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
We're not looking at anything like that right now.
You have great offensive players in this league who don't let anything bother them. Even when I played, you had supposedly great point guard defenders and they were supposed to get under your skin with their growl or their stare or how they would grab or hold you. There are things you can do on the court to try to take care of that. I've participated in that kind of stuff before. Just be physical.
This tragedy didn't hit Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It hit America.
Fifteen offensive rebounds...when did a Dallas team last do that. We put a lot of emphasis on that this year.
We obviously have been playing some pretty good basketball. We knew we were on a streak. In my mind you don't think it's ever going to come to an end. When it does it just doesn't feel good.
We were not very good for the first three-and-a-half quarters, but between the fourth quarter and overtime we outscored them, 41-22. There's something unique about this team.
We have guys watching all of the teams we can possibly play against, logging the miles, flying across the country. I think over-preparation is a good thing.
We're all disappointed with this loss. You have a team that has a lot of character and they are very competitive. We are just disappointed with the way we finished the game.
We put together a pretty decent game from start to finish. We had a few key contributors from Dirk and Devin finding Terry for those big shots to start the third. But again, we have a few things to work on.
We put out a lot of energy out there but it was a total team effort. It was a hard-fought overtime game and fortunately we came out on the winning end. They're tough when you lose them and they're tough when you win them.
We don't care how we win. We'll take it however we can get it.
This series is not over. We've been in that position (down 0-2) before and we have a lot of respect for what they do throughout the game and see why they are one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
The players challenged themselves to pick it up defensively. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight. We had a good team effort. We had a lot of contribution from a lot of different people.
We're trying to get people to realize that even though he doesn't play exactly like Elton Brand or Tim Duncan or Karl Malone, that's OK. His body's not built like those guys', but he still makes strong moves. And I don't know how much people are convinced of that yet. We hope he continues to get the respect.