448 Quotes by Rick Carlisle

"We wanted to get the ball into Stephen Jackson's hands. He had been a major force for us the whole game. That last basket of ours was indicative of the whole game. He made the unselfish pass to the open man."

"It is great to be in a situation in which you have great players. You find out pretty early in this business that without good players you will not be a good coach. I have been fortunate to be in a very good situation. My job as a coach is to make sure that we progress every year and we can be a championship contender."

"There's a lot of little things going on in there. He's doing better, but he got wrenched pretty good. It's something to be concerned about."

"(Assistant coach) Kevin O'Neil came up with the idea of playing some zone. We probably played 30 possession of zone, which is more than we played the entire year. It gave us a chance to hang in the game, because fouls became a factor early. With zone, a little bit of it is pot-luck. You have to hope they miss some shots."

"Every win is important when playoff position is at stake. We've had a string of road losses that's been really tough on us so getting back on track was important."

"I thought we played hard. I thought we rebounded well. (Jason) Kidd and (Vince) Carter are difference makers."

"Every win is important. Playoff position is at stake and we just had a string of road losses that were tough on us so getting on track was important, and we're starting to get a little confidence in our overall situation as well."

"It's just one of those plays great players make. When he took it, I just turned my head."

"I thought we got some pretty good looks at the end. It's disappointing to work that hard to get the lead and lose it. It's tough."

"The good news is he is feeling better; the bad news is he's not ready to get on a plane and come out here and play."