Jeff Gundy Defense Quotations

(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.

Hard playing, very few mistakes, no tricks coming at you ? they're just going to compete harder on defense than you're going to play on offense and (be) ultra prepared. No one talks about it, but I think without question, when all is said and done, he is a Hall of Fame coach. I really believe that with all my heart.

That was probably part defense and probably partly them missing shots they can make.

We didn't try hard enough. Defense in this league is about making multiple efforts, going from one thing to the next. We stood, watched and hoped that he (Cook) would miss. It gives you pause to think what do we really have here. What do we really have?

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 fourth quarter, it's usually part defense and part just missing some shots.

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.

It was part defense and probably them missing shots they couldn't make.

There's a lot that goes into winning and a lot that goes into losing. Our second-half defense just led to another close loss.

All the great perimeter scorers in this league have a better chance in transition than they do against set defense to get to the line. There's less you can do to scheme in transition. That's not Tracy's greatest strength, but I think it would really help him to get out more actively because I think he could find more freedom, more room to move.