Richard Jefferson
Richard Jefferson
Richard Allen Jeffersonis an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. He was a member of the United States men's national basketball team at the 2003 Tournament of the Americas and the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, and won the NBA championship as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth21 June 1980
CityLos Angeles, CA
CountryUnited States of America
It was a good win. We struggled a little bit when we got the lead. We were able to withstand their run and we were okay.
Everybody's surprised. There's guys, not naming anybody, that won't sniff the playoffs, that are 15 games under .500, that are playing in the game. But it is an All-Star Game. It's an individual performance game. Very rarely do team players get rewarded. He's probably the best team player in the game.
The ball was moving, to tell you the truth. It was drive, drive, pass, pass and then somebody had an open shot and we just knocked them down.
I try and get him to shoot more threes. That's his next step. They're right there. You can't not shoot 18-footers like that and not be able to hit some threes. It's just a matter of getting an opportunity.
It's always your move next. What are you going to do to make an adjustment to our counter? What are you going to do now that we have played this type of lineup? It's all about trying to find an advantage, especially with two evenly matched teams.
It's a nice stretch against very good teams. So it's going to be a tough stretch for us.
I tried to get my career high. J-Kidd, he was more going for NBA history. I'm going for personal history. NBA history is another thing.
We've spoiled people early. We could win the rest of our games, but we're going to be judged by how we play in the playoffs. This is good. This is great. But we understand that's how we're going to be judged.
We've shown improvement and I believe our schedule gets a little more favorable. If we keep everybody healthy, I believe we can (win 50). I think we're going to be a team that makes a real good push. Sometimes, people forget about what we can do.
There is no doubt about it, both teams pride themselves on defense. It's not going to be a high-scoring game. It's going to be that type of series.
When your defense falls, sometimes your offense can be part of the problem. We were taking some questionable shots that were leading to easy transition baskets on their end.
There are five or six teams that realistically have a chance to win the championship, and I definitely believe we're one of them.
There are five or six teams that can make it to the end. Nothing's changed.
We won the division (this way). You lose a game and have a bad shooting night and people question what you were doing. This is a guy who's an All-Star and has done so many things throughout the season there's no need to question it now.