Eddie Jordan Last Quotations

We'd like to go into the New Year saying we have a five-game package, that we're going to take it game by game and respect our opponents. We feel that we are coming together. We are competing. We've competed down to the last second most every game. We just have to continue to believe in each other and believe in the system.

Our last practice, our last shoot-around, just weren't serious enough. I allowed things to happen out on the floor that I should have stopped. I'll make sure it won't happen again.

That last seven minutes we locked down defensively. We held them to 13 points in the fourth quarter.

There's no sympathy in this league ... not for a team that came in here limping a little bit. They have taken their lumps on the road the last three games now, and it's a been a tough stretch for them.

It's been bothering him for about the last seven or eight days. Last night the pain got really bad, so the best thing to do for him right now is rest him.

We dodged two or three bullets last night coming down the stretch with a gamble here or a gamble there or someone didn't box out, yet we got the rebound, ... We've been dodging bullets for three games and it finally caught up to us. We had a lead. We didn't need to gamble. You have to play good, solid defense.

I don't even want to think about Cleveland tonight. I just want to relax and recover from the last week and a half.

We always say that one win can get you going and that one loss can get you going the other way. We just have to shift into another gear like we did in the last quarter and a half and come at with the same intensity and stay at that intensity.

This was obviously a very tough loss for us. We fought hard and defended the last play as best as we could. At the same time we didn't some stops and missed a few rebounds, which cost us.

We said it was going to be war going out. Literally, we spilled blood. It was a physical road trip. I'm glad it came down to that. We've grown up a little. Hopefully we can carry it out the last two weeks.

The number that I like better is the percentage of games that we have won out of our last 20 games (11-9). If we thought that .500 was our ultimate goal, then there is nothing more to achieve. We really want to keep the momentum going.

We have to be balanced, ... We have to execute on offense but, at the same time, we have to play better defense. We have to remember who we are. I'm going to go with my strength. If I think that we're a pressure team that's going to create turnovers like we did last year, that's what we'll do. If I think we have the personnel to be a little more physical, to be a little more half-court oriented and not press as much, that's what we'll do. A lot of it is about personnel.

We just had some poor possessions offensively down the stretch. The last four, five possessions, we didn't have to make a big play, we just had to make normal plays, and we didn't come up with it.

We're not going out there playing a 50-win Seattle team of last year. We're not going out there to play a Sacramento team that's won 92 percent of its games at home. It's a little bit of a different flavor out there.

We're not going out there playing a 50-win Seattle team of last year.

We knew it wasn't going to be easy. They are a very competitive team and always have been. I think it took Miami a 16-0 run in the second half to win the game last night. They are so depleted with injuries and my heart goes out to Bernie.

It is good that we had the experience last year of going down 0-2 and winning the series. We don't want to do that this year. We don't think that is a good formula. I think we are going to show up better and give ourselves a better chance of winning.

If we go into the next game and come out with a win, 5-5 isn't too bad over the last 10.

We didn't play smart down the stretch tonight. But we won. When you win, it builds and it builds and it helps you. Again, we didn't play smart. We haven't played smart in the last two games, but basically who cares. It's a win.

The thing I really like is that he's aggressive, but he also takes care of the basketball, ... The last two years he's been very high in assist-to-turnover ratio. When you can attack like he can and you don't turn the ball over and you make the right decisions, that's a real plus for us.

He's one of the best in the league at getting the last shot and creating a foul so it is always good to have it in his hands for the last shot.