Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Ray Billupsis an American retired professional basketball player who played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association. A star at the University of Colorado, he was selected third overall in the 1997 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. A five-time NBA All-Star and a three-time All-NBA selection, Billups played for the Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Clippers during his NBA career. He won the NBA Finals MVP in 2004...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth25 September 1976
CityDenver, CO
I wanted him to stay in. Just keep trying to make them. We were going to try and make sure we got stops on the other end. We have each others' back anyway.
I was just trying to play solid D, no reaching, no poking. When they switched off a big man, keep my hands up, try to front. Little stuff like that, but it didn't end up working.
I want to win the game, don't get me wrong. But mostly, I am just trying to stay healthy. That's the most important thing right now; that and trying to lock up that home-court advantage.
He took himself out, but I wanted him to stay in. I wanted him to keep trying to make them. We'd get the stops on the other end. We've got each other's backs.
They live and die with their three-point shot; they got a lot of great three-point shooters. We're just trying to run them off that line -- either go to the rack or shoot mid-range shots. Because we know if they get it cooking from that three-point line, you could give yourself a long night.
For me, it was like, whatever happens, just let it happen. I was tired of it. We was holding out hope that he would be back, but what can you do? I wish all that wasn't circulating when we was trying to win a championship, you know what I'm saying, if it had just happened at the end of the season, but it didn't really affect us.
It's nothing. Nothing really, just trying to win.
It feels great to get some rest. We worked hard for that and we're going to cherish that right now, even if that means losing a few games, you know what I'm saying? We're all trying to get rest and the guys that are out there are trying to stay healthy more than anything. I mean, so what? We did what we've had to do so far.
That was one of our goals. That and trying to get home court all the way through. So it was important.
It was just another game for us. We're just trying to win every game we can to gain home court through the playoffs.
He's a good friend of mine. When Larry took that job, he called me like six times in two days.
It takes a while -- a long time, because we have so many different sets, options. It's not just the regular old sets that every NBA team runs. We run a lot of stuff. It's kind of complicated.
I don't think so. It's going to be a long time before we even possibly see each other (in the conference finals), and even if we do, our records will be 0-0.
I just wish that we had something where like after the game I got to talk about what happened down the stretch, why I did this or that. I wish we had something where the refs had to do it and explain what happened and why they did this and that. It just ain't fair, man.