the defensive captain, and we are just riding a wave right now.

We played well for a full 48 minutes today. We did a lot of good things out there, particularly with our defense.

We were not competing in the paint, and we are getting distracted a little bit by what's going on out on the floor, not getting through a little bit of adversity whether you think it's a bad call or good defense against you. But for the most part they just outplayed us, and they deserved to win.

We closed out two good quarters. We had some runs and we kind of absorbed their runs and we made the important free throws.

Tonight was a good win but we were not as productive overall as I would have liked. We just had too many turnovers against their press and their scrambling defense.

Those two have really raised their games. They help their teammates get their opportunities and they know when to get their own. That's why they are good players and why we are a well-rounded team.

We kind of rode his coattails, ... He carried us. We went from a tie game to up 11 because he got going. Now, they hang on to him and say, 'Thanks Gil.' We should play with poise; we've got veterans now with playoff experience. And that should help us in back-to-back games. We've got a good mix of scorers and defenders. And we've got a guy who can make everybody better. When that thing got real tight tonight, it was, 'Thanks Gil.'

Even though we were up 20 at halftime, we knew the Bulls would make a run at us. That is the type of team they are. They are a disciplined, well-coached team. Our game plan was to get up in the wings and stay with the dribble penetration, and we did a good job with that.

After playing a good first half, we gave up 61 points in the second half. We gave ourselves a chance, and they hit a tough shot at the end. The credit goes to them. They really brought it to us in the second half.

No, we?re not going to do anything flagrant. As long as it?s not flagrant. We?re not the toughest team in the NBA. We?re not very physical, but tonight we brought it out. We?re not going to flagrantly foul anybody on purpose. It?s just going to be good sportsmanship, hard fouls.

Coming into this game, we talked about being more energized, more enthusiastic and have more camaraderie, and that was the most important thing. All the things we didn't see in the first game -- outside of the stats -- we just didn't have enough energy and enthusiasm. We didn't have that and that is the stuff that is going to get you out of a lot of bad situations and put you in a good one.

You see a lot of good coaches just coaching their players, making changes and trying to help their teams win. I see Larry Brown sitting guys down. Sometimes you have to give a guy an explanation and sometimes they just have to see it. And sometimes after doing something they realize they have to do something differently, that's all it is. I admire those coaches and I want to be a good coach.

They execute their roles and play at a high level. That's how good basketball teams win, when the top guys play at the highest level.

They're good players and they're going to compete.

It's early. They've been on an East Coast trip. I don't want to measure our team as far as predicting how good we are or will be.

It's a fact of life that we've been on the West Coast so it's going to be nice to get back home and have some practices on our home court, ... The good thing is that we've had some real lively practices out here. Guys have been really competing and that's what you want to see as you get ready for the season.

It's offense against defense. We have to do what's been good for us.

It's good to have physical practices, but we have rules. We want competitive practices, and when we emphasize a physical approach, it's going to happen where you have some physical contact.

It's going to be a good challenge. The competition with them at training camp is going to be at a high level because there is not an etched-in-stone starting lineup.

That's part of his maturing as a player. It's a part of the process, and it's a good thing.

It seemed good at the time: 'This could be the closing quarter for us to reach a mark that you guys have been talking about. I haven't really put a lot of stock in that. . . . If we thought .500 was a goal, then there's nothing more to achieve.

No matter what happens offensively, whether you're playing poorly or not, you still have to play good defense.

They just outplayed us in the second half. They were more physical than us in the paint and the same things continued to plague us - poor third-quarter performance, not competing in the paint, and being distracted by what's going on at the other end of the court. We have to learn to deal with adversity and not be distracted by missed calls or good defense being played against us.

The new Cosworth people, good as they are, can only build an engine with the cash that Williams pays them, which won't match a manufacturer's financial muscle.

I liked what I saw from Donell, ... He's versatile, he's a very good defender and he can do a lot of the things we ask our guards to do. You're always looking to develop a young player with those kinds of skills.

I just thought we had the juice going from the middle of the third (quarter) all the way down. I let my guys go out and play and they had good looks. They just couldn't convert.

I haven't put a lot of stock into that number. It's good that we won a game tonight and that we are continuing to move up in the standings.

He struggled a little bit more than we would have liked, ... The important thing for him is to keep getting playing time so he can continue developing his basketball skills. He's shown some good things. He has great size. He runs well. We're going to keep working with him.

He's one of the best in the league at getting the last shot and creating a foul so it is always good to have it in his hands for the last shot.

He's got a good feel now about seeing the floor and knowing where his teammates are. And he's got a lot more confidence in his teammates. He knows it's bad basketball to try to go one-on-three.

Their bench really did a good job, especially Derek Anderson. We didn't have anybody to really counter him. Gilbert did a terrific job, Antonio did a terrific job, we just didn't have that third, fourth scorer for us.

Andray has a good feel for the game, he's got really good skills but he's also young and a lot of patience is going to be involved, ... He has a big upside, I believe.