Anton Pil Quotes

He`s a terrific player. He hurts you from the three. He hurts you from the post. We wanted to see if he could control the game one-on-one. He`s very focused. He`s a hell of a player, no doubt about it.

We just had some poor possessions offensively down the stretch. The last four, five possessions, we didn`t have to make a big play, we just had to make normal plays, and we didn`t come up with it.

We`re giving up too many points. We ran our offence well. We didn`t respond when they attacked us.

We had positive energy. We`ve never wavered in confidence with each other or for each other.

We started out as if we were on a qualifying lap but got a puncture near the end.

They took it to us. It should not have happened like that. They just came off a six-game road trip and we thought we could bring the force and the energy to them.

We designed it just right. We just wanted to make sure that Kobe would not get a good look. Calvin was very instrumental in it. Kobe tried to turn and make a pass, and it just slipped out of his hand. That is a part of fatigue. He is a great player. We take the challenge to go against someone like him.

It`s talent, toughness, experience and character. We`ve added two players that give us all those qualities. The heart is bigger than the man sometimes. That`s what we have. We think that`s going to take us to another level.

He`s kept working on it -- and he`s still got a way to go, but it`s coming. It`s a work in process, but he`s willing to work hard.

He`s a professional. He probably made a slight mistake by going public before he had a conversation with the GM, but I`ve said all along he`s been a professional on the floor at practice, in the locker room, on the planes, on busses. I never saw any real unhappiness or anything like that.