Richard Jefferson Quotes (90 Quotes)

He's extremely healthy. He's the best player in the history of this franchise. Everything that we've accomplished starts with him. We need him to be the dominant point guard that he always has been over his career in order for us to succeed.

Nobody gets hurt. And play hard.

Just because he had an off night when all eyes were on our team doesn't mean that we have to question what we do and what we did to get here.

He came up with the idea to go small. Bosh posts up, but he likes to shoot jumpers, and we were able to take that away from him. You need to crowd and use your quickness on him.

My first three years here is all about team and having lots of players around me. So you had to learn how to maximize your few opportunities. I was never a volume shooter. You look at my second or third year, I shot about 50 percent from the floor.

Mike is such a great player, such a clutch player. I joke with him, because he doesn't jump very high and he's not very fast, yet he's still one of the most effective guys in the NBA because he's so intelligent. He knows the game, and he knows what it takes to get it done.

We didn't really shoot the ball very well as a team. When you attack the basket and try to get to the free-throw line, that's something that can kind of help you out. When you're not hitting shots and you continue to get to the basket and get easy buckets, that's something that we try to do.

I was teasing him in the guts of the game. Hey, are you going to make a shot That's the way we are as a group. We have so much confidence in each other, there is no need to get on anybody.

My situation was pretty easy. My high school is a Nike school I went the University of Arizona. It's not like it was bad choice, or I went there just because it was a Nike school. North Carolina, Duke, Arizona and Kentucky are all Nike schools, so if you are going to a top program, most of them are Nike.

It was just like the good old days. When I'm out there running, then that's when I'm playing my best. It felt so good out there. We showed that we still have the ability to get out there.

You can't make excuses for missing a player. They just wanted it more and they were more aggressive.

Our offense was not where it should have been, and you have to give them credit. Tonight, we weren't at the top of our game, and they took advantage of that.

We've really struggled in the second quarter the last couple games. (Tonight) we did OK in the first quarter, but then their bench comes in and we struggle. I'm not sure why, but we have to figure it out.

I was just trying to joke and be myself. Tom is always crazy and I like to joke around. That's one of the good things about this school. You were able to be your own person and put in your own personality and yet you were part of a team.

Opinions, right or wrong, aren't going to help or hurt the situation. They are what they are. (NBA commissioner) David Stern will do something and you have to live with it.

It's big. We want to get home court. Detroit has separated themselves from the rest of the league. We can't get Detroit, so let's get the other. It's not too far-fetched.

If we win, no matter what, (at least) it's coming back to Jersey. If they win, they have a chance to finish it off (in Indianapolis) and their crowd and everything is going to be in their favor. (Tonight is) a very pivotal game.

Do we get an advantage if we're 3-1 Mental advantage my butt. I'd rather give them the mental advantage and we have home-court.

He took control. He did what he wanted, on the pick-and-roll, he got to wherever he wanted, he found open guys, he got to the basket. He got to the free throw line. I think that's what really got his game going.

In the past, a few years ago, it might have been cool beating them. But now it is just another game.

The preseason served its purpose, ... I know guys like to complain about the preseason games, but they would really complain if we didn't have them.

Our offense failed us. A lot of the decision-making.

There's a lot of balance. Vince really set the tone attacking. Curly was a force down low. J-Kidd, 15 assists, that's unbelievable.

I try and get him to shoot more threes. That's his next step. They're right there. You can't not shoot 18-footers like that and not be able to hit some threes. It's just a matter of getting an opportunity.

You try to make it difficult, but he's going to shoot more than anybody else in the league. You try to defend him so he doesn't go for 50 or more. If he gets 40, that's his average, basically.

There are five or six teams that can make it to the end. Nothing's changed.

You can do that because you won the first game. Just wait until after Game 2.

I felt good. It was a little tight and a little sore, but it felt good being out on the floor.

You give them credit. They played good defense. Some shots didn't fall down for us. Fortunately, it's not the best-of-1.

I do care about getting that All-Star respect. I would love to be an All-Star. I am playing with the best point guard. So a lot of times, playing with him, sometimes it is the quarterback or the receiver that is the All-Star. Hopefully at some point in my career I will be able to prove that I am one of the better small forwards in the league.

They have an unbelievable crowd here. But for us, it was, 'OK, they hit a few shots, let's calm down. We felt confident and it worked for us in the end.

Our expectations are high. But we're just like a lot of teams at this time of the year. We're going to try to win 16 games.

Some nights, things just click. It's a combination of good defense. But they also had some good looks. They had some shots that they normally hit. You combine that with good defense and it was just a tough night (for Phoenix).

There is no doubt about it, both teams pride themselves on defense. It's not going to be a high-scoring game. It's going to be that type of series.

We were a team that could turn it on and off. People say you can't do it, but we were that team. I'm not saying it was often, but something wasn't clicking. Our chemistry wasn't right. But when things got changed up, things changed a little more.

In the fourth quarter, we predominantly play through him. He's our leading scorer and he always takes the majority of the shots. A lot of people that don't watch us a lot throughout the year don't understand that's how we play.

He understands what the coaches want, understands different people's game and he really understands his own ability. He's a lot more aggressive.

We knew we had the ability to beat good teams on their floor. So we knew if we could just establish some consistency (at home) we could string together some wins.

We don't concern ourselves with what other teams are doing. Because if you worry about who's winning, who's losing, trying to do all this math, sometimes you can get caught up in all that.

It is huge. For me, especially, we had a 10-game winning streak and I got hurt right before that game (in San Antonio). I wasn't able to play. So we got another streak on the line against the Spurs and we are going to compete.