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
I think they've come down to Earth a little bit after a fast start, but they're still, I would say, the best team in the NBA. But we're a confident group here. I don't think there's a situation that we go into and don't believe we can win.
My situation was pretty easy. My high school is a Nike school; I went the University of Arizona. It's not like it was bad choice, or I went there just because it was a Nike school. North Carolina, Duke, Arizona and Kentucky are all Nike schools, so if you are going to a top program, most of them are Nike.
It would have made things a lot easier on Vince (Carter).
Right now, the team is struggling, I've struggled. And I think it's a direct correlation.
Realistically, I haven't played well since I came back. Nobody plays perfect in this league but I haven't played a good game since I got back. Tonight it was turnovers and missed free throws. I need to figure this out if I'm going to help our team.
Our expectations are high. But we're just like a lot of teams at this time of the year. We're going to try to win 16 games.
Opinions, right or wrong, aren't going to help or hurt the situation. They are what they are. (NBA commissioner) David Stern will do something and you have to live with it.
We had plenty of good looks, especially close around the bucket. We missed some easy shots.
Bosh posts up, but he likes to shoot jumpers, and we were able to take that away from him. You need to crowd and use your quickness on him.
Everybody was to blame. You have a chance to win on the road, and the last 10 possessions, you don't get many stops. That's what it comes down to. Forget everything that happened the first 40 minutes of the game. The last 10, 15 possessions, that really determines how this game adds up.
You got to want it more than them. When the ball got loose, I thought I might have gotten fouled but I am not going to look around, I am not going to complain. I am going to grab that ball and keep going until they call it. We had more of that tonight.
You give them credit. They played good defense. Some shots didn't fall down for us. Fortunately, it's not the best-of-1.
This one has showed us that we've got everything going again and we're back in the groove.
Vince is our primary scorer and that's his role. When he goes down, it's not a surprise that we score with a lot of crazy shots or play out of our heads. We're just going out there and playing aggressively and good things are happening.