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
We understand that this next game is going to be the hardest one of the series.
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.
The Nets, since I've been here, are going to be judged by how you play in the playoffs. You win a lot of games in the regular season, we're still going to be judged by how you play in the playoffs. This is good, this is great, but we understand ultimately what's the big picture.
In the fourth quarter, we predominantly play through him. He's our leading scorer and he always takes the majority of the shots. A lot of people that don't watch us a lot throughout the year don't understand that's how we play.
There are about five or six teams that realistically have a chance of winning a championship. I definitely think we're one of them.
We were the last team to beat them in the Eastern Conference. We still have confidence against this team.
We would drive and kick it to guys with wide-open looks but couldn't get anything to fall. For the most part we played good defense, but you have to be near perfect on the defensive end to have a chance the way we were shooting.
You have to get it done in the playoffs before people talk about what you accomplished.
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.
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 can't do that (stuff) on the road. You can't get yourself down on the road and think you're going to get the benefit of the doubt on calls. You can't think that.
We've really struggled in the second quarter the last couple games. (Tonight) we did OK in the first quarter, but then their bench comes in and we struggle. I'm not sure why, but we have to figure it out.
This one has showed us that we've got everything going again and we're back in the groove.