He's a barometer a lot for us. ... I was not as concerned about him not scoring or shooting or not being aggressive, but his rebounding totals were way down. He had some games in the first half where he'd come in with zero or one.
I was concerned because at shoot-around this morning I heard a couple of guys mention some stuff about Miami. I was concerned we might overlook Atlanta. But we came out and played like a well-oiled machine in the first half.
I was concerned because everywhere you walked the past three days, that's all people talked about. They didn't even know we played Friday night. I think most of the people were talking about Sunday -- except the TVs. They were talking about Miami and the Lakers.
I was worried coming into this game because I heard at shoot-around some guys mention Miami. I was concerned that they'd overlook Atlanta.
I think he deserves it. He's a guy who's had a great first half of the season. I'm not as concerned with just putting guys in by position; you know, because O'Neal's a big guy, put a big guy in there.
I was more concerned coming in with the defense. I feel in time, we're going to be able to do preparation to be effective offensively. Let's make sure we don't lose our identity defensively.