Mo Cheeks Quotations

No, Allen and Chris are not going to play tonight.

If they're not shooting the ball that well it can be a little tough, but they have different guys who have the ability to shoot the ball the way they shot it tonight.

I didn't want to beat on them again.

If Allen is hurt to the point where he can't play, you know he's really, really hurt.

He made some shots that probably only he can make.

We just have to endure it and somehow find a way to change it.

What you saw tonight was a little bit of our future, young guys who can make plays.

I thought everyone had to pick up every phase of our game.

I thought all of the guys had a lot of energy.

I thought we did a pretty good job of not getting caught up in the way Phoenix plays.

I thought that we did a pretty good job in not getting caught up in the way Phoenix played. We don't have the offensive players that they have. Any team can get caught in the way they push the ball.

I think we're getting a little bit better on the defensive end. That's where we're going to make our move.

I think less minutes is something that we're going to start trying to do now.

Johnny, as of late, has been coming in early anyway, so I just felt we needed a little bit of change maybe to help our aggressive defense from the beginning.

The reason why we built the lead we had was because we got dribble-penetration and we were able to the foul line and make some foul shots. The fourth quarter, they packed it in on us and it was poor, poor execution against a zone.

When you have an Allen Iverson, you can put the ball in his hands when you're struggling. When you don't you have to spread it around a little bit and hopefully get three or four guys who are going to score.

You have to try and find a way to do it.

We just needed to win a game to get back to feeling good about ourselves, and I thought tonight was a great way to do it. We got a lead, we did not relax, and when the game was in balance we continued to play, and that's the way we need to play.

You get a guy who can bang a little bit, rebound a little bit, dive on the floor. You got a hustle guy who does a little bit of everything.

Down the stretch, when we needed those two guys to score the points, that's what they did. We got into the penalty and Allen continued to drive the ball, and Chris had wide-open jump shots because Allen continued to drive the ball, and that's what those guys have to do late in the fourth quarter.

Sam is working his way back in the lineup. I don't know when. He will be back starting at some point. I just want him to be consistent; I want him to be aggressive, that's all. It has something to do with Steven; it has something to do with us as a team.

You saw the reason why they have the record they have ? they do a lot of little things.

You saw the reason they have the record they have. They do a lot of little things. I thought our defense was good; I thought we rebounded the ball well, but we had little timely turnovers and they would always get the ball in the person's hands they wanted, which was Rip at the right time, and he would end up with a shot.

The way we're going to play without Allen Iverson is the way we played tonight. When you have Allen, you can put the ball in his hands a little bit more. When we do not have him, you have to spread it around and hope you get three or four guys who can score.

They shoot 58 percent, that's pretty uh, that's not the best defense you can play, let's put it that way. I'm certainly not happy.

At halftime, we were down and I felt like we had to will this one. We had to go and get it; I think it was our will that got us back in the game.

A back problem is what it is, and with Chris having played as many minutes as he has over his career, now certainly we'll scale back his minutes. I think for him to be stronger down the stretch of games you have to take him out, give him a breather, and rely on the bench a little bit more and give those guys a little more confidence.

For a guy to be starting and then go to the bench is not always an easy thing. Fortunately for me, you have a guy like Kyle who will do anything for us to be successful.

It's satisfying to play that way, period ... . The last couple of games were a benefit.

It's something we talked about where we could start over and kind of forget about the things that happened the first half, and just start new. That's what we've been focusing on, trying to look at this as a new season and just move past the old one.

The ball will be in Chris' hands a lot, and guys will have to cut and move off him. Allen is a player, a guy who can go get his own shot; tonight we have to utilize Chris a lot to help get guys their shots.

Anytime you can rest Allen and Chris it's big, realizing how many games we have coming up this week. Those are tough games, and anytime you get to rest those guys is a huge plus for us.

I knew I shouldn't have said that. We've got guys who are leaders, and you've got to utilize those guys no, I have no thought that they're not together at all.

I just thought that everyone had to pick up every phase of our game because Allen wasn't playing. We did that on the offensive end and the defensive end. We shared the ball and we did a lot of good things team wise.

I think all his guys love to play with him. I think that's the biggest compliment a point guard can have is that they love to play with him because they know he can score the ball, but he's always looking to pass to other people and I think that's one of the biggest compliments you can have.

His back has been a problem for the last few games.

Allen is one of the few guys who can tolerate a lot of pain, and at game time you know he really wants to play. We take him for granted.