Flip Saunders Defensive Quotations

We were mentally a step slow. We had some defensive breakdowns, we played out of character. But as bad as we played, we still had a chance to win the game with a minute to go.

When Ben struggles, sometimes that motivates him at the defensive end. He gets the attitude that if I'm not going to score, then you aren't going to score.

Ben was great. He showed tonight why I keep saying he's the best defensive player in our league.

Ben did as good a job as you can on Shaq when you play him one-on-one. His defensive presence gave us the ability to shut down some of their other people.

Ben is our energy. I would be amazed if he wasn't the defensive player of the year again just from everything he does. He's our lock-down guy. When we have energy, we are tough to beat and tough to score on. When we don't, we can be pretty ordinary. And Ben is usually the catalyst for that energy.

We've been known in the league that we played the best zone defense, when I was in Minnesota, ... In one day, I can tell you that we're going to be a much better zone defensive team than we were in Minnesota.

The reason in the playoffs that defensive-oriented teams are successful is because the longer you play someone, you become more comfortable with how guys are getting their shots and what they're doing. You have the ability to lock down more from a defensive standpoint.

The guy that has been on a mission here is Ben. They might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it here for the fourth time, because when you look at all the things he's doing - defensive rebounding, blocking shots, steals - he's just doing everything.

They might as well take the defensive player of the year award and send it to Ben. He's been on a mission in the last three weeks, and when you look at all of the things he's doing - rebounding, blocking shots and making steals - he's phenomenal.

They might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it. When you look at all the things he's doing as far as rebounding, blocking shots and steals, he's been phenomenal.

It's going to be a great challenging game for both teams. They are a great defensive team, but the reason we had some success in Minnesota was because of offensive ball movement and player movement. They want to lock you down on one side of the floor. If you can get the defense moving, you can have some success against them.

They're a different team. Before, they could really spot up and shoot it extremely well and could really spread the floor. Now they're a much more athletic team and try to use their athleticism both on the offensive end and defensive end. They're going through those adjustments right now.

The last three weeks, they might as well take the Defensive Player of the Year trophy and send it for the fourth time, or whatever, because when you look at all the things he's doing, as far as from defensive rebounding, blocking shots, steals, he's doing everything. He has been phenomenal.