Avery Johnson Minutes Quotations

Everybody is asking me if I'm going to play Elton Brand 48 minutes because we play (the Clippers) Tuesday. No, none of that. Just spread out the playing time.

He's got to play more minutes and be more responsible. That's why it's team game. You can have a 10th man in the starting lineup. We have guys one through 12 that we feel good about putting in games.

Our team is not playing enough of a 48-minute game and that's the disappointing thing. We know it's tough to win road games. This was a hot team team we were playing, give them credit. But you can't play 18-20 minutes of a second half and expect to beat any NBA team.

Guess what? I went out on a limb for it. I stand behind it. I've done pretty much all I can do. I need to get a return on my investment. I think Damp will respond. Whatever minutes he plays, I expect him to be a terror out there on the court.

It was nice to get the big lead and to spread out the minutes a little bit. But we are a flawed basketball team and we are still working through some things. We have to keep working hard and trying to get better.

I thought Diop did well with limited minutes ... and I thought Dampier came out and contributed off the bench.

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.