Jeff Gundy Ball Quotations

Obviously, our shooting is not good. It's been a season-long thing where we haven't shot the ball well from (long) range, and that's set us back. It's one of the things we did well last year.

(McGrady) played super hard today. He just doesn't make (shots) at home like he makes on the road. I can't explain it. We don't have an inside presence right now (without Yao) to throw the ball into to keep the defense honest. He's trying to make a lot of tough shots while playing big minutes.

I don't care how hard you play, if you don't shoot the ball competently, you're going to have a hard time. We do just enough good to lose close. That's what we've been all season. It's mind-boggling. I know some of our guys killed themselves out there tonight and while that should certainly be complimented, this is about winning.

When Yao shoots the ball more, we have a chance to be a more efficient offensive team. That's because for the most part he's going to shoot 50 percent and above, and get to the free-throw line, and close shots near the basket even missed are harder to translate into transition points, which allows you to get your defense set.

When you score that little in a quarter, it's probably part defense and part you're missing some shots that you normally make. So we're not going to pound ourselves on the chest because I remember three or four they had right in a row at the basket over our midgets where the ball just happened to fall out. We try to play good defense yet we understand how good of an offensive team they are.

We didn't guard the ball well and we didn't help appropriately.

We didn't guard the ball well and we didn't help appropriately. I think they (the Hornets) were probably sleepy a little bit, not ready to play. I had a little bit to do with it. They turned it up in the second half and we had no response.

It starts with mental strength. Just to have the ball taken from you like that is disheartening. For us to beat quality teams like that, we're going to have to be mentally and physically tougher.

He played well. He hasn't been shooting the ball well, so it was timely he made shots. I think he's consistently gotten better in trying to keep us organized offensively.