Here’s Wizards coach Eddie Jordan, talking about his team’s first round playoff series against the Cavaliers, who lead the series 3 games to 2.
Eddie Jordan on playing without Gilbert Arenas in Game Five:
“Our guys responded well. I felt that we got better as the game went along. We took care of the ball in the second half. We withstood their run and we withstood their crowd. It was a great effort and we got it done.”
On sustaining momentum:
“We have to keep the momentum. It’s how you play and how you execute. It’s how you rebound. You can’t allow them to have highlight plays. Now we have to stay poised. We want to keep attacking and playing defense well and keep our offense going.”
On winning a close game:
“It was great. Finally, we got one. It’s what we had talked about. They hadn’t missed (in that type of situation). Whether it was someone in the corner, or somebody at the top, or LeBron (James)…over the years, we hadn’t experienced a miss. Hopefully, we can play better defense so he doesn’t get to that point again.”
On the game plan without Gilbert Arenas:
“It’s a different flow for us. We had the highest scoring trio in the league when Gilbert was playing and healthy. We were the best team in the Eastern Conference (last season with Arenas). Now there will be a lot more post-ups. We try to get more pick-and-rolls for our big guys and for Antonio Daniels to get to the basket. We depend on our jump shot last. We try to get Caron (Butler) his opportunities in his sweet spots at the top of the key and off the pick-and-rolls. He wouldn’t have those volumes of opportunities if Gilbert was here because Gilbert has those great drives and great threes.”
More on the team:
“We are trusting the defense and trusting the offense, as opposed to doing too much. We said from the beginning that we have to channel all this emotion, anticipation, excitement and bravado. We said from the beginning of the series that we need to channel that into being organized and it’s finally happening for us.”
prominent local clergyman irate over the three-fingered salute. “I don’t want to take the focus away from the playoffs. In sports, emotions run high and playing 10 years in Boston, I think Celtics fans know I am a passionate player. I 100 percent do not in any way promote gang violence or anything close to it,” Pierce said in a statement released prior to last night’s showdown against the Atlanta Hawks at TD Banknorth Garden… The hand signal – in which he maneuvered his right index finger and thumb into a circle and raised his three other fingers together – is consistent with a gang sign used by the Piru Blood in Pierce’s hometown of Inglewood, Calif. It’s also similar to the “three’s up” or “B” hand symbol used by Boston teens to represent the Hub.
response. “I think he will be the leader we need to set things straight and hold everyone accountable.” … “My second half of the year was great,” Bogut said in a season-ending interview. “My first half was definitely disappointing. I think my second half, I forgot about all the off-court distractions and all the things that were bothering me my first two years. “I just went out there and played hard. Obviously, you’re going to have bad games. You probably have five or 10 bad games in an NBA season. If I can limit it to five next year, I’ll be very happy with that. These last 20 games, it was tough going out there, knowing the games were kind of pointless in a way. I used these as motivation to prove myself, that I could definitely be a focal point of the offense and be a team guy first.”