Maurice Cheeks Taking Quotations

He is one player that I'm not concerned about (with) his minutes. There was a time when I thought about taking him out of the game, and he started getting in a nice flow.

Chris is very capable of taking our troops, as all our guys are. Chris is our veteran. He's been around certain situations a while, so he understands about guys getting hurt and how to help other players. (Sunday) night was a perfect example of Chris leading us.

Paul Pierce thrives in those situations. He looks forward to his team being down, coming down and taking big shots.

They shot almost 59 percent. We always talk about giving up jump shots and that's really what they beat us at; a jump shot game. That's their game, pushing the ball up the floor, taking advantage of mismatches, and doing the things they do.

The game was much more important for us than them, but we just came out, we defended, we got out early. That was the game, really. We defended, we rebounded the basketball. Really it was taking away the transition baskets and our attention to detail.

It's something we talked about in this new season; to do different things in terms of being a leader out on the floor. That means sharing the basketball and taking over the game when he has to. These three games, he has been phenomenal.

It's something that we've talked about this season in terms of (Iverson) being a team leader. The past three games he's been phenomenal from taking over the game to his overall leadership.

I am not going to get upset over Johnny taking shots. I did say the next time he has that opportunity to drive the basketball. We were in the penalty, so drive the ball, maybe get a foul, or the defense collapses and kick it out.