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
You always worry about what adjustments they might make. We thought they might change their lineup the last game. You just never know.
We have big goals, but it's no small feat. I don't think anyone before the season thought we were a 60-win team.
That was pretty much a complete game. I'm really proud of the way we battled. We played a tough, hard-nosed game.
That was one of the reasons why we won that first quarter, ... Doug was running the offense a lot of the time, and his on-the-ball defense is always good.
That's the key, play at our tempo. We don't play as fast as we used to, but we're at our best when we get out in transition. That's what we want to do when we get a chance. That's when we feel pretty comfortable.
I wasn't trying to rally the team by getting ejected. I think it was more just a difference of opinion. We were dealing with things the whole game, and we thought that we had a legitimate beef with the way they were playing Dirk. I guess we were wrong.
Marshall was outstanding tonight because he really competed at a high level. He had to play point guard for almost three quarters and that is not his natural position. We are really excited about what we did in the regular season.
I think I'm gifted to do what I'm doing, that this is what I'm here for. I felt like a coach when I was a player. ... In a lot of ways, I know some things are still new to me. But in other ways, I just feel like I've been doing this a lot of time, and a lot of it just comes naturally.
I think I'm gifted to do what I'm doing, that this is what I'm here for.
You just play it out, because you're just trying to win as many games as you can. Wherever you land in the playoffs, you've got to go out and play anyway. I just couldn't see myself doing anything but giving 1,000 percent on the sideline.
We couldn't get any space between us and them, and they didn't quit. And then we could only make five of our last eight free throws. Just a very disappointing night.
We feel fortunate to get out of here with a victory. Both teams played awesome defense. I don't know if we win this game in the past. Now, we're a different team.
We played a very small stretch of decent basketball out of a 48-minute game. We've been defending the 3-pointer pretty well this year, but it didn't happen tonight. We pretty much know where we're going to finish now (the No. 4 seed).
I sure hope we're different. We seem to have been playing more physical basketball on the defensive end. Again, that was just one of those special games, the guy got on fire and obviously, since that's happened, we're not the team he's scored the most points against.