Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson
Allen Ezail Iversonis an American retired professional basketball player who played for 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association. He played both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iverson was an eleven-time NBA All-Star, won the All-Star game MVP award in 2001 and 2005, and was the NBA's Most Valuable Playerin 2001...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth7 June 1975
CityHampton, VA
CountryUnited States of America
When you get down like that, you use up so much energy to get back into the basketball game. Then you have to be perfect the rest of the way. And playing this game, there is no way you can be perfect, because this game is so hard.
We've got to come out the same way we come out in the second half, ... We've got to start the game with some sense of urgency. Once teams start hitting shots and get a read on us, it's gonna put our backs against the wall. That's something we need to be concerned about.
To me it's like starting all over, ... If you've watched any of the games I've played at the point guard position, it's honestly hard for other teams to stop it, because I'm putting pressure on guys. We don't always have to come down and rely on getting points off a set offense. We get a chance to run up and down the court and get a lot of easy baskets.
Every game is important for us. We didn't act like it tonight.
We had a real good meeting before the game in New York and I think it helped us out be-cause it got us focusing on what we need to do as a basketball team. I look at the stats and see that they still shot 50 percent and they almost scored 100 points and that's not something we want to give up. That's something we've got to look at as negative even though we got a win and try to improve on that.
When you rebound the ball we're able to move the ball, and we want to get out and run, try to get guys some easy baskets. We don't want to come out and play a half-court game all the time.
We just got whipped from the beginning of the game to the end. They were making shots, they executed well both offensively and defensively. They just played real well tonight.
We just got whipped from the beginning of the game to the end. They did everything right and we did nothing right.
I got us off to a bad start from the beginning of the game. The magnitude of the game and being in so many games like that, for me to be the one to act like I had never been in a game like that is unacceptable. I fully take responsibility for this one.
It felt like it was the first game of the season. It was just fun to be back out there and be in the environment and playing with my team and trying to help.
I think it would have been good if we could have played all pre-season games together. It will be something we'll have to deal with, something we'll have to fight through.
That's what it is all about, coming in and playing a game like it is your last. That's what we did. We fought on the defensive end, we fought trying to get rebounds, and we let the offense take care of itself.
Just getting back into the game and making it a game is all heart. It feels bad, though, because we don't give that effort in the beginning and then we start showing the heart when we're about to get blown out. You have to play like that in the beginning and get stronger as the game goes on.
My shot felt good from the beginning of the game to the end.