Emeka Okafor
Emeka Okafor
Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi "Emeka" Okaforis an American professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. Prior to the National Basketball Association, Okafor attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas and the University of Connecticut...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth28 September 1982
CityHouston, TX
ball hard playing run
At times they were playing so long out there. Ostertag (7-foot and 280 pounds) is just hard to move. Once you run around him, he's already got the ball in his hands.
arm hard might move pick problem spin tape taught teach time watch
The things Hakeem does, you can't just watch a tape and pick up the move. This was the first time he taught it, and it's hard to teach someone else something you did so naturally. The problem was, if you do something minutely off -- even the way you spin or the way your arm might come out -- he'd have to say, 'No, that's not the move. The move is this.' And you have to do it precisely.
act ball competitor fighting front fun hard obviously player playing situation teammates wants
I'm obviously disappointed. The player in me, the competitor in me wants to be out there with my teammates fighting hard and out there having fun playing ball in front of our fans. But the situation is what the situation is. You have to act accordingly.
game good last record start winning year
We've got a winning record -- hooray! We're getting off to a good start this year. Last year we would have come back in the game and then lost.
april carry game good great job keeping talent
I think he understands what great talent we have, but he's doing a good job keeping us grounded. The ranking is not going to carry us to the championship game on April 5. We have to live up to it.
crazy point
To be at the point I am right now is just crazy to me,
basketball questioned whether
After that first day I questioned whether or not basketball was for me.
challenges fact mobile pump
I like challenges. The fact that he's 7-feet, a completely mobile guy, it's going to pump me up.
athletic guards men steals
You think of guards getting steals and big men getting blocks. But Gerald is such an athletic creature, you see how he does both.
almost envisioned million position seemed
It seemed almost surreal. I'd envisioned myself in this position a million times, and yet it didn't feel like it was really happening.
focus lose seem
We just lose focus or whatever. We play with emotion, but sometimes we seem to get into lulls.
apart defensive early fell found game losses played positives taking
We had some defensive lapses early in the game and then we found a way to get back into the game. Then we fell apart at the end. We played hard, but I'm not big on taking positives from losses like this.
everybody good happy
This place is incredible. I'm just happy we have a place that everybody likes. The other place was not good at all.
warm
It made me feel real special, all warm inside,