Rick Carlisle Quotations

We're in a tough deal and we've got to fight our way out of a tough situation. We're celebrating tonight, but we've got to play Detroit in two days. That's not going to be much fun either, but it's an opportunity and you've got to feel that these games are opportunities.

We're in a situation now where we're starting to get a little healthier and that's light at the end of the tunnel. The group that we have is really making a great effort to do what they can to help us win. Right now, win or lose, I know our fans know what's really important to them and that's the energy level and the unselfishness on the court. We had that for the last six or seven games and that's something we have to build on.

We're in a must-win situation every night. We have to win games. It's important to be a playoff team. We have a string of years and we want to keep that going.

When you turn it over 22 times for 30 points, you're not going to beat a top team. One of the characteristics of our recent good play is we haven't been turning the ball over and we've been rebounding well. Tonight, that was part of our undoing.

We're going to see how he's feeling tomorrow.

When we had good shots, we couldn't get them to go. We weren't good enough tonight, and they were very good, really, for the whole game.

We can do better in some areas and we will. I admit we all have to do better. I put myself in that category as well.

We're going to have to win a lot of games, starting with getting our first win, and that's really the only thing that concerns me right now.

We're finding out more about this group every game. We have a lot of guys that can contribute, but I have to evaluate it based on performance, the rotation, all those things. These (past) three games will be important to look at.

We're behind the eight ball in terms of our personnel that are available. We're going to have to fly by the seat of our pants here, and figure out enough ways to score enough points and get stops.

We knew we were going to switch (plays) if they called a timeout. They took a 20(-second timeout) once they saw our formation.

We knew they were going to make runs. We knew Wade was going to play big down the stretch. When that happens, we had to keep our poise and composure. We did that and made the plays we had to make to win.

We know he's going to play because he plays, but we're concerned about it because it is his shooting hand.

We know any win we can get is really critical, especially on the road. We have a very busy month in terms of frequency of games. We're going to have to continue to hang in and fight every night and give ourselves a chance. We're right in the midst of this thing. There's a lot that's going to be going on over the next 25-30 games. You're going to see a lot of jockeying and a lot of position changes.

We're still doing a lot of things we wanted to do, but when you don't have three 7-footers out there to go through stuff, it makes it hard. We have to roll with it and hope we can get guys back as quickly as possibly but not rush them back.

We have to go on the idea that he's not going to be here. We can't be hanging our hopes on his return. It's going to be awhile if he comes back at all.

We have no one to blame but ourselves. You play a lousy third quarter and give up a bunch of turnovers, you're going to tempt fate with that kind of play over a 12-minute period.

We have no one to blame but ourselves. I give Boston credit. They hung in and did what they have to do to win the game.

We'll see where we go from there after he gets re-evaluated. More than likely it looks like he'll be out unless we hear otherwise.

We'll see. I have a couple of days to make a decision if we need to do anything with the lineup. We'll go the way we think is best.

We did it for three quarters, but down the stretch, we just didn't. We didn't step up like a good team should.

We'd get close, then we'd make a bad decision or not be able to finish off a defensive possession with a rebound and things like that. They'd go from up one to five; then we'd have to fight back. It was just an uphill battle all night.

We decided to go to him early (in the third quarter) and tried to ride him. He played better and much more aggressive, but we need him to do that at the start of games.

We tried some. Johnson is a guy that was doing a good job of staying out of harm's way when it came to that (sixth) foul. We did a couple of things, but if you go too much out of what's working to try to get a sixth foul, you can disrupt your own team. That's something you don't want to do.

When I walked in at 5:30 p.m. and heard Jermaine was out, I wasn't sure what we were going to do or the best way to go. I just had a hunch Harrison was a guy we needed to get involved.

We set it up a little differently. AJ (Johnson) had been going good and we figured that they react to his movement on the court. They switched everything and got crossed up. Jack got open and laid the ball in.

We're going up against a guy who's playing a superhuman brand of basketball. He's looked invincible.

We had a whole scheme set up to double-team him. He goes out of the game, it certainly changes the complexion of the game for their team.

We know we are going to have some sluggish stretches here with guys getting back. We're just going to have to fight our way through it.

Let's just say it's a short-term situation, which potentially makes it a little more than game-to-game possibly.

Last year, we went through one of the most difficult years that a team could go through in NBA history. Even in the toughest times, I love coming in and trying to figure out ways to win. When you are able to feel that way about what you are doing, it is a great blessing. My experience at Virginia had a lot to do with being able to get where I am now.

Most of these new arenas have very good color schemes so you don't have depth perception problems.

One of the things we talked about was our need to be more purposeful with our transaction offense. When we take quick, it puts us in a poor position defensively. The guys did a great job of decision-making in transition. Our execution on offense put us in great position to guard and rebound.

One of the things that's real positive with this group is that we can put five guys on the court and run something and be very comfortable with any of those guys taking the shot,

Obviously we caught a break when he went out because they're not the same team without Vince Carter. Our bench was huge. This was one of those nights when we needed everybody to play well, and they did.

No, I don't. I've just got a real strong belief in all of our guys. So, I don't think that way. I don't go around worrying about what might happen.

Right now, he's a guy who's going to have to step to the forefront. It'll be an opportunity for him, and we're counting on him to come through for us.

Richard Jefferson is going to be more involved in Game 2. We know that Jason Kidd is going to be more involved from a scoring standpoint in terms of his aggressiveness. Carter, you can talk about his bad shooting, but he still had 31 points. He missed a lot of point-blank shots he normally makes. They're going to be more balanced in their attack.

Nine 3s is going to make it hard to beat you. If you go anywhere around making 10 3s, you're looking at a great chance to win.

One of the reasons it seemed like a quiet 37 was his shooting percentage. Unfortunately, we couldn't get him under control.

I would believe the concerns for a loved one in the stands and the fact he just went up to see if everything was OK would be a mitigating circumstance. It would be a scary situation if you had concerns for a wife or child in the stands. I can understand why he went up there.

If we hadn't won three games, we could be well out of the playoffs. That's not what we want. We want to be in and have a chance to get as high a seed as we can.

If things look good, there will be a chance he can play. It's the combination of the frequency of the concussions and his symptoms. It's something you can't rush.

I have been voting for this guy as an all-star for three years. I am no closet fan. I am an out-there fan. I love the way he plays, and he is a guy you really fear.

I'd like to keep him in the mid-20s if there's any way possible to do that, because that gives him enough energy to really pursue the ball and finish off plays on the inside. I thought the fact that we had to play him 37 minutes the other night in Houston had an effect on that one play late where he got to the rim, but couldn't quite get it in.

I don't know the exact description of it, but it doesn't need surgery and there's a chance if it feels better and feels OK next week, he could play with a protective splint.

I believe (the new rule is) a luxury rather than have guys making up injuries. If you have a team with a lot of depth, there are certain situations where it's an advantage. Right now we don't have that.

I believe the 3-point shot is going to be a part of our attack, ... We like to get 3s off penetration and inside-out action when we can.

I can't remember the last time we had 25 assists. That had a lot to do with it. Everybody hung in and played an important part.

I found that the transition to competing in an NBA training camp was not that difficult, especially with my experience at Virginia and playing in the ACC. Fortunately, I kind of caught lightning in a bottle that year, had a great training camp and made the team.

I don't think it shows much dignity to make excuses after you get your butts kicked. It was like they're everywhere and our feet were stuck in mud.

For us, we have to remember what they did to us last time. They came out and just railroaded us with shot-making and dribble penetration. You name it. We're going to have to dig our heels in defensively.

Give the guys credit for hanging in there and gutting it out.

I go back to our turnover situation. If they are down, we are going to rebound the ball better because we're going to get more offensive boards and be able to get back and guard people and get more defensive boards.

If it's a problem, it's a problem I look forward to having.

He tried it, but he was struggling to move out there. We'll hope he feels better Saturday (at Milwaukee).

He had us on our heels a lot of the night.

He has an NBA skill and that's that he can post up and score. He can also shoot from midrange and I think he'll be able to stretch it maybe to the NBA 3-point line down the line.

He has an affinity for the 'everyman' type of player. He's been here the last two summers working out with summer league players. It's something he has a liking for.

He has an affinity for the 'everyman' type of player, ... He's been here the last two summers working out with summer league players. It's something he has a liking for.

He desperately wanted to play. This is what you play your career for. I know it really hurt him to sit out the other night.

He is doing better, but it's not the right time to push it.

He hurt us the last two games and we did a lot of different things on him defensively. Johnson played great.

He hurt it at the end when he got that put-back, so we'll hold our breath and keep our fingers crossed that he'll be OK (on Thursday) and the next day. He's going to be sore, we know that, but if anybody will play hurt, he's certainly a guy who's done it time after time.

He had a clean bill of health when the trade was made and all his past situations were checked out. The one thing he had trouble with was his back, but he hasn't missed any practice time, and that's a totally isolated, different situation.

He got cracked pretty hard the other night in the Chicago game.

He made a point tonight. He was a key part of the game.

He may have moved his schedule up because of what happened in Memphis last night. We knew he was getting closer and closer. I thought it could be this week some time.

He'll gradually get back to where he needs to be as long as he doesn't get major doses of minutes. It would be great to have more practice time, but he's been in this situation before and he's familiar with it.

He'll be re-evaluated next Monday. If things look good, there will be a chance he can play (Feb. 15 against Milwaukee). It's the combination of the frequency of the concussions and his symptoms. It's something you can't rush.

He made a couple of great plays at the end. Great players are going to make great plays. In the grand scheme of the game, the third quarter was our undoing.

He (Redd) was phenomenal with his shot making, especially in the third and the fourth (quarters). Then all of them were hitting threes after a while. The third quarter did us in.

He's a guy that our players look up to because he's been on a championship team. He has some credibility because of that.

He's a great young player. He can almost do anything on the court. I can't tell you how impressed I am at how he's played.

He's a legit point guard with size, he's an excellent defender, and he still hasn't entered his prime, ... The other thing we like about Chauncey is that he really wants to be here. He chose us over 12 to 14 other teams. That means a lot.

He's at the point now where rookies are still rookies, but they have a veteran sort of confidence about them, and he should. The other thing he has learned this year is that when he plays well, it's going to be tougher to keep playing well because teams are going to keep getting ready for you.

He's doing a little better the last couple of days. My sense is that he'll play.

He's definitely a more featured player. It gets tougher now because everybody knows how important he is as our No. 1 scorer. We have to work harder to get him better shots and he's going to have to work harder to create opportunities for himself, too, because teams are keying on him.

He's here to play, he's here to win, ... His moods are much more affected by winning and losing than anything else. I love having guys like that.

He's had this problem in his elbow for over a month and it's not healing. We're going to hold him out for a while until he's really right. It will be at least a week, with a possibility that it could be significantly longer. We're not going to go on like this, having him in and out of the lineup, thinking he's going to be able to play then not being able to go. It's too tough on everybody.

He's going to be in the picture, for a lot of reasons. His defensive ability is very important to us. He's a young guy who's experiencing a lot right now and that bodes well for this year and the future.

He's getting over his jitters. It's tough. We're asking him to learn two positions. Danny has a tendency at times to be in a hurry.

He's fit in well. He's a proven NBA player who's played at a high level for many years.

He's been a major key in this series.

He's done a lot of good things, considering the amount of time he's been out. But also, you can tell there's an adjustment period here. This is going to take some time to get to full strength.

We have to be honest; we're not a very good basketball team right now. We have to address things that need to be addressed.

We have to avoid becoming stagnant. We knew at some point Orlando would hit a stretch where they hit shots. We also knew that when that happened we had to keep the ball moving on offense and not slow it down and get into isolation plays. That bogged us down in recent games. I thought we did a good job of staying away from that.

He was one of my favorite players to work with because of how hard he played and the things he does on the court.

He wants to play. It's a significant situation. It's day to day, but it's one of those things that's tough to gauge. We're hoping he feels good enough for Game 6, but we don't know. We'll have to see.

He wanted to give it a try, and he really gave us some defensive energy to start the third, which was big.

He did some good things. We have to keep working him on both ends of the floor with what we do.

He just wasn't able to get enough minutes for us to keep him here. He played well and had a great training camp and was terrific in the locker room. It's just one of those timing-type things.

He just wasn't able to cut on it and move the way he needs to. We are just hopeful that with another day and a half of rest, it'll calm down and he'll be able to play.

He (Jackson) tried, but he was struggling to move out there. When he came out, we just decided he couldn't go anymore.

Harrison felt bad about the suspension. I thought he atoned himself in a very strong way with his play at both ends of the court. That's what you want to see, a guy respond to adversity when things aren't going well all the time.

Kobe Bryant is a great player. Maybe the best player in the league right now. He is that good.

Jamaal plays a big part of our success. We're going to have to deal with it. It's tough. We got guys that can step in. We'll re-evaluate where he's at after three games.

Jamaal came in early and went and shot, said he wanted to give it a shot, but after six minutes it was clear he wasn't 100 percent.

Jack is such an important guy on our team. Our players view him as one of our leaders. You have to have your top players involved and playing at a high level. I thought tonight Jack understood the defensive end was going to be what was going to win the game for us.

I think it's a continuance of the same things we've said for a while. The margin of error for us is not great. They had 13 second-chance points and 50 points in the paint and those numbers are hard to overcome.