We haven't played well of late. It's obvious for anybody to see. In order for us to win an NBA game, we have to play a lot better than we've been playing.

Anybody who watches us, even a little, could tell he's important to our team. All around, he's probably our most skilled big player as far as being able to shoot the ball, handle the ball, pass it and the other things he could do. And he's a popular teammate, so he's going to be missed.

Anybody that's involved in the league in depth and watches us play knows that we have more things in our offense for Ben probably than any other team in the league has for any other player. It's normally the guys who aren't playing well that are making those kinds of comments. So I don't put much stock in that.

It's safe to say that's a lie. I wasn't even aware anybody said that. I didn't even get into it verbally with anybody during the game.