Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Ray Billupsis an American retired professional basketball player who played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association. A star at the University of Colorado, he was selected third overall in the 1997 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. A five-time NBA All-Star and a three-time All-NBA selection, Billups played for the Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Clippers during his NBA career. He won the NBA Finals MVP in 2004...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth25 September 1976
CityDenver, CO
I'm just mad I missed those two free throws. We had a letdown against Cleveland, and we needed to turn that around. We couldn't let it continue.
I'm not sure what's wrong. They've been able to score points against us early. We give teams that freedom early on and when we try to play lock-down defense it's tough, because they've already got it going.
It was a good win for us. To come back, especially after a tough loss against Miami (Sunday) and playing a team that beat us a couple weeks ago. We came out focused today and took care of business.
Tay is their biggest problem playing against us. They put a big guy on him and his perimeter game is so good. They go small and he posts up. And he's not just a scorer, he makes plays down there and gets rebounds (eight Thursday). He's a match-up nightmare.
We talked about it in the locker room before the game, that this was the game we needed. We felt they hadn't been tested in this postseason, they hadn't played against a team like us that plays defense, believes in itself and tries to control the tempo of the game. Yesterday was a good game to show them that.
Now he knows what it will be like to come into this building. It's going to be long nights for him. That's how it is when you play against us.
It's just another game. They might look at it as something more than it really is. They had struggled against the good teams, and now they beat the best team in the league. So I am sure they are proud. They should be.
It's just always fun to play against this team and the other top teams in the league. That's really the only motivation you've got.
It seems like whenever the odds are against us like that, we always come out and respond.
It's going to be a good opportunity to play against the other best team in the league. It's always good and fun to have games like this.
It's a little more rewarding winning on the road because you're facing so much adversity. You've got 18- or 20,000 people rooting against you and all you've got is the team you're on and everyone on that bench. That's all you really have. It's a lot more fun to be at home, just to be in front of your own fans, but to win on the road is more rewarding.
I know I am looking forward to it because they are the 'other' best team in the league. Of course, you want to play against the best. We've gotten off to a great start, and so have they.
We love playing on the road. We love the idea of 14, 15, 18,000 people all being against you and being able to quiet the crowd. We love that. We feed off that.
Our whole focus is trying to get home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. We play every game focused on the big picture, not against our opponent that night.