On effort last night:

Well I looked at it, it's four minutes left in the third quarter and it was a tie score, so at least at that point we still had effort, you know what I mean? We didn't sustain our play; we missed a lot of open shots. I don't think it had a lot to do with effort last night. I thought the last five minutes did when we were down 16 and you could see us giving in, but up until that point I thought our effort was very good. I thought our execution wasn't great as far as making open shots and some of our defensive execution, but I didn't think it was an effort issue. I think it's an easy thing now when we don't win [to say] it was effort."

Challenge of coaching this team:

In some ways it's very enjoyable. I know it sounds crazy because it's a group that you've had to like get your hands dirty. I mean, really, you've had to dive into this group, and you know, push buttons, and get on different guys that you never thought you would have to. In some ways it's been very difficult but in some ways it's been a joyous challenge, I guess you could say. This is a very challenging year. I'm excited by it, in a crazy way I am. I think if we can get this right it will be an unbelievable challenge and if you get it right it will be an unbelievable feeling at the end because you had to do it.

Injuries to team holding them back:

We're not injured anymore, and that's the point I'm making with our group. Enough with the injuries. It absolutely side-tracked us. There's no doubt about it. I would make the case that if we had no injuries that 25-5 stretch would have continued. But it didn't. Guys had to change their roles. We were asking guys who didn't score a lot to score, and now they have to change their roles back. It throws your team off. And then the guys that we're trying to go back to aren't scoring yet, you know, but you still have to get them back there, and you have to go through those pains. But I don't worry about the past with our veterans. Whether they know how to win or not, we have to figure out how to win with this group. Your past success has no guarantee on what you're going to do in the future. This is a new group together and we have to figure out how to win with this group. It doesn't matter what the experience is.

Marquis Daniels production being down.

He has to play better- point blank. He has to play better. He has to play harder, and he has to play better. Marquis has it in him and he knows that. I've told him that. And I expect that of him. He's a role player that we need his energy every single night. He can't afford to ease his way into games- he's too talented to do that. And he's not going to play but that 20 minutes, so when he comes in the game we need him to be a factor. With Nate trying to figure out his role, Marquis probably doesn't get it enough on the post as much as he should, and we've talked about this as well. But you have to go get it too.

Does Rasheed Wallace fall into that same category as a guy who needs to play better?

Yes, absolutely.