Drew Gooden Quotations

Me and Zach are friends and he was going at me, so I felt I had to go at him. I knew he was going to get a lot more touches than me, so when I got them, I made them count.

If we continue to play like this, we've got to stop thinking about playoffs and start thinking about trying to edge our way into the playoffs, and we don't want to do that.

He's played on big stages his whole life. It's expected of him.

I talked to the coach and we've got a back-to-back with a game (Saturday). I'm kind of nursing this injury and got out ... before it got worse. We've got a goose egg so far on this road trip and if people are really competitors on this team, they'll step up to the challenge.

Rip Hamilton was at his best hitting those mid-range jumpers, those back-breakers.

(Marshall) was great for us tonight off the bench. He gave us that spurt. And he was making some backbreakers towards the end of the game.

I think he's excited. I think he'll pick up his play, if that's possible.

We really wanted this one. The last three games were a step backwards.

We know the feeling of having 30 wins at the All-Star break and not making the playoffs. We don't want that to happen again.

Those are the kind of plays that take the life out of the other team.

You keep working hard and the wind will carry you where it needs to carry you, in the direction you need to be.

The relationships that I've built and the connections and the network that I have created playing on these multiple teams, playing for these multiple coaches and assistant coaches - I wouldn't give that back for anything, because I believe that's going to prepare me for my next step, whether that's going to be on the floor coaching or in an office doing some type of management work.

I wouldn't change my experience for anything. It made me the person I am today. Not just on the court but off the court.

I had to learn from an early age to be observant of how to fit in right away and how to make a transition a lot more smoothly by adjusting to a role or filling a role that a team needed.

I was never a guy who came into a new situation on a team being vocal right away. I kind of monitored the situation, observed the situation and then found my role throughout that process.

My main focus, whenever I put on a new uniform, was just to provide energy. ... There was one thing I knew I could never mess up, and that was going hard. That's what I really kind of relied on to get me through the transition period between two teams.

I'm a social butterfly. Once I get somewhere, I can make myself at ease and start the team bonding and build a relationship with my team, all my teammates, all the coaches, all the coaching staff.

There's never a right way to tell somebody that they've been traded.

When I was young, I kept trying to be in the most helpful place for me, when sometimes, as players, you have to look in the mirror and say, "It's not always going to be comfortable."

I've had to overcome a lot of diversity.

We came out a little sluggish, but we turned it on and got our second wind and executed when we had a little cushion and stretched the lead.

I've been coming doing my job and going home. That's what this has become for me. I've been in so many different awkward positions every year. I can adapt to my surroundings.

Zach and me are friends and he was going at me so I had to go back at him. It motivated me and I got up.

A lot of the guys are wearing the leg warmers now. I don't think they look bad.

They're a team that's going to grind it. We fought back and kept our composure. We kept executing.

That's the best team in the league. They have a (championship) ring. We see them as the measuring stick.

It's a new time and a whole different mindset in the playoffs. We will pick our level of play up, and I know they will also. We will see what happens.

It seemed like every possession the ball was in Allen Iverson's hands and they were just creating with Chris Webber. It was a two-man game.

They both hurt. The feeling I had yesterday was the same one I have today.

Z went out with an ankle sprain. We needed an inside presence. Coach went to me three straight times, and I delivered.