Richard Jefferson
Richard Jefferson
Richard Allen Jeffersonis an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. He was a member of the United States men's national basketball team at the 2003 Tournament of the Americas and the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, and won the NBA championship as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth21 June 1980
CityLos Angeles, CA
CountryUnited States of America
Our second quarter we've really struggled the last few games. I don't know what's going on with that or why we've struggled. We have to figure it out. We had some success in that first quarter (in Minnesota), but again, we went away from it.
When it came to scoring, which a lot of people have problems with, I really let him take that role. I took that secondary stuff.
I got it going in the second half. I just tried to keep playing through my teammates. They found me on some good looks. Honestly, our whole team had it going in the second half.
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.
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.
In the first half, especially the second quarter, we were not playing D the way we needed to.
There's a lot of ups and downs to every playoff series. We didn't really get dominated. It was a game that was back and forth. They got (a questionable foul) call with 0.9 seconds to go that put them on the free throw line. That was the difference in the game, 0.9 seconds. So we weren't that far off.
Maybe the 1 o'clock start helped us. Dirk and those guys didn't wake up until the second half.
I was a defensive specialist ... I had to guard whoever Gilbert was supposed to be guarding, too. I'm telling you, Gilbert did not play defense.
It is better. It is more a stiff back, it is not spasms anymore.
I say we can work. We won the division pretty easily. We had some pretty good stretches where we proved our dominance. I wouldn't even say I had a great year.
I remember when I first got here, everyone was all excited about winning the division. Now it's kind of like you don't even see that many smiles. It's kind of like this is a part of it, where you expect to be.
I remember when I first got here, everybody was all excited about the division. Now it's like you don't even see that many smiles. This is a team (that) will be judged by what we do in the playoffs.
I still have a lot of respect for him.