Maurice Cheeks Allen Quotations

One of the reasons why they were not going to play was that while we were in the playoff race Chris (Webber) and Allen (Iverson) were playing with a few injuries and they tried to continue to play. Then, once we fell out of the playoff race - it got a little tougher. Chris (Webber) had a bad back, Allen (Iverson) was playing with numerous injuries and once we were out of the race - there was no reason for them to play.

Kyle got beat a couple times, but he can change the game. He spreads the floor and gives Allen more room to operate. They have to make a decision who's going to beat 'em.

Everything we did tonight was energized by Allen not being there. We knew we had to raise our game on the offensive and the defensive end.

Having Allen back rejuvenated us a little bit.

Chris and Allen didn't have great offensive games, but they were passing the ball. I thought the way we defended and rebounded the ball was big for us. I thought one of the keys for us was that we got some easy baskets.

You could hear Allen on the bench keep saying, 'We're still there, We're still there. I think he gave a lot of guys a lot of hope.

I thought Kevin played well. I think he had our offense going a little bit, but on the flip side I think sometimes you want to bring Kyle in to stretch the defense and give Allen Iverson and Chris (Webber) a little more room to operate.

Any time you don't have a player like Allen play for four consecutive games, you're going to miss him. You're going to miss his scoring, his drive, a lot of things.

All I know is that among the players they have, the 22 they have chosen, Allen is in a high echelon of those players. I don't know their criteria for choosing the 22, but I know Allen is in a high echelon of those players.

Allen is one of the few guys that can tolerate a lot of pain. If Allen can't play, you know he's really, really hurt.

Allen has been playing some great basketball for us and Chris is playing like he did a few seasons ago. We need to keep picking up wins if we're going to be a playoff team.

He's a very versatile player that can play the one, two or three positions. You're trying to put the ball in his hands and allow Allen to come up and make a play.

I don't think Allen is coming. He's not playing tomorrow night and we're still waiting to see how he feels for Sunday. It doesn't look good.

That is our challenge this year, trying to get him to play consistent night in and night out and not drift and fade away.

He can move and come off screens. He's a different type player because he has the ability to step back from three-point range and make shots and he has the ability to drive to the basket. He's a bigger Allen (Iverson) with his ability to shoot. He shoots deeper than Allen. His ability to get to the basket is in the same form of Allen because he looks to attack, attack, attack.

Us coming off back to backs and playing a team that gets out and runs was going to be a challenge for us. I'm not totally upset about this game. We knew it was going to be a tough game just based on the way they play.

This game was a quality game for us because Memphis is a quality team. The other night I challenged our team on the defensive end and our defense was great tonight.

We have to get other guys involved. We're not just trying to win games with Allen and Chris doing all the scoring.

This was a delicate situation. My communication with Chris and Allen should have been better. I take responsibility, I'm the coach.

I thought down the stretch of the game, when we needed those two guys to score the points, that?s what they did. That?s what they have to do. We got to the penalty at a certain point, Allen continued to drive the ball, and Chris had wide open jump shots because of it.

I don't want to hear about Allen and Chris had X amount of points. We have to defend. We've been talking about (them) scoring all year, and we still never defend.

I don't see there is a problem with Allen integrating a No. 2 guy. Chris is a star within his own self. He can pass, shoot, rebound. He loves to pass. When you have a guy like that, he's going to make Allen's life easier on the court.

If you're missing a player like Allen you have to overcompensate. You're not going to replace a guy who scores 33-34 points a game, but you can replace him in other areas when you get production from everyone.