Our defense prides itself on playing tough every time out. Right now, I have nothing to complain about.

I think the players that we have right now are very good. But one thing we don't have is that big-time scorer. We're going to be missing Piazza, but somebody's going to have to pick up his slack.

Playing half-court defense doesn't mean you can't be aggressive. We proved that. Every loose ball in the second half we got.

What happened is, we got out of our pressure defense. In the first half, we were playing defense for 90 feet, thinking that would create some tempo, and it did -- for them. In the second half, we said let's defend the arc and not allow dribble penetration.

They're just so good defensively. Tonight it was the zone (defense), and last time it was man-to-man. And that proves how good they are. They can do whatever they want.

They answered every time. This game was lost on a lack of defense. I could tell right away we didn't have the intensity we needed.