Avery Johnson Year Quotations

It's a big improvement from last year, ... He's really trying defensively. And the kid is healthy. Last year he was playing on one ankle.

I'm not going to do what I did last year. He's been on me about how I managed his minutes last year and he seems to think that that had an effect on him going into the first round. So Coach is going to accommodate him.

In 1989 at Greater Saint Steven Full Gospel Church, I gave my life to Christ. That's pretty much where it all started for me. I was 23 years old at the time, right after my first year in the NBA. The pastor preached a message about being fully committed. That pretty much was me. I wasn't fully committed. I was kind of in and out all of the time. So I just wanted to make a commitment.

John really took a liking to me. He talked to me about the off-court stuff, about the pitfalls that trap some guys. He talked to me about why some guys stay in the league one year and that's it. We talked about how I can outlast people if I take care of my body and be a student of the game.

I wish they would take more people, but they can't. You have that every year. Every year you've got guys that's deserving. Guys that get out there every night, lay it on the line.

We've had a pretty good year up to this point. So we don't want to let all of that go down the drain because we got four guys injured.

We had to get this game behind us for a lot of reasons. We hadn't played well this year against Lakers, and Kobe's been averaging 50 points on us. We didn't want that to happen again.

We had to get this game behind us for a lot of different reasons. We hadn't played particularly well this year against this team.

Eight out of the 10 guys in our rotation were in a quote-unquote insurmountable situation last year when we played against Houston. For us, that's something that's sunk in, that we talk a lot about. We've got some guys who know how to respond. Is this game any bigger than Game 3 in Houston last year? ... I don't think so.

We are trying to win a championship. But we're in the first year of implementing a program.