Stephen Jackson Quotes (57 Quotes)

It's amazing. We're out there playing basketball, playing hard on both ends and sometimes games get real physical. It's a part of the game. We could have played a lot better. It's definitely hard for us to win when me and Jermaine are in foul trouble.

We feel like we have a lot to prove, ... But not to the world, to ourselves. We know we're better than the way we played last year.

A lot of the guys who are wearing chains are my age and are black, ... I wore all my jewelry today to let it be known that I'm upset with it. It's one thing to have a dress code and it's another thing if you're attacking cultures.

I've never taken that many shots in a game. I know what it feels like to miss all those shots, though.

He's a big kid, and he is so misunderstood. He's not a wild guy at all. He's not a thug. He's not some ignorant guy. He's a great person.

Nobody can make excuses now. We have everybody back. It's time to go to work and play like we know how.

It's a situation we've been dealing with the last two years, not having our whole team. Guys have been in and out of the rotation. This says a lot about this team.

My attitude wasn't to go into the stands to hurt nobody. My attitude was to help my teammate. It just happened to be a situation that I had to throw some punches.

Miami is still a tough team without Shaq, and Wade proved that. We had to grind it out in the end to get the win. It's big for us because we know they will be there in the end. Having home court advantage really helps us out.

Jackson, who will back up Reggie Miller , admits there were plenty of times last season when he wished he had taken San Antonio's offer. He knows he could have blown out a knee in Atlanta. But he also says the urgency of the situation helped bring out the best in him. I've been living on the edge all my life, from coming out of high school early, not having any test scores, not being able to go to college, ... I'm definitely a risk-taker. Like I always say, when pressure comes I make love to it.

I miss Reggie he did a lot for this team, a lot for this organization, a lot for this city. But it's a new time, a new uniform and a new year,

I appreciate the time I spent with the Spurs. I learned a great deal playing with guys like Tim Duncan and David Robinson and I hope to bring those same experiences to Atlanta.

Considering everything we are going through right now, we needed this game. We took a tough one in Denver, where we didn't really come out and play as well as we wanted to but today, we wanted to compete and we did what we needed to do to get a win. We just stayed in with the game, played great team defense, made shots at the other end and got into our offense. We were able to get the shots we wanted.

I'm not trying to replace Reggie because that would be something that's impossible, ... All I can do is come here and do my job and make it seem like he's not missed.

It was a big game for us. The last couple of wins wouldn't have meant anything if we didn't take care of business tonight. We knew we had to come out and match their intensity.

It's not the first time we've been dealing with it.

It's a new year, a new look, a new beginning. We're trying to keep out all the bad news from last year and trying to win a championship. What better way to start out than with new uniforms It's exciting for us.

We shared the ball and it's not just one person getting into a rhythm, it's four or five guys. The game speeds up a little bit. But at the same time, we're like eight times better with (O'Neal) because it gives us the best of both worlds. It's a little faster, but he makes our job a lot easier.

I just didn't want to foul him. I wanted to make him make a tough shot. I thought I did my job - he just did his better.

He hit a tough shot. I actually thought I fouled him a little. I don't think it should have came down to that.

He was aggressive. He didn't let the referees get in his head, he just played well. He's getting a feel for the game.

I continue to get in his ear and let him know that he's unstoppable. I get in his ear and let him know he's our franchise guy. As well as he plays, the better chance we have at winning. I continue to give him that confidence. When he has monstrous games like he had (Thursday), it's going to be hard to beat us. He is a dominant player and I want him to continue to play like that.

The motivation of having J.O. back with us was a lift. Even if J.O. didn't come out and get 30 tonight, just his presence was big. He's our leader, he's an All-Star.

That means a lot of guys are dedicated and not taking too much time off during the summer and getting ready for next year.

I'm getting a lot more touches now. I just try to make plays for my team. I have to be more aggressive because I can score and I'll also get shots for other people. That's a big part of it.

Vince is one of those guys, you can't stop him, but you just hope you can make him take some tough shots and hope he has an off night. I'm going to make him work for everything out there. And hopefully, I can get away with a couple of fouls.

As far as being a leader, I think we all have to pick it up, ... One person can't replace Reggie, we just all have to be leaders on the court. We have to help each other as much as we can.

He's not here. We're not worrying about where he's going ... We've got a job to do. I think we're worrying about these 12, 15 guys coming out and playing together trying to gain some kind of relationship on and off the court so we can get this thing done the right way.

The shot felt good when it left my hand.

This team has too many great guys and good professionals to go through so much negativity. As my friend, I would still love for him to be here, but I don't miss the negativity. Being around a positive environment, everybody plays better and everybody works better.

It shows a lot of things. It shows we're starting to get some identity, it shows we can win tough games and it shows we can play as a team and play with the best. We just have to go out there and compete.

Once he starts playing basketball and continues to play how he's been playing, a lot of the negativity will soon blow away.

That was the shot we wanted. It felt good. When it left my hands I thought it was going in. Things just didn't go our way tonight.

People don't understand that a lot of stuff he's done and the reason he plays so hard and is so hungry is because he wants to be great. I think a lot of time Ron gets frustrated because he knows he's better than what he's been playing. He wants to be the best player in the game. That's what drives him, that's what motivates him.

I'm at the point where pushing it is making it worse. I've been pushing it for so long that it's easier to sprain every game. I've sprained it in seven of the last 10 games. I'm going to take a game off and try to let it heal a little bit and try to be ready for (Tuesday's game at Chicago).

I've heard of some trades, but none of them have probably been true. I've talked to Ron, but it really hasn't been on my mind. I wish him the best and hope for the best for this team.

The shots we got were within our offense and they were good looks, but we just weren't knocking them down. We got a lot of open shots that we missed.

It's hard when both of us are in foul trouble. If one of us is in foul trouble, the other can play but, when both of us are out, it's hard.

He's getting healthy, that's what it is. His attitude has always been great, he's always been a leader. He's getting back to his All-Star caliber game. Everybody knew when he got healthy he'd be playing like this. We're just happy to have him back.

I was 0-for-infinity. I just wanted to make a shot. We knew they'd switch. I went backdoor and got to the basket. My teammates showed confidence in me to give me the ball. It seemed like I hadn't made a shot all game.

We desperately need the win. We've been an up and down team all year. I know we cane stay consistent. We have made a lot of excuses. Tonight we kept playing hard and stayed aggressive. We still have a lot to improve on the last five games and hopefully have momentum heading into the playoffs.

I just think that's attacking young, black males. The part about wearing suits, I think we should dress up. A lot of guys have gotten sloppy with the way they dress and I have no problem with that. But the chains, that's going a little too far.

I was trying to get the last shot, that's what Rick (Carlisle) told me. That was my main focus. But A.J. (Johnson) made a heads-up play. His man (Gordon) got caught sleeping and he made a back-door play.

Carmelo is a big-time player and he hit a big-time shot. We had a slow start and got back into it. We gave ourselves a chance to win, which is all you can ask for. ... But it came down to a big shot at the end and he hit it.

We have to make better decisions on holding leads. We get a lead in another team's building, then give up the lead. It's hard to get it back, no matter who you're playing. We have to learn how to get a lead and blow somebody out. We haven't done that in a while.

We kept playing. We didn't do what we normally do and that's clock watch.

It's hard to maintain in high school unless you have your own feeder system. We have a lot of kids going to Academic Magnet or who choose to go to Bishop England. The next few years, we could do well, but the key is to keep getting the kids in.

We couldn't hit shots. That's what it all boiled down to. It was very frustrating, but at the same time, we got the looks.

I have no problem dressing up . . . because I know I'm a nice-looking guy. But as far as chains, I definitely feel that's a racial statement. Almost 100 of the guys in the league who are young and black wear big chains. So I definitely don't agree with that at all.

It's no buzzer beater, but we did win the game. I'm glad I made it because I didn't make a shot all night.