Maurice Cheeks Certainly Quotations

When he got hurt in Memphis he was playing at a high level in the first half. We need him. We need him out there. We need his energy and certainly we need the way he?s capable of putting points on the board.

The zone hurt us quite a bit. We couldn't get any shots; we couldn't get any dribble penetration. We didn't make any shots and certainly our defense was not up to par.

When you have a bad season, everything is possible. As a team we failed. It certainly wasn't what I hoped or wanted, but that's the way life is sometimes. I'm going to try to make myself better and this basketball team better.

Certainly, you're disappointed. The hardest part for anybody, and certainly for me, is to know you're not in it and that you failed. Failed is a hard word to say. When you set a goal for yourself to get in the playoffs and have a chance to win a championship, that means I failed in trying to accomplish what I came here to accomplish.

Certainly you have to make adjustments on the offensive end. When you have a player like that in the fourth quarter, you have a tendency to look for him and realize he has that ability to take over a game. On the defensive end, he creates some turnovers for us and easy baskets. And we haven't gotten as many with him out of the lineup.

Certainly when I got the Portland job, there wasn't as much hoopla as there is here, ... I've spent time here. I've lived here. I grew up basically here. There's going to be a little bit more hoopla than there would be someplace else.

We see zone from time to time, but we certainly don?t see it for a whole quarter. If you make shots, if you make some dribble penetration against the zone, they come out of it. We never did. We never made a shot and they had no reason to come out of it.

That part of the game is better than the overall game. We'd like our defense to get better for 48 minutes. But I think as the game unfolds and when another team needs a basket, I think our defense gets a little bit better. Certainly if you're going to win games, it has to be better down the stretch.

I certainly thought we'd win more than 43 games, absolutely. I'm disappointed, myself, based on the way we played so far.

I certainly thought we'd win more than 43 games.

It certainly will give us a boost to get ready for the second half. We needed a boost to get us back feeling good about ourselves and playing against a team like San Antonio, the defending champions, gives you a chance to feel good about yourselves.

I think NBA players can adapt and certainly Coach K can adapt to NBA players.