Rick Carlisle Missed Quotations

Jermaine is a top player in this league. He missed a lot of games (this season) and it's taken him a while to get his conditioning and his rhythm back. Fortunately for us, he's hitting his stride at a good time.

Jermaine is a top player in this league and we all know he's missed a lot of games. Fortunately he's hitting his stride at a good time. We need him to continue to play at that kind of level for us to have success in the series.

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.

I know it's hurting him. A lot of guys wouldn't play through this. He hasn't missed a game because of his hand. There's been times where it's swollen up like a balloon. You have to give him a lot of credit for wanting to help the team.

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.

We missed shots and didn't do a good job defensively. When you let the other team shoot 75 percent in the first quarter, you're going to dig a hole. We have to do better in all areas.