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
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.
Our team is not playing enough of a 48-minute game and that's the disappointing thing. We know it's tough to win road games. This was a hot team team we were playing, give them credit. But you can't play 18-20 minutes of a second half and expect to beat any NBA team.
We thought our defense and offense was good in the first half, but in the second we struggled. We had one turnover in the first and 10 in the second half. That is something we will take a look at.
We struggled to guard Yao in the first half, but we made some adjustments and were much more physical in the second half. We were fortunate enough to hold him down then.
We are fortunate to get out of here with a victory. Both teams played some really awesome defense and we just couldn't get our offense in gear in the second half. This is another game that we proved to ourselves that we can win basketball games with our defense. I don't know if we would have won this game in the past. Now we are a different team.
We're disappointed with the way we finished the game. Our defense wasn't very good tonight. We gave up 65 points in the second half. We had a lot of things go wrong defensively.
We had to get more physical on him in the second half.
It's about having a second chance, ... There are a lot of people in there that survived. So you try to let them know that they survived for a reason and you still have a lot to give this country. And if you end up staying in the Dallas-Fort Worth community, you have a chance to be an asset to our community.
They made a run. They're a very good basketball team. The second half, they got it within two, and we just suggested 'stay tough-minded.' And we were able to get somewhat of a cushion.
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 our best performance of the series.
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.