I'm pretty confident at the moment. The minutes I'm getting in games are helping build my confidence. I feel ready for (conference play).

It's a great thing to have that confidence, but I know things can turn pretty quickly. These games are stepping stones along the way, but we know that big game in February is the one that counts.

Hazards - There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty. Miss that, though, and you're pretty much doomed.

Arrogance - The best leaders inspire by example. When that's not an option, brute intimidation works pretty well, too.

They had a confidence this morning. They were just fed up with playing so many close games against this team and not winning it. Defensively I thought we had much better control of (Tony) Parker and Duncan than we had in the past.

It was a matter of finding our confidence. We played well in a lot of games but didn't win. In the last two weeks we found ourselves. It seemed like there was an aura around the team.