Richard Jefferson Playing Quotations

I got it going in the second half. I just tried to keep playing through my teammates. They found me on some good looks. Honestly, our whole team had it going in the second half.

He's been playing well for them all year. He's a guys who's been experienced for them, he's played in the NBA Finals, so a first-round playoff game, there's not so much pressure on him to perform.

He might not be happy, but he'd have to go there and play. I guess it would be like playing for Charlotte or playing for Toronto.

I think we are going to be a team that makes a real good push. We have been a team that people consistently talk about for the last five years (come) playoff time. Sometimes people forget what we can do. I think the last 15 games, a lot of people are going to be talking about other (teams) while we are still playing well and having a chance to make some noise in the playoffs.

We didn't do a very good job of playing through each other or through the people we should have been. And then we got cold. They were hitting shots and mainly it was a lot of defensive problems. But sometimes your offense is a part of the problem.

Vince is our primary scorer and that's his role. When he goes down, it's not a surprise that we score with a lot of crazy shots or play out of our heads. We're just going out there and playing aggressively and good things are happening.

In the first half, especially the second quarter, we were not playing D the way we needed to.

Everybody's surprised. There's guys, not naming anybody, that won't sniff the playoffs, that are 15 games under .500, that are playing in the game. But it is an All-Star Game. It's an individual performance game. Very rarely do team players get rewarded. He's probably the best team player in the game.

Hey, we've been playing the same way the whole year and we've been successful. I believe in my teammates. I believe in my coaching staff. We've been playing one way, all year long.

It was just like the good old days. When I'm out there running, then that's when I'm playing my best. It felt so good out there. We showed that we still have the ability to get out there.

It was just one of those nights. It was a combination of us playing good defense and getting good looks and good shots. We were fortunate to get them on a night where they didn't hit their shots.

It was my first time being injured. Made it back for the playoffs, and started off this season struggling, now we are playing well. Ups and downs. Hopefully we will have more ups than downs.

The guy (O'Neal) missed four shots, including free throws. The difference was that he was playing at home. A lot of things tend to go your way when you're at home.

I feel confident every game now. We have our whole roster, and we're playing well.

I do care about getting that All-Star respect. I would love to be an All-Star. I am playing with the best point guard. So a lot of times, playing with him, sometimes it is the quarterback or the receiver that is the All-Star. Hopefully at some point in my career I will be able to prove that I am one of the better small forwards in the league.