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 came up short. They got to the free throw line more and they were the aggressors and they deserved the win. We had too many lethargic situations tonight and I need to address that.
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.
It was a gutsy win for us tonight. That's a scrappy team over there. They've been playing some very good basketball and we don't take anything for granted. (Stackhouse) stepped up tonight and I thought Devin really came on and gave us a big lift in overtime.
They had a great start to the game. They came out and really tried to throw a knockout punch on us. Fortunately, we were able to withstand it, come back and get our defense set and play some pretty good defense against a high-scoring team in the second, third and fourth quarters.
I thought Diop did well with limited minutes ... and I thought Dampier came out and contributed off the bench.
Jason came out firing, man. That's the Jason Terry that I see. I sleep good at night when he shoots the ball. I know he's not going to make every shot, but when he's aggressive to score that's one of the ways I sleep good. I don't elbow my wife when he shoots like that, so I hope he continues to do that so I can sleep good.
He was one of the first coaches that came in and started talking about winning a championship and winning it with defense and don't even make apologies about it. Don't blink. Don't even blink when you talk about it. That's the goal. Don't be ashamed about it, otherwise you're just selling tickets.
We just made a few shots and got going pretty well. I'm happy with our hustle, I'm happy with our play, but we're not world beaters.
We just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. We're still firm that they're not going to come back until they're ready. And they're not ready. We probably won't have them back in the next game or two.
We just had to make some points about it. We've got to play our best basketball to win Game 1.
We were lethargic physically and mentally. We didn't show up. We didn't have that juice that we normally have off the bench.
We won it with our defense, which gave me some ammunition. We didn't score much in the fourth quarter, but neither did they. To hold them to 18 points, that's the only way we could win.
We got so much going on around here, I don't look at that.
We are trying to win a championship. But we're in the first year of implementing a program.