Eddie Jordan Playing Quotations

There are times, when if you're playing well, let's just play well from the jump ball instead of playing well eight or nine minutes into the quarter. I think it's a calling right now for him to step up and bring what we need -- a little more force and power and the ability to score in the post.

This was a good win for us tonight. We were competitive and were more organized down the stretch. Tonight we talked about not being impatient on defense, and playing each position for the full 24 seconds. There is no reason why we cannot play like this for the next 21 games. That is our challenge - to finish the season strong and to play with discipline like we did tonight.

He was out there tonight with a bum knee playing defense and being the quarterback for us. His will to win is why the great ones are great.

He's been playing like that all of training camp, ... Hitting the offensive glass, getting put-backs; he's very aggressive. He stroked the ball today -- he's been getting better at shooting the basketball. He's made a heck of an impact on my mind about where he's at with our team.

Larry has been playing pretty good defense on Gil and taking away some of the things we like to do.

I thought to win on the road is a big deal in the NBA, the season opener, almost a brand new team for us, ... We're trying to learn how to play with each other. We're a very deep team, a very veteran team and I'm just trying to find the right combinations out there with guys who are playing well, so it is a terrific win. They had a chance to tie it with three shots at the end and the basketball gods were with us.

We'll get a day's rest and close to a full day on Monday and then show up for a 7 o'clock game in Philadelphia. And then we can suck it up. That's what playing big-time basketball is about.

Most importantly, I thought our offense let us down, and it hurt our defense. The Big Three have to understand we have to share the ball. We have to get equal opportunity, and we have to attack in a disciplined matter. We didn't do that. We were playing selfish basketball.

We had to make a decision on the playing time with Chucky and A.D.. Each one of them gave us something that the other didn't. In the end, Chucky thought it would be better for him professionally -- and it was mutual -- if he could buy out his contract and play somewhere else.

We played very hard, especially in the second half. I thought we waited a little too long to play at a high level, energy-wise. Allen is playing at a high level we really couldn't contain him tonight.

That was certainly playoff basketball by the Cavaliers. It wasn't playoff basketball by the Wizards. My team (is) not playing the way they were supposed to play. That hurt us. It's a problem we have to correct. Our team didn't have the body language. We didn't have unselfish play. We were undisciplined. We lost our focus.

We're not going out there playing a 50-win Seattle team of last year.

We're not going out there playing a 50-win Seattle team of last year. We're not going out there to play a Sacramento team that's won 92 percent of its games at home. It's a little bit of a different flavor out there.

What hurt me most was my team not playing the way we are supposed to play. They did. We didn't.

No matter what happens offensively, whether you're playing poorly or not, you still have to play good defense.

They are meshing a little bit better. They are making plays, playing off the dribble, and they are aware of their spacing. We are more patient, with a little bit more trust.

He struggled a little bit more than we would have liked, ... The important thing for him is to keep getting playing time so he can continue developing his basketball skills. He's shown some good things. He has great size. He runs well. We're going to keep working with him.

After playing a good first half, we gave up 61 points in the second half. We gave ourselves a chance, and they hit a tough shot at the end. The credit goes to them. They really brought it to us in the second half.

Caron was one of the few guys who got into it defensively, getting into some passing lanes, getting deflections and steals, and playing physically.

I don't like players, especially veteran guys, sitting over there not playing for a stretch of games, ... I think it's important to keep guys involved.