He's such a quiet kid. That was the most emotion we've seen out of him all year. I think he was waiting for this moment to go in and compete against Shaquille. I had the same thing when I first came into the league (in 1996) and competed against Michael (Jordan).
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It made me feel good, yeah, because we've been through so many wars together. And it feels good to kind of be able to enjoy ... the sweetness of it. And now to be able to move on, for the organization to move on, the city to move on and to focus on building this team, (I) wish him all the best with his team down on South Beach.
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I absolutely hate it. I just hate it. I don't want to hear any comparisons between me and him. Enough is enough. He had a brilliant career, obviously, one of the greatest careers ever, if not the greatest, and I'm here playing with my team and we're trying to do great things. Just let the past be the past. Just embrace what I'm doing. Stop trying to compare it to what he did. Just enjoy what's going on now.
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a real cool guy.
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I think their experience kicked in and overwhelmed us a bit tonight, ... We kept fighting back and did some great things with our execution. Our inexperience on defense hurt us, as they were spreading the floor extremely well and getting good looks at the basket.
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I was very familiar with him and Eddie [Jones] and Rick Brunson, ... I just know what he's about. He's a steady basketball player, rarely makes mistakes on the floor.
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They came out and they zoned up and they trapped and they doubled, and we just continued to move the ball. It took me three quarters to kind of get the rhythm down on what they were trying to do defensively so I could go into attack mode in the fourth quarter.
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Aside from Kobe (Bryant), he's probably the most recognizable sports figure in Southern California.
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They are the best team in the league right now. There's not much more to say about what makes them tough --versatility, execution and understanding of concepts.
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I was very familiar with him and Eddie (Jones) and Rick Brunson, ... I just know what he's about. He's a steady basketball player, rarely makes mistakes on the floor.
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I wasn't really looking to attack or to assert myself. I think we had a lot of things we could take advantage of, and we did that. We had them right where we wanted them, just a couple of bounces didn't go our way.
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It was a good season for me individually. I'm more proud of what we accomplished as a team, getting to the post-season. At the end of the season, here we are ââ?¬â? playing our best basketball.
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We both do what we need to do to win the game. In my case, we have a young team, so in a lot of circumstances, I've had to carry the load for us to be competitive in ballgames. But I hope [Iverson] in Philadelphia and I in L.A., we can get to the point when we won't have to score that many points.
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It doesn't really seem like we're overly jumping for joy, but it is a great accomplishment for us. We came from last season when we didn't make it. This season nobody expected us to make it and here we are.
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We had a great run. Three rings. I think people should leave it the hell alone and move on. ... I understand it's interesting, but we also have an interesting game. The game itself tomorrow is interesting.
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I know how to play my guard spot, ... He can worry about the low post.
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Today I brought some champagne into the locker room. They all wanted to spray it around, but I said no, we'll sip it from a glass. I told them next year, when we win it all, we'll spray it around then.
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These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.
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Absolutely. I'd trade it in a heartbeat. It's about getting to that elite level. That's what my career is about.
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It was a great read by them. They sent out all small, so they were able to switch everything. They took the play away from us.
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It means a lot to me because we're playing well and we're in a position where we can get into the playoffs and make some noise. We've achieved everything we have as a team, and the individual stuff just makes for a more pleasant journey.
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This is a big road trip for us. We can't sulk for one game. We have to keep our heads up and move on to the next one.
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They just have more sets now and more options. They are looser.
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I look forward to it. You know he's going to compete no matter if it's the All-Star game, on the playground, or versus the Lakers. He's going to compete hard.
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Sometimes it gets frustrating,
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You just try to take it one day at a time, ... You step on the basketball floor and just play. It's fun. I'm comfortable with it.
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We needed a challenge like this, ... I think we did a good job keeping our poise when they jumped out to an early lead. Everybody just kind of stayed with it.
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That was a great class. A lot of great players came out of that draft. I don't think people are fully aware of the talent that came out of that draft.
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If Lamar plays like that in the playoffs, it will make us very difficult to beat. When he is taking his shots in rhythm, he is a handful.
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Lamar is a dangerous player.
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