I'm so happy we went through that little period, because it seems to have brought our team closer together. Nobody pointed fingers. At the same time, we played against some really good basketball teams that were really hot.

They had a great start to the game. They came out and really tried to throw a knockout punch on us. Fortunately, we were able to withstand it, come back and get our defense set and play some pretty good defense against a high-scoring team in the second, third and fourth quarters.

My guys are pretty smart. They know exactly where they are. I kind of like that we have something to play for, playing against playoff teams.

Points are hard to come by against Memphis, and it's been that way for everybody because of their tempo ... and their defensive scheme. We've got to place a premium on getting good shots.

The more you watch them on film, the scarier it gets. They sit on all your plays. You got to move the ball against them. They can shut down our offense if we don't play well offensively. It's going to be a very, very tough series.

For Josh, it'll be a test for him coming back for the first game, especially against a really good defensive team.

It's not even so much 2-0 for us, it's just trying to play this game like there's no tomorrow. When we do that, we seem to play better, we seem to play more focused, and that's the only way you can play against Memphis.

Eight out of the 10 guys in our rotation were in a quote-unquote insurmountable situation last year when we played against Houston. For us, that's something that's sunk in, that we talk a lot about. We've got some guys who know how to respond. Is this game any bigger than Game 3 in Houston last year? ... I don't think so.

We thought we were pretty good defensively, for the most part, against one of the tougher teams in the Western Conference. We knew we had to be physical.