In an individual sport, yes, you have to win titles. Baseball's different. But basketball, hockey? One person can control the tempo of a game, can completely alter the momentum of a series. There's a lot of great individual talent.

It's wonderful for the players. It's a huge challenge and a huge responsibility for us to get our act together, get our butts in gear. Phil isn't going to bail us out because of our mental lapses.

It never bothered me when people would say, 'You only win championships because you're playing with Shaq.' It bothered me when he said it.

I never tried to prove anything to someone else. I wanted to prove something to myself.

People look at my competitive spirit, and they automatically attach it to the thing that's most similar, most easily recognizable, which is Michael [Jordan's] competitive spirit. I'm different. I enjoy building. I enjoy the process of putting the puzzle together, and then the byproduct of that, the consequence of that, is beating somebody. That becomes the cherry on top, the icing on the cake.

I was just letting the shots fly. You know, I don't leave any bullets in the chamber.

We're grown ass men, you don't need to be falling all over the place.