Rick Carlisle Player Quotations

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

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

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.

We know that we got lucky today. We know Vince Carter is not going to have another 1-for-8 3-point game or 12-for-33 game, because he's a great player and he's going to make his shots. We got very fortunate that he didn't have his best game.

We're talking about it, we're trying to deal with it. I think we'll get there. It's just important for any player in this league not to let his competitive juices distort clear thinking and have something happen that affects the team.

Those things work their way out. One thing about getting another quality player is you're going to have to earn your time on the court.

It was very tight the whole game and it couldn't have been closer. A couple of breaks went our way at the end. We know we got lucky today because we know Vince Carter is not going to have another (game like Sunday), because he's a great player and he's going to make his shots.

It's about learning the league, learning the guys he's playing against, what their tendencies are and what their strengths are because those are important things to defend well, ... We have a system of defense that's solid and he's in the process of learning that. For him, he's an experienced enough player and certainly has a high enough basketball IQ that he can pick it up quickly.

It's going to help a lot because Jamaal is our best creator with the ball, and he's one of the best creators in the game. A player like him really helps us.

That's something the medical people have to discuss. It's a conversation I haven't been involved in and I don't know what point it's at. You have to look at the long-term future of a young player as well as the short-term gains you have by playing him.

Anytime you can acquire a player with his abilities as a shooter and a scorer - and we happen to think he's a better defender than people give him credit for - we certainly need what he can bring us, especially with Jermaine out now.

His abilities as a player are breathtaking. He's brought his game up to another level since he's come to New Jersey. I know Jason Kidd has had a lot to do with that. This isn't any news flash. This guy is a great player, he's been a great player and now he's a great playoff player.

A.J. is playing with great awareness and great savvy. He looks like a guy that understands the pulse of the team he's running. The majority of the game, he's making our calls and directing us into things. He's a guy that really knows this team, as well as any player that I've had the opportunity to work with as a coach.

A.J. is playing with great awareness and great savvy. He just looks like a guy who understands the pulse of the team he runs. He knows his team as well as any player I've had an opportunity to coach.

The emotionally charged and highly competitive nature of our games is one of the things that makes it compelling to our fans. The fine line you walk as a player or coach is that you have to channel those emotions in a way that's not harmful to your team or the game. That's the situation we're dealing with. My sense was it was getting better year to year.