Joe came up big again tonight. You have to tip your cap to him, he made the biggest shot of the night.

Joe is the description of what they're looking for. When you're putting a team together you're looking for guys who can do a little bit of everything. You want guys that can score, handle the ball, pass, defend and make shots in the open court. Joe can do all of those things.

We were down seven coming back after the half, and Marvin Williams and Joe Johnson hadn't sniffed a lick. You figure if you got those two guys going we've got a legitimate shot, but we just fell in the tank in the third quarter.

We have played better than we did tonight. Unfortunately, it's the biggest game of the year.

What I've been very impressed with -- and I think you need to give a tip of the cap to Lloyd McClendon and [his] staff here -- is that they played the game every time for 27 outs, ... They played with energy. They played hard. There's no question about that. That's a hell of a starting point.

The young guys stepped up. Josh Smith made two big shots. He missed a couple and then he stepped up and made the big plays when we needed them. It was a team effort all the way across the board. It's fun playing games like this when you have a chance to win.