Flip Saunders Time Quotations

The positive was we defended down the stretch. That's what we're going to have to do when playoff time comes.

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.

He did a nice job. He helped us defensively, scored some in there. I thought for the first time extended minutes, he did a lot of positive things for us.

That's the only negative ? the guys play so well sometimes it becomes too easy. But it's what I said before ? an obligation of entertaining, knowing that when you go into an arena, for some people that might be the only time they watch you play. As a professional you have an obligation to play at a high level ? it's almost like a rock band going on the road.

We'll run our offense. We'll run our plays. That'll be the most relaxing time that I'll have at the All-Star Game, when they're on the floor.

Yeah, I knew it was time to get him out when he did that.

Every time it happens, you always try to find out if there's questionable ones. I don't exactly know what the number is and what the true number is.

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.

Every time I go into a game I have, I don't know if you want to call it a cheat sheet or whatever, but I have a list of plays that I'm probably going to run that night. And there's no question that this last week that list has been a lot shorter as far as things we're going to run. There's some things we've put in, some wrinkles in some situations and maybe we'll lay away from some of those not to give them an extra scouting opportunity.

Coming in from the outside, you could see that this team was hurt from what happened last year in Game 7. Sometimes you think over the course of time, they say that time heals wounds. But time just didn't seem to heal that wound.

Sometimes it's natural to take a step back a bit. It just depends on the flow of the game. But the one thing he does -- and a lot of our other guys do -- when it comes time to clamp down, he has the ability to do that.

They had guys who looked like they were the Bud Light Daredevils going off the trampoline. One time it looked like a volleyball (match) where one guy fakes it and the next guy goes up and spikes it. They were all over the rim.

It really helps any time you have it. The coach is the authority figure, and you've got to be able to communicate with players. Over the course of seven months, things are going to happen, and you've got to deal with those situations. The main thing is the players know that I respect them. It's because of that mutual respect that we're able to deal with any kind of situation.

Dog days. Especially after the holidays. After the holidays, you've had some big games last week. So what happens is you come in and it takes time to get your energy going a little bit. I thought we came out and traded baskets too much.

It's incentive to get days off (to rest players) and preparation for coaches. Any time you can get into a playoff situation and get a three- or four-day rest, you can get back to your basics with some good practices.

It's incentive to get days off. ... Any time you can get in a playoff situation where you can get a three- or four-day rest, it's almost like a mini-training camp situation, and you can get back to your basics. Get back and have a couple of good practices and really kind of get calmed down from winning a series and get rejuvenated and get back up and get into that crescendo where you're playing extremely well again for the first game.

They caught us at a time where we were a little on edge from what happened in Orlando.

Any time you are a competitor and you're not winning, you get frustrated. The great ones all do and he's going to be one of the greatest that ever played this game.

Any time you take a job where a team won the championship and got within five minutes of winning another, you wonder, how are they going to accept you? But they've been very open to coaching, very open to doing whatever we've asked.

I knew it was time then to get him out. All of them.

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.