Scott Skiles Played Quotations

We started a different lineup and played with the same amount of energy, so it's difficult to tell (the difference). We played better tonight, but I don't want to put it on that necessarily.

We did what we had to do. We had to win this game. We played better, but they didn't play like they played in Miami.

We did what we had to do. We came out and played with energy, I thought we had good ball movement. Our shot selection was excellent, and I think they were a little bit off.

It was a tale of two halves. We played well in the first half, they played well in the second. We made our free throws down the stretch. We fought them off, and kept them at bay.

I told the guys a couple of days ago that whoever I thought played the best the next two days is going to start, so that's what we did.

We haven't yet in either game played the kind of defense that we've played the whole year to get a gauge on how we can play against (Miami).

Even when we got it close, Jamison got away from us. He's been a key guy whenever we've played against them. If we would've been able to do a good job on him and make him shoot a poor percentage, we've had some success. Arenas is normally going to have a pretty good game; it's hard to stop him. But Jamison got away from us.

Eddie played real well last night. Considering he's still kind of feeling his way out there. As you see him get more and more comfortable, he'll be more aggressive. Learning what is and what isn't a foul. Once he gets used to it, he'll get better and better.

We played terrible defense (on Monday) and he was talking about touches. I thought that was the incorrect thing to be talking about. I thought Ben was good tonight.

We played pretty hard. We didn't always play smart, but we played hard.

We didn't handle it very well the last time we played them. We had a hard time reacting to it.

They had an overtime game last night and we sitting here waiting for them. We played pretty well, but we didn't get Philly's best shot. We will see that next week when we play them again.

That kind of team has given us problems. We're going to have to play much better than we played tonight.

In the last two years, we've played a lot of guys. A lot of teams are shortening up their rotation right now and going eight or nine. We don't have that kind of team yet.

We have played better at the end of the games. We have tended to make some pretty good plays on both ends of the floor when the game is on the line.

The guys played much better in the second half. In the first half, we just didn't show up. We came back. The problem is coming ready to the building. We haven't done that enough this year.

I think he is the most-improved player (in the NBA). I also thought he should have been all-rookie (NBA selection) and things like that. But people look at him as already a pro player. I understand that because he has played professionally for a long time. I know everybody respects him around the league, they just tend to look at him as a long-term veteran, or whatever, even though he's in his second year.

I'm happy we played hard, but that should be a given. Our guys fought right until the end, but at this level, there are no moral victories. It's a game we should have won.

I'm happy that we played hard, but that should be a given. We need to learn from these experiences and make progress. We've had too many times this year when we've come out in the third quarter and haven't been as sharp. It happened again tonight. I can't fault anybody's effort. Our guys fought right to the end, but at this level, there are no moral victories. It's a game we should have won.

I'm happy for Tyson. I'm sure a good amount of grief he's gone through has been self-imposed. He's kind of tortured himself for some of the games he hasn't played well in. He's really broke out the last three games and he was obviously excellent again tonight.

I'm happy for Tyson. He's kind of tortured himself for some of the games he hasn't played well in.

I'm happy for our guys. I always wonder if they are going to get dejected because we've had close losses. We're starting to come around. We've played better in the last month or so and we've won our share of close games. We just need to keep it going.

Kirk was outstanding tonight pretty much from beginning to end. Defensively he was as good as he always is and he played with a nice tempo. He didn't really force anything, ran the offense well, penetrated and made a lot of good decision.

Every game he plays in, he's ... one of the toughest guys on the floor. He's got size, strength, athleticism, and he can play. He gives them one of the best players in the game, and you can see that they've played with a little more pop since he's been with them. He seems to have an effect on their group, the way they get after it a little bit.

The opportunities we had to see him play big minutes -- when Brad Miller went down, he was forced into the starting lineup with Sacramento -- he played well in that role. He knows and we know that's not a role he's necessarily comfortable in. But he's shown the ability to shoot the ball well. We weren't really sure what kind of a defender he was going to be. We've been pleasantly surprised with the way he's come in and picked up our concepts and things we're trying to execute.

I'm really embarrassed by what happened out there. We played with very little heart and very little aggressiveness. We came out at halftime totally casual, just kind of winging the ball all over the place, acting like they were going to roll over and give us the game.

Tonight was similar to other games we have played lately. We had our chances and weren't able to make plays when we had those chances.

I was really proud of the guys. We played really hard. We were active. And we played really solid defense, and we got out with a win.

I thought we played hard tonight. We kind of had a pop to our step most of the game. We made too many mistakes and missed too many shots.

At one point we had 11 field goals and eight of them were assisted. I thought our ball movement was good again, we played very unselfishly in general and we did what we had to do. We talked about trying to put them down early at least. It doesn't always work out the way you talk about it, but at least you get a nice lead and see how they react.

I thought overall we played better tonight. We have a lot of energy. We did a better than average job of following the game plan. We could have had the game in regulation. We just weren't able to get it.

Even though he was hurt ? he played some, didn't play some ? it was nice to have him around every day. There are few players who seem to see the plays before they actually happen, and he was one of them.

Ben played so well and took the open shots. Sometimes he turns those down and ends up taking a more difficult one.

This would have been a real shame if somehow we would have lost it at the end after playing as hard as we played. In the first half we played really well, but we were tied. We came out and played hard and well and deserved to win.

It wasn't like we had a total letdown or anything; we just softened up enough to let him get going. And once he got going, it was very difficult to get any momentum back. Early in the third, we went under a couple of times on screens. He made one, and that really opened his eyes. He put one right in the middle. That's a lesson that needs to be learned -- playing against great players like that, just one possession can get them going. Obviously, if you look at the whole year, the four games we played them, he's averaged well over 30 points against us. We didn't get it done against him this year.

We played hard. We didn't play as smart as we needed to in some instances.

We played hard for the most part. We had a lot of good stretches. Then it came down to the end, could we make plays, and we did.

We feel fortunate that Shaq played 24 minutes.

Well, I normally err on the side of telling the truth, so I'm going to tell it. I'm really embarrassed by what happened out there. I thought we came out in the second half, we were pretty much as soft as I've seen. We played with very little heart, very little aggressiveness.

He's settled into the role of being one of the first players off the bench. He's shot the ball well for us. He's passed it. He's played very good defense. He's just a very good all-around player and is having a very good year for us.

He set screens and got in front of the rim. He played with more energy on offense. And tonight was very aggressive, unlike earlier in the year.

We haven't played well of late. It's obvious for anybody to see. In order for us to win an NBA game, we have to play a lot better than we've been playing.

We were very, very fortunate. Clearly, we were tired right from the beginning of the game. It wasn't a pretty game. We just played hard in the second half and really battled for it.

We had good life from start to finish, and we played very good defense with the exception of a handful of possessions. That allowed us to get out and get our running game going, and get some good looks in transition; and we shot the ball well tonight.

We had some great moments and we had some shaky moments. I'm certainly happy to have the win, and we had some guys that played well. Then when it got tight, we had enough big plays to hold them off.