Ray Allen Quotations | Page 2

I tell the young kids, you have eight or nine months of the year to play basketball and the rest of the year you can relax. So, you've got to be ready. It doesn't last forever.

What brought me back here was my players, ... I know who Rashard (Lewis) is. I know who Nick (Collison) and Luke are, and I don't know what those other guys (on other teams) bring to the table. This is where I've made home and I didn't want anything different and I didn't need anything different.

Right now, we're not a team. I think we're genuinely happy for each other when we're out there on the court. We've got to find new and different ways to support each other on the floor. The comfort zone that we've been in, we've got to change it a little bit. Everybody has onus on this team. It's easy for someone to say, 'I play only 10 minutes a game, so they're not talking about me.' But that 10 minutes is just as important.

I always say if the house I live in is comfortable, and I have all the amenities I need, then what more can you ask for?

Inside the first 20 to 25 games of the season, we were losing these games, getting beat by two and three points. Over the last 10 games, it seems like we're starting to win these games and putting some good things together.

I look at how we got beat and I thought the hustle points and the energy points were all gauged through offensive rebounds. I thought in the second half they got so many second-chance opportunities they could really run. It just seemed like they were going up our guys' backs. When you don't get any offensive rebounds and they start going the other team's way, it's almost like a snowball effect.

When the effort is in question, the ball goes in different directions and the ball doesn't always bounce your way. When you're playing in the home of the NBA champions, it isn't going to be easy.

My nature is to keep things inside. In time, I'll be comfortable stepping up when I think the team could use my input.

When I hit one over, I knew I was good.

Most teams have one All-Star, whether that guy made it this year or earlier in his career, and some teams have two All-Stars. What theyre showing is that a group of five guys that play together and play hard will always beat a team with two All-Stars and three average players.