I told Ben when I talked to him that I have a lot of respect for him and everything he does.

I looked back at that. What always seems to happen is, the guys will play well, and they'll have one stinker game that week. They'll have one game where Chauncey might have 11 points, six assists. Or Ben might get nine rebounds instead of 18. Rip might have 13 points instead of 23. And in this league so much, it goes down to statistics.

They're kind of like my family, with Debbie and the kids being here (in Minnesota). I was talking to Ben Wallace and I was telling him, 'You guys are what I have.

Ben usually makes big free throws down the stretch and when he misses, it motivates him to play harder defensively.

Ben played 56 minutes last night (in Memphis), and he played 41 tonight. Yet, he was able to do what he did. When we needed to lock down in the final two minutes, he pretty much did it.

Ben erases a lot of mistakes for us. He was unbelievable with everything he was doing.

Ben was phenomenal. People talk about Bruce Bowen and others as the best defender. Bruce is a great individual defender. Ben is a great individual defender. But Ben Wallace might be one of the best that's played the game as a team defender.

Ben was phenomenal defensively. It was good that we were able to get Ben some good extended rest. He's going to be bench-pressing a lot of weight on Wednesday.

Ben was great. The energy he played with for 56 minutes was unreal.