NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND

February 20, 2005

Ray Allen

RAY ALLEN: You know, Shaq is similar to Tim. You know, you give the ball to Tim, Tim is around the basket. He always gets his hand on the ball and puts it back up. But with Shaq, there's no way really to stop him so when the ball went down low, there's not much that you can do with it. In years past we always knew to give it to him and just let him do his thing. The guys out there in the East, they found that out real fast.

RAY ALLEN: Yeah, I know a lot of people want to see a lot of individual players step up and take the mantle, crossovers and get into the holes and high-flying dunks, but I thought overall it was a good display of basketball. Everybody made a conscious effort at getting their teammates involved and, you know, with so many people watching the game all over the world, you know, we definitely have to set an example. I think as much as we like to showboat a little bit, that team concept was out there. I think some people were, you know, young, a little bit in the beginning but we were making a conscious effort of getting the ball across the floor. You can attribute that to Popovich on our side and you see what they have done in San Antonio, you know, winning so many games and preaching defense and passing the ball. There's no better coach at this point in the league than Pop, and definitely with Van Gundy on the other side.

RAY ALLEN: Well, you know, the average age of the league has gone down tremendously. You know, we've had a lot of young players come into the league and not just players that have come into the league, but have come in and made an impact. You know, we have to celebrate that, celebrate the guys that play well and definitely help their teams win. The guys that were on display this weekend, they are not only great individual talents, but their teams are also playing great basketball. So, you know, you definitely have to look at that and hope that for years to come, you know, this league is going to be in great hands.

RAY ALLEN: Well, he just, he was focused tonight. He knew he was going to go out and he was going to play. He was going to go out, and I won't necessarily say get the MVP but he was going to do what he always does, and that's play basketball. You know, there are a few guys that can come into this type of environment and just play as if they were in their backyard, and he's definitely, in my mind for as long as I've been playing, one of the masters at it. No matter what stage it is, what city you're in and who you're playing against, he's going to bring his game regardless.