Tayshaun Prince Quotations

I don't think he's turned it up at all. I think he's been playing that way for the longest, you know? Maybe his numbers are up a little bit but this is what he's been doing all season and you can expect the same thing (tonight).

I don't think it's going to be as bad as the last couple that we had at Indy. I know it's still going to be mentioned a lot, but it has died down a lot. We've put that behind us and I'm pretty sure the Pacers did as well.

We're not going to treat this as a special game or anything. The thing we have to do is deny him the ball and make him catch it farther out in spot he don't like to catch it at. We're going to be prepared.

I already gave up a couple of years to college.

I am going to talk to him before the All-Star break, but right now, I don't think I am going.

I think anxious is a great word for that. We missed some easy baskets and some free throws...things we don't normally do. But once we settled down, we were fine.

It doesn't amaze me. It doesn't amaze anybody on our team, because we know what he's capable of doing.

I think (the officials were) more of a factor tonight than any game we've played this year. Even though some other games were the same, I thought it was more important in this than any other one.

I thought Raja Bell did a good job of playing Rip a different way every time. You got a guy that can score off screens like Rip, you can't do the same thing every time. He'll pick you apart. They did a good job of switching things up. It kind of confused Rip for a minute. I think when he went and sat down and saw how he was playing defense, when he went back in there, he made some adjustments.

I think we were anxious. Anxious is a great word for that. We missed some easy baskets, missed some free throws, made turnovers on the fast break, things like that, some things we normally don't do.

We were just worried about coming out here and playing tonight. Whenever you play how we played in Utah, you just want to get up the court as quickly as possible.

We can always get what we think is necessary.

That was just pick your poison. What you want to do is just let him get his rhythm out 20, 22-feet out away from the basket, or make him drive and hope that we'll be there to help. I think tonight we just tried not to let him get any looks from the perimeter.

We really got off to a slow start, but once we got going, we started taking better shots. We drove to the basket a little bit, penetrated and kicked and made some plays. Everybody knows when Rip and Chauncey are making shots, it makes it easier for the other players.

We like man-to-man. But with the long, athletic guys we have, and the quick athletic guys we have, hopefully it shouldn't be a problem for us to mix it up. But it'll be something new for us, and we'll see how it works.

Whenever they took the lead or tied it up and got the crowd into the game, we made some plays to put the crowd out of it. They would make another run, and we would respond again.

What he presents on the floor is unusual. He scores from so many different areas, points come easy to him; rebounds, points, all that stuff comes so easily, so natural to him. It's like no other.

We know what our capabilities are: to have our defense get some stops and try to get started on our offensive game, which wasn't happening for us.

We knew they played that overtime game. We didn't play that many minutes last night. So the key for us was just to get out quickly, make some stuff happen. It seemed like they had slow feet from the start of the game, which allowed us to jump on them early.

Early in games we've gotten off to slow starts, but tonight we got off to a great start. In the second quarter we kind of got lazy a little bit and they capitalized on it. But the fourth quarter has been our quarter early in the season in terms of hitting our shots and executing our plays, and that's something that we did tonight.

Everyone thinks we're playing this great because we want to show we can play without Larry. We're playing like this because we know how it felt to lose the championship, and we want to win it again.

The thing about it is, we?re loose all season long and then when the playoffs come, we?re even more loose. People might not think that?s a good thing, but it?s a good thing for us. We try to stay loose. We still know the focus part and what that mental aspect is, but we like to be loose and get prepared in the way that we have to.

The thing about the Heat was they were better chemistry-wise last year because Eddie Jones and other guys that were there knew the system and had been there awhile.

The thing we wanted to do is really concentrate on rebounding the ball and not let them get second-chance opportunities on the offensive glass. We did a good job on that.

Every time our execution failed, we responded with our defense.

They've got a new team with new players. It's going to take them a while to all get on the same page, but they've still got a great team.

The past five or six games we've been a little bit tired. Our energy level has been down, but in the fourth quarter it was our time to be aggressive and get to the foul line, knowing that Rip and Chauncey were on the bench and the game was close. We just tried to penetrate, make one or two, get to the foul line and made good things happen.

They were just trying to foul, so the common sense thing to do is throw it up at the basket. As long as you don't dribble no more, it's a continuation.

In the first quarter, we didn't move the ball and Boston did a great job of hitting shots. The second unit came in and Chauncey got the ball moving for them and got all of them involved.

If you keep him out of the paint, that means you've got to sag off your man and he's probably the No. 1 in the league in terms of finding the open man. It's kind of a pick and choose your poison with him. Do you want to try contain him and let him shoot open shots? Or let him penetrate and get him?

Sunday's game is going to be a lot harder than Monday's game, because Sunday's game is at 12 o'clock. I don't think we've had one at 12 this year. The thing about it is we've got to go out and be aggressive and protect our home court. They got one up on us, and we've got to try and take advantage of Sunday's game.

The bench has done a great job. They are starting to give us some successful minutes now and that's been making it easier for all of us.

The last couple of games, I don't know if we're tired or what, but our energy just isn't there. We know we can score, that's not a problem. But when you talk about energy, it's got to happen on defense, and it wasn't there all night.

That second unit has been great. We aren't giving them a lift at all.

It's very, very, very, very helpful. ... Delfino can get out there and get some confidence.

It seemed like we just picked up where we left off last season. It didn't seem like a first game.

They can play better. But at the same time, we can play better, too.

They looked a little tired in the second half. Once we started attacking them, they just looked like a team with tired legs.

They went to a zone, and that means they are trying to get the ball out of Rip's (Hamilton) hands, so we have to make shots.

Anything that's more creative is going to be more fun.

After Chauncey missed that shot at the end of the first overtime, I knew we had to get it back to him again because I knew he'd make up for it.

You want to keep your rhythm. I feel if I miss a game, I kind of lose my rhythm a little bit, so I try not to let that happen.

It's not hard for me. It's only Year 4 for me, but this is coach No. 3.

It is uncharacteristic on our part, but we do it every once in a while. It thought it was a little out of hand tonight.

Everyone knows that when San Antonio and Detroit play, it's going to be a battle on the defensive end. The thing that we wanted to do is really concentrate on rebounding the ball and not let them get second-chance opportunities.

That's the guy you've got to watch. He's incredible. I can't even think of all the big shots he's made.

There were a couple of questionable calls there. That kind of fueled the whole thing.

They recovered strong from our beginning of the game and really made some plays happen. One thing we wanted to do was try to jump on them early, but at the same time, some of the guys' legs got tired very quickly. Once we got our second wind in the third and fourth quarters, we were fine.

The last five or six games, our energy level has been down. That's why I knew the fourth quarter was the time to get aggressive, try to hit some shots and get to the line.