Chauncey Billups Quotations

We've all got to get in there and help Ben. For so long here, we've kind of leaned on Ben and felt he was going to get every one of them. We've all got to make an effort.

We are a team that truly embodies what team is about. We're unselfish. We all got here by doing the right things and playing the right way. I think people are starting to recognize that.

Watching him is unbelievable. The kid is a freak of nature.

Watching him is unbelievable. His team's one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, he gets the MVP of this game with all these great players. It's unbelievable. The kid is a freak of nature.

We're going to run some decoys for him. We're not going to run plays for him.

We're going to miss Larry Brown, but so many times it was just about Larry. It was always, 'Larry did this, Larry did that,' with the result that I don't think the players got enough credit.

When we come to him late, he always delivers. Tonight he hit some huge shots. It's huge for me and everybody on this team to know that when it comes down to these situations, it doesn't have to be me.

What he meant to his game, not just to this city but to the entire league, with his sportsmanship and his class and his character, it doesn't come around often. Just the things that he did outside of this court, I think it's long overdue. He's definitely deserving.

We're just trying to win all the games we're supposed to win, and not play down to the level of the competition.

We're just an entirely different team in the fourth quarter. We're so mentally tough and we've seen every different situation so many times that when we face something, we know which way to attack it.

We're just looking to be consistent now. Hopefully we can keep being good defensively and keep working offensively. That started a few games ago; we had a good win last night so we just want to keep it going.

We're battle tested. We're been in that situation so many times. We just had our confidence.

We know who we are. We know we're a defensive basketball club when it comes down to it. We just had a facelift so to speak with our offense. But we know who we are. When it's time for us to go up-and-down, we know where it's at. It's not getting extra possessions and extra shots, it's taking care of the defensive end.

We're still a long way away from 72. If we're close in March, come talk to me then.

When he gets a tech, he always seems to be a little more in tune with what's going on. We ran his plays a little more after that, trying to keep him going.

When he don't bounce right back, you know he's hurt. I don't know what it is, but I don't worry too much about that guy.

We were trying to go to him, inside or outside. He was very aggressive and his shots were falling, so we were going to keep going to him until he tired himself out.

We were trying to go to him, inside and outside. We were going to keep going to him until he got tired.

The regular season got us the home court throughout the playoffs, and that was our goal. Now it's time to get down to business.

I get a lot more confidence winning games playing defense than winning the run-and-gun game.

I play harder when my family is watching.

Even when it's midnight, people are watching you. It's difficult to be in the spotlight all the time.

I'm a point guard, I've always been a point guard, I've played point guard all my life. Personally, I feel the best point guards make other players look better and create their own shot. I fit in that category.

I'm never nervous. Not in high school, not in college. That's just the way I am.

In the NBA, it's about patience.

This is a tough, tough life when things aren't going your way.

My guys look for me to step up in that magnitude and I take the challenge every time. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but you've got to have a guy that will take those shots and deal with the consequences.

I'm fully aware that every time I do anything, good or bad, somebody's watching.

If it ain't rough, it ain't right

It's all about guts. I've had so many ups and downs, I'm not scared of being down.

I've always believed in my abilities. Nobody ever gave me anything in life. I had to work for everything I got. It may have gotten really rocky for a while, but I persevered, because I'm not afraid of failing.

We're playing better. We're making progress. But now we've got to continue to do that, and not always take one step and then two steps back. That's the way it's been most of the season.

We really executed. We got some easy baskets. We played with high energy. Our defense was great and our offense was better.

We didn't want to be too much in transition because we were already tired coming into the game. We had the tempo where we needed it to be.

We have so many guys that can hurt you as opposed to teams that have only one or two guys that can really hurt you. You can adjust your defense to stop one or two guys. YOu can't do that when you play us. We have too many options.

We're healthy. A couple of our guys sat out, a couple of our young boys got an opportunity to play. They all played well, so we're fine.

Somebody is always going to come up big in the stretch. We never know who, but somebody will come up big.

So many times when people are going through tough times at home or off the court, the court is everybody's safe haven. This is where we can come and take our mind off everything for two or three hours.

Milicic created a brief fi restorm midway through last season when he griped publicly about his endof-the-bench status. A meeting among Milicic, Brown and president of basketball operations Joe Dumars eased those tensions, but Billups revealed that Milicic remained sullen and frustrated by Brown's constant rebukes.

Milwaukee shoots a lot of jump shots and our big guys do a good job of getting the rebounds. We're able to make some long outlet passes and we have the guys who can get out fast. Then we're off to the races.

Maybe we're not the most exciting team, but we know what it takes to win. That's what we do.

No doubt about it. That team is one of the best teams in the West. They've been struggling a little bit but that's when it's toughest to play teams, when they're struggling. They're looking to get back right and what better team to beat than us? We didn't look past that team, came out and took care of business.

No disrespect to anybody, but it's always fun to play the other elite teams in the league. It makes a difference.

No doubt, you've got to be proud of what we did so far and we are very proud of this first 51 games. But our work is far, far from being over with. We look to try to pick back up and have a great second part of the season.

Nobody cares who gets the glory. We just care about winning and playing for each other, not anyone else.

I wish the timing was a little different.

I would have felt a little disappointed if Rip wasn't a part of it. We're like one, man. We're like one.

If we had won a game like that, shooting as poorly as we did, that would have been one of the more impressive wins of the season.

I don't know what Rip was doing, but he was hot, so I just kept going to him. He was thirsty today.

I'd be my choice, to be honest with you, but Steve Nash is another great choice. He's kept that team afloat, and not just afloat, but winning a division.

I am a little more excited now because we've got some good teams coming in over the next week or so. I am looking forward to that.

But this was nowhere near what happened at our place.

Basically, it was a high pick-and-roll. I knew they were going to help and I just slipped and lost control. I just tried to make a shot and got in a little finger roll. It actually felt good but it didn't go.

I can't put my finger on it. They're a tough team. They play extremely hard, mix it up and play some zone, some man and keep you off-balance. They're very well-coached and they're very disciplined.

For whatever reason, we feel like we can just kind of coast to the finish line and not do what we've done all season, to be looked at as the best team. We're getting away a little bit from what we do. Guys are, unfortunately, looking too far ahead to the playoffs.

He's changed the whole outlook of our team. Now, we can start getting some of our just due as players.

He has a chance to maybe be the best ever to lace them up. At 21 years old right now, and doing what he's doing ... I mean, the kid should be a junior in college.

He had a tough night against us last time, but he was having a tough night against us in Miami, too, before he got going in that fourth quarter. It is what it is. I'm looking forward to it, though. It's always nice to play them.

He has brought a new brand of basketball here. We're not boring to watch anymore.

He has the chance to be the best ever. He's 21 years old right now (and) should be a junior in college. He's a freak of nature.

He gets twitching and being nervous. We're like, 'Man, relax, baby. Relax.' He's been like that forever.

We've been together so long and in so many tough situations, we never get rattled. Somebody is always coming up big down the stretch.

When he shoots it like that, we're pretty impossible.

When he's aggressive and he's playing like that, it takes the pressure off everybody. Rip (Richard Hamilton) doesn't have to worry about scoring so many points, I don't either.

When he's aggressive and he's playing like he's playing, it just takes pressure off of everybody. Rip (Hamilton) doesn't have to worry about scoring so many points, I don't have to worry about (it). It just takes pressure off everybody, and we can really spread that offense out. Everybody can get 10, 12, 14, 15 points, and you win going away.

We take nothing from this. We're lucky that we've got a game tomorrow so we don't have to sit too long on it. It'll give us a chance to start a new streak at home.

We take a lot of pride in being a good road team. From Day 1, we talked about being a great road team.

We are finally playing a team that's fighting for something, just like us. That's something new for us. The last few weeks we've been playing teams that are out of the race and have nothing to play for, and we sort of let our guard down. When you play against tough teams like Miami, there's no room for error. You can't let your guard down. I am looking for to it, man, I really am.

Guys are definitely feeling good right now. We made it here healthy; that was our main goal. ... We're feeling great right now. I think there's a little extra pep in everybody's step today.

He's a good friend of mine. When Larry took that job, he called me like six times in two days.

He's 18, but he looks, the way he's built, like he's 27 or 28. And he doesn't act like a kid. He's very mature for his age.

He's a volume shooter and he's pretty much the No. 1 and No. 2 options for them. He's going to shoot a lot of shots, and he's going to make some tough ones and score some points. We'll be right there doing whatever we can to make it harder on him.

He's better than anybody in this league off the bench. He's better than 80% of the starters in this league. He's something we've got to go to when he comes in the game because he's a mismatch almost every night.

He's (Ben Wallace) the best in the business, man. He has more energy than anybody, he rebounds better than anybody, his defensive presence is unreal. He's just doing what he does. That's Ben Wallace.

He's fun to play for. There's so much freedom. Everything clicks.

When he doesn't get right up, you know he's hurting, but I just can't get too worried about that guy. He's just a warrior.

He was everywhere. He had so much energy tonight. We came into this game focused, because we knew we didn't play our best yesterday. When we lose a game that was there to win, we don't like that.

He's playing with a lot more energy right now, as we expected him to. When he's aggressive like that, I never feel like we can lose -- ever. He's probably one of the most difficult guys in the league to guard when he's aggressive.

He's played a lot of years and not gotten to the Finals yet, where he wants to be.

I think it brings validation to my career and what I've felt about myself. That I could be one of the best at my position.

I thought they never were going to miss. We weren't making anything early.

I think we'll be a lot better offensively. Defensively, we could be as good. But when you play a faster-paced game, naturally, that other team is going to score a couple more points.

I think we'll be a little bit more up-tempo,

I think that for whatever reason we think that we can coast to the finish line, and not do what we have done all season. We are getting away from what we do, and guys are looking too far ahead to the playoffs. We have to do the things that we have always done. Teams aren't just going to lay down for us.

I welcome it, I welcome it. I let everybody else talk, I'm not going to talk about it.

I want to win the game, don't get me wrong. But mostly, I am just trying to stay healthy. That's the most important thing right now; that and trying to lock up that home-court advantage.

I was just trying to play solid D, no reaching, no poking. When they switched off a big man, keep my hands up, try to front. Little stuff like that, but it didn't end up working.

I think they're playing well as a unit... they're tough when everybody can contribute like that. You have to give them credit.

Larry is great and made a difference on our team, ... But I think we were great before he got here. We may have made the Finals the year before Larry got here, but I was injured. He came into a good situation and he made us better. It is going to be our chance to show we have a great team.

Larry beat him up too much. He tore the kid's confidence apart too much, and it was tough for him to recover,

Our focus today was to just come out and play our game and take what the defense gives us. I love when our bench gets the opportunity to play a lot of extended minutes. Whenever we get that opportunity, it's a big plus.

Our game is what it is. It's the best two teams playing, and really, it's the two teams that I expect to be playing in June again.

(Our game) has the best two teams playing. But it (isn't) the best two teams to write about or the best two teams to watch. Ain't no drama with our game, ain't no big story. (They have) the whole Shaq and Kobe thing, the owners and all that, that's going on. People want to see what's going to happen with all that.

Our whole focus is trying to get home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. We play every game focused on the big picture, not against our opponent that night.

Rip was aggressive early. And once he got it cooking, we kept going to him and we fed off him. When he gets hot, I don't know anybody who can slow him down.

Rip did a great job on him, that was his assignment. He contested a lot of his shots.

Our only motivation is not winning it last year. That's our whole motivation. We thought we was the best team in the world last year and came up a little bit short. We feel the same way again and we want to validate that.

Our last game was Tuesday, so I had a couple days to soak it in. That's when it kind of hit me that I made it. I'm an All-Star. It's still a little surreal right now. It's something that I always wanted.

Nah, it is what it is. We'll just start another one.

Nah, I don't think about that at all. I think everyone has changed up by now.