Mike Dunleavy Good Quotations

We're better than we've been since I've been here, but we're also more disappointed, because we have the talent to be over .500. You just have to stick with it and fight through it. Who knows how good this team can be or where we'll finish up?

We've said this a bunch this season ... but we really played the game well and came up a rebound or two short. If we can move on from this and build, then it's a good thing.

He's had a great year. His all-around game has improved. Offensively, he's got the low-post game. He's very explosive off the dribble. He's a good finisher. I think his outside shooting is getting better all the time. . . . He's so young, he'll continue to get better and better each year (in the playoffs) with experience.

I thought our guys came out and gave a good effort defensively tonight. These guys were playing great coming in and to hold them to 36 percent (shooting) is a good thing.

That's what I get for showing our guys a film of how good we were defensively last night (at Houston). We started out good, then we got soft. Our bench came in and was soft. A team that loses eight games in a row is going to come out fighting for their lives. That message was delivered, and we didn't respond.

I wasn't pleased with the way we started tonight. I don't know if it was a hangover from the road trip, but in the second half, the guys came out and played much harder and did a good job. We had a hot hand with Elton Brand and we just rode it.

You know he's going to shoot 50 percent and if he catches the ball in deep, he's going to take care of business. Plus, he's a good defender, as well. He plays the total game.

We haven't double-teamed as much against a lot of teams. Therefore, what we do is try and keep people in front of us. And if we do a good job of it, the field goal percentage is down.

There were a lot of good parts to this game, but in the third quarter we let them back in it. They are a good team and are fighting for playoff positioning, so we knew it was going to be a tough game.

They're a good team. I don't care what their record is. They're not too far away from being a very good team in the East.

It's our maturity. We know defensively that we're good and that we can make stops.

I knew his back was bothering him a little bit, but tonight he didn't feel like it was good enough to go. It was literally right before the game.

The game was a lot closer than the score indicates. They played extremely hard and had a good showing.