Lamar Odom

I hope I can keep it going and take it into the playoffs. I'm staying focused throughout the game. I'm trying to do the little things I need to do to win games.

I got home, and my son told me how much he loved watching Kobe. We're playing with somebody who's making history as he goes along. It's like traveling with a rock star.

That's going to be his place in history. Right now, he's really focused and feels like it's his league. Before the 81 points, Kobe should have been getting his due as far as the MVP.

Kobe, he has really strong will. When he's in the zone like that, he's definitely on an island by himself.

It could have been called a foul. But if it's not, I guess that means I just didn't go hard enough. I thought it was a tough move.

This is a big road trip for us. We want to go in there tonight, and it'd be a good time to play your best game of the year so we could keep it going a little bit.

He's very patient, ... He takes his time with us. He's what you call a team player right now.

This is why you come out and work. You put your time out in the gym, and being a little kid from New York, shoveling snow, dreaming of one day playing in the NBA playoffs, give yourself a chance to win the NBA championship.

Ever That's a lot of time

Kirilenko must have thought he was in Salt Lake City tonight. A couple of times he made tough shots.

Different tricks of the trade, different ways to get open, different ways to play defense, different ways to play the game. He knows the triangle inside-out.

I like Odom as a player, but I don't know if I'd trust him.

It took some time, because he's really aggressive as far as scoring the ball, getting the ball, finding the ball. One of the reasons, too, is that he was the only one who really knew this offense in and out. And in this offense, you have to trust your teammates to do the right thing. Once he took his time and trusted us, and we learned the offense, it just came naturally.

We don't know how to win ugly yet. It's either we have good offensive games or we lose.

It's too bad we let it get out of hand with what we wear on the bench. ... I don't think it's going to change much. On the bench, I definitely understand. We shouldn't wear a throwback jersey or a do-rag on the bench.

That's just my coach telling me to go, and don't worry about it.

Every game we play is going to be the biggest game of the year. ... It's in our hands. We can't really worry about what other teams are doing.

He was saying that I'm learning the role he was five or six years ago. So he understands. The triangle is different. You need four or five guys to understand what's really going on to be effective.

Like teammate Caron Butler a year ago, he seems destined to finish third in Rookie of the Year voting despite impressive stats. Through Monday, he ranked third among rookies in scoring (16.2 points), third in field-goal percentage (45.3), third in steals (1.28) and fourth in assists (4.4). More impressive, he's done it while learning to play point guard. With a lighting-quick first step, Wade can get in the lane against anybody, and his jump shot has been solid so far. He's the best rookie I've every played with, ... He just makes plays. He's not getting a lot of hype right now, but people are going to find out about Mr. Wade.

This was not like having a cold or the flu, this was a complicated surgery. Some people lose their lives, not just their career. When you figure he's been able to play for us, and even to be effective for us, anybody has to be inspired. He's defeated some long odds to be here and now he's an emotional part of this team.

We're over it. Everybody's over it in this organization. (Nuggets fans) should have been over it. (It) didn't happen to them. I don't know why they take it so personally.

We had the opportunity to beat this team by 25-30 points. We didn't because they are well coached and they played hard. We kept doing the little things and got stops when we needed them.

We've got to make every game a defensive game. ... When you play the worst defensive game of the year, you get beat. Point blank.

We're not going to get caught up playing their game. We're going to execute offensively. We're going to make them beat us. We're not going to give them the game.

It's hard not to shoot the ball when you can make shots from everywhere.