Flip Saunders Talk Quotations

It's the same thing. We talk to him. He'll be fine. He'll be fine.

People have been talking about 35-5 and the Tigers a lot lately, but the reason that people remember it is that they won the championship. If we don't win the title, no one will remember that we were 35-5.

I have to thank Charles (Barkley) for giving a great halftime talk when he said the game was over. I thought we were playing too perfect, but in the second half we played exceptionally well. When our four guys (four All-Stars from Detroit) were in we started to run some plays, and I think that helped us.

I was concerned because everywhere you walked the past three days, that's all people talked about. They didn't even know we played Friday night. I think most of the people were talking about Sunday -- except the TVs. They were talking about Miami and the Lakers.

You talk about a point guard that can do everything -- that's Chauncey. He can make the 3, he can pass, he can defend, he makes free throws and he scores.

I think from talking to a lot of coaches, I'd say there's a pretty good chance of three going and a possibility of four. Just from talking to coaches. But you've had a lot of coaches say they would vote for five. Whether five could make it would be tough. Even if four makes it -- even three -- when you don't have any of them voted in by the fans, that's pretty unbelievable.

We've talked about Chauncey and how it would be a travesty if he's not an All-Star. It's the same way with Parker. He's really played at that level the last couple of years, and I can't see any way he doesn't make that All-Star team this year.

We just have to play him better. It's a fine line as to how much you want to show (before the playoffs). We talked as a staff this morning about the stuff we've been working on -- how much do we want to use it or not use it? I guess we'll just have to wait and see in the heat of the battle.

Nothing, really. I didn't talk to him. It's not an issue.

I would hope there would be at least three, maybe more. As coaches, we talk about team play, how important it is. This is an opportunity from a league standpoint to show to people - whether it's college kids or high school kids or AAU kids - how important team play really is. It's a very rare opportunity you'd have as a league to maybe put five guys from one team in.

I got to know him when he was a player and he had season tickets right next to our bench. I didn't know him just as a season-ticket holder but as a friend. It's a great loss to the sports world and Minnesota. He always had a smile on his face and cared about kids. He always took time to sign autographs and talk to kids and try to help them.

I talked to the guys at halftime and basically said that we were not as competitive. I thought that the second half they played exceptionally well. In these type of games, it takes a lot of time to get used to playing with guys. Every guy did something in a very positive way.

They're kind of like my family, with Debbie and the kids being here (in Minnesota). I was talking to Ben Wallace and I was telling him, 'You guys are what I have.

This is a guy who played a role for 82 games. His role isn't going to change that much, especially when you are talking about a guy who's been hurt for the last five days. I don't think anyone should expect him to come in and be a superman.

Charles (Barkley, TNT commentator) gave a great talk for us at halftime. He said the game was over.

I told Ben when I talked to him that I have a lot of respect for him and everything he does.

It wasn't like he right away went for the head or whatever. They were both fighting for position. You talk about reputation. . . . That's not like Rip to just go after somebody like that.

He starts to get hesitant. He'll turn down shots the first time and then all of the sudden, he ends up taking a shot that's a worse shot than he had the first time. Or a contested shot. So with him, I talk to him about staying aggressive offensively.

The first time I talked about that, we went out and turned it over the first four times we touched the ball. That mark I credit to players who are extremely disciplined and players who know their roles. They don't play out of character and that goes back to what I've talked about all year -- this team has a very high basketball intelligence.

You have to understand, we've played 82 games to get here; 82 games of playoff-type basketball. People talk about the pressure of being the hunted. Well, we've been the hunted since we were 8-0. It's been like our opponents' Super Bowl every time they play us. I think the regular season prepared us for what's at hand.

We try to talk a little bit, keep in touch every now and then, follow each other's career. It's a unique situation. You have two guys who played with each other, went four years together.

Ben was phenomenal. People talk about Bruce Bowen and others as the best defender. Bruce is a great individual defender. Ben is a great individual defender. But Ben Wallace might be one of the best that's played the game as a team defender.

I thought we made great adjustments in the second half. You can talk about turning it up, but I think the big thing is that our team has the ability to see how a team plays, then make the adjustments to get into their weaknesses. You can turn up your energy, but you still have to be able to beat the other team.