Rick Adelman Playing Quotations

I don't want to be down 3-0 to the world champions. That would make it tough. It's definitely a game we have to win. ... They're the best road team in the league. When you're playing a team like this in the playoffs, they're not going to be intimidated by our crowd, but our crowd can certainly get us going.

I don't think we're playing that well together offensively. I don't think that we're sharing the ball and moving the ball enough.

I don't care if we're playing home or not. We just ran into a better team. Their starting five has played together for a while. They executed very well, and they shot it very well. We looked like a team that is inexperienced playing together.

He did fine, better than I thought. I think he was excited to start playing basketball again.

He's been a terrific young guy. He hasn't had an opportunity to play much because he is playing behind veteran guys but we are very high on him. We think he is going to be a player in this league. He is the type of kid who every day he comes to work. He works hard and never gives in. That is a great attitude to have.

He had a bad situation when he was in Sacramento. He didn't have a very good team. Since he's been here, he's had his team playing well. They play together and they play hard. He knows what he's doing.

That changed a lot. With Kevin out as well, the only guy we really had to guard Richardson was Ron. (But) still, when it happened, we weren't playing the way we needed to play.

We haven't been playing well these last seven games and our offense was the thing hurting us the most. Guys were trying to do everything on their own and we need to get back to trusting our teammates and passing the ball. We weren't paying much attention to detail in these last seven games, but we were better tonight.

We played seven and all seven had double figures. We've been playing better and better offensively. We're getting more used to each other and our young guys are playing better.

We played solid all the way through. We beat the best team in the West at their place. If we keep playing at this level, we are going to put ourselves in great position for the playoffs.

We struggled playing the game tonight. We didn't pass the ball well, we turned the ball over, you can't win like that. We shot the ball poorly, and our decision-making was bad.

We struggled playing the game. We didn't pass the ball very well. We turned it over. And playing on the road, you can't turn it over like we turned it over.

I've said all year if we don't have Mike and Brad playing well we're going to struggle.

Everything is so new. We're trying to get a sense of what guys can do. So far, they've responded. Every day we've mixed it up with people playing with different people.

Ronnie hasn't been trying to force the issue, he's playing under control. We know he can make shots and guard people, and he has a great work ethic. I think he has a great chance to stick in this league for a long time.

Our energy level tonight was up. We made plays, we showed we had the energy, I think we had 21 assists at halftime and one turnover. Our offense was efficient tonight. We haven't been playing well these last seven games and our offense was the thing hurting us the most. Guys were trying to do everything on their own and we need to get back to trusting our teammates and passing the ball. We weren't paying much attention to detail in these last seven games, but we were better tonight.

We've definitely struggled so far, ... It's not that unusual when you have players that haven't been playing that long together.

He's maturing and knowing and understanding what he has to do to be successful. I think he's kind of imposing his will on people rather than just taking what people force him to do. . . . He's just playing with a lot more confidence. . . . I don't see any reason why he wouldn't continue to play at that level in the playoffs.