We know it's going to be a playoff atmosphere. We only played them once, and we can't sit here and brag and have a chip on our shoulder like, 'We put them out last year and we beat them early this year.' Because you can be beat on any given night in this league.
We got the moral victory with the two wins this year. But they got the overall by getting us in Game 7 last year. We're just trying to get back to there, and get back what's ours.
We still don't get the respect we deserve. It's all right, though. Hey, it's cool. For the last so-and-so years, we've been under the rug. They swept us under the rug and the last two years we went to the Finals.
We started the season with that chip from last year. We had to wait all summer and then wait through this long regular season. All of that other stuff was just in the way. This, the playoffs, is what we've been waiting for.
Some people say that without Larry we won't get back, but he wasn't the one out there playing. It's cool, though. We know we're going to be there. It's going to be a lot of bandwagon cats at the end of the year, just like it was last year.
That's really important as we get into the playoffs. We're going to get tired, we're going to sit down and won't be able to play the whole 48, so they're going to have to come in and do the things they've been doing the last few games.
I told him, if they see us, you know, hey, Carolina will have to do their thing. That's been a pretty good rivalry over the last few years.
This is what we've been waiting for. We got up for a couple teams, but we weren't really excited about the regular season. We've been waiting for the playoffs since Game 7 last year.