Flip Saunders Quotes on People (22 Quotes)

We cannot exert so much energy. People said at one point, 'Chasing 70 games' - or you chase something, then all of a sudden at the end you've got nothing left. We're a team where if we have energy, we can beat anybody. If we don't have energy, we can be beat by anybody. We can't put ourselves in a situation where we're playing some of these guys 38-39 minutes.

Ben did as good a job as you can on Shaq when you play him one-on-one. His defensive presence gave us the ability to shut down some of their other people.

Delfino really took advantage of his time. He's the one guy we have (on the bench) who can beat people off the bounce, off the dribble. He can create plays for himself and for other people.

He seems to be pretty effective and I think that he's a guy that has a chance to be an impact player in this league. He's still pretty young, learning things. But he plays with a lot of aggressiveness, which is something I love, guys who are aggressive as far as defensively. And he can make plays not only for himself but for other people.

That's the only negative the guys play so well sometimes it becomes too easy. But it's what I said before an obligation of entertaining, knowing that when you go into an arena, for some people that might be the only time they watch you play. As a professional you have an obligation to play at a high level it's almost like a rock band going on the road.

As I said in the locker room, people die to get to 50 (wins). To get to 60 is really something. Every win beyond that shows that you've been able to play at a pretty high level for a long time.

He looked like he was 21 when he was sophomore in high school. It does amaze me. I think it amazes a lot of people. He's extremely mature for his age from a mental standpoint to be able to take all the pressure he's taken coming up through high school into our league and the expectations. And not only take those expectations, but live up to them. That's shows a great sign of maturity.

You have to understand, we've played 82 games to get here 82 games of playoff-type basketball. People talk about the pressure of being the hunted. Well, we've been the hunted since we were 8-0. It's been like our opponents' Super Bowl every time they play us. I think the regular season prepared us for what's at hand.

He has his niche. Defensively, he's got that quick first step. He can take away that first move. And most times defensively, people get beat off the first move.

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.

We're trying to accomplish things. Playing a lot of people. Doing some things, playing some full-court pressure, play our bench. But always what happens, when you get in the heat of the battle, competitive juices flow, and our guys got juiced up a bit and really executed defensively and carried over the offensive end.

What the league is trying to do is understand that there are a lot of people, young kids, who look at us like we're going to the office.

Even when I got fired, I thought I could be part of the solution. I wasn't the problem. People make decisions, and like my dad said, 'Things always work out for a reason.' You never know why it happens, but things always work out for the best.

Their organization has always been very first-class. Opening night, sometimes they get really excited. Some of their people, they just really weren't quite thinking all the way.

Tony is in a good rhythm. We knew when he was available what he could bring to the team, and we knew he had the ability to score. I don't think everyone knew he could be effective at both perimeter scoring and going to the basket and creating for other people. Right now, he's kind of our instant offense off the bench.

I think everybody, when you're the top team, a lot of teams, everyone says they want you. I always say that usually when you speak out like that, usually it's the opposite. When you're saying you want something, usually you really don't want it. That's how it usually goes. The people that when they really want something usually you keep your mouth shut and hope that it happens and then take care of business. That's how it usually goes.

Everyone can get better. You can always get better rebounding-wise. The toughest thing in our league is, with the way the rules have changed from last year, where you have to contain people out on the perimeter, and you can't touch people. That's always something that's very difficult.

People have been talking about 35-5 and the Tigers a lot lately, but the reason that people remember it is that they won the championship. If we don't win the title, no one will remember that we were 35-5.

The thing you have to watch out for is if you sit a guy, and his leg gets weaker. We're not going to put him in a position where he's going to hurt his ankle more. People out there, they don't know how bad the ankle is. It's way too easy for everyone to say, Just sit him and not have him play.' But players work 82 games to get into a rhythm, to play well in the playoffs.

The defense turned it up, no question. Offensively, we turned things up. ... It was at both ends. That's why this has been a championship team. It was a fun game to watch. I'm sure the people at TNT got their money's worth.

It's about efficiency and how many points we're scoring per possession, not so much how you get them. It goes back to my egg theory. If it's hard on the outside, usually it's soft on the inside. Right now, people have been playing us soft on the outside and trying to protect the middle a little more. When teams start defending us harder on the outside, you will see us go back inside more.

We also are in the entertainment business. I've always been one to go out and win games but also entertain, and I think we've become a team now that a lot of people like to watch play, because we play extremely aggressive at both ends of the floor.