Avery Johnson
Avery Johnson
Avery Johnsonis an American basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team. Johnson spent 16 years in the National Basketball Association as a player, and subsequently served as the head coach of two NBA teams: the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets. He led the Mavericks to their first NBA Finals appearance and to three consecutive 50+ win seasons. During his playing days, Johnson was known as the "Little General" for his...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth25 March 1969
CityNew Orleans, LA
Some of our players have made fun of our charge drill. But when you see them taking more charges in the game, it doesn't seem so silly.
My relationship with the players is very important. We think that's had a positive effect, so that when I do scream every now and then, they take it the right way.
The players challenged themselves to pick it up defensively. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight. We had a good team effort. We had a lot of contribution from a lot of different people.
You have great offensive players in this league who don't let anything bother them. Even when I played, you had supposedly great point guard defenders and they were supposed to get under your skin with their growl or their stare or how they would grab or hold you. There are things you can do on the court to try to take care of that. I've participated in that kind of stuff before. Just be physical.
When he's on his game and he's playing tough, hard-nosed defense and getting rebounds, getting some assists, guarding one of the better perimeter players and scoring, I'm a much better coach.
They have two really terrific players in Shaq and Wade.
It was a gutsy win. We were almost apologizing for being on the court in the first half. Then we got a little more physical. We tried to make some other players score (besides James) instead of letting them get from point A to point B with no resistance.
It's the way we play. More than assists, we want to make sure our players move. We're really a different team.
I was concerned about this game. Byron Scott has done as good a job as anybody in the league, and they have that team in playoff contention.
I thought this was a gutsy performance by our team. Cleveland really jumped out on us and put us in a big hole and our team responded in the second half. Our third quarter defense was pretty special.
I think we're better defensively and much more physical. We're a little bit more mature and a little bit more experienced and a little bit more tougher minded.
I think any of the teams at the top, I think they should have at least multiple people on it. I think with our situation, I would have liked to have seen Josh (Howard) or (Jason) Terry, just somebody else besides Dirk on it because I think they should be rewarded.
I think there's another level for us to go to. We did some good stuff. We did some bad stuff.
I thought we were a little more physical with them. We seemed like we were apologizing for being on the court in the first half.