CHAUNCEY BILLUPS

Q: You've said that the hamstring is hurting you. How do you adjust? What do you do to be a smart player?

Billups: You know what, in yesterday's game, I thought I just didn't really personally do a good job of leading, you know what I mean? That's not just shooting the ball and scoring the ball. I think just leading. I think the game got away from us early, and I think I didn't step up enough vocally when guys were missing coverages and when things wasn't going right. I think I didn't do a good job of stepping in and leading.

Q. Is it a fine line between wanting to help the team win and being prideful and not hurting the team if your hamstring is hurting you, compared to like Stuckey or whatever?

Billups: Well, I think at this juncture of the season, no, you can't sit out. I'm a leader of this team, one of the main leaders of this team, and no matter what's going on, I feel like I'm better out there on the court, you know what I'm saying? We've got a young guy Stuckey, who's playing great right now and I'm very proud of, that's having a great series and great playoffs, period. So we've got to find ways to keep him aggressive, keep him playing well, but at the same time I've got to play -- I know that I've got to play good for this team to win. I understand that.

KEVIN GARNETT

Q: You know Chauncey pretty well. How painful do you think he is out there?

Garnett: He looks fine to me, man. I know he's saying he's hurt or whatever, but you guys are not trying to guard him off the pick-and-roll. If he's hurt, it's hard to see.

Q: What do you think you guys did best last night?

Garnett: I thought we moved the ball early. I thought the ball moved from strong side to weak side pretty well. I thought we were aggressive to begin the game. You've got to do that against this team. And when they upped the pressure, I thought we did a good job of sustaining it and staying aggressive. You've got to do that.

RAY ALLEN

Q: Do you think in terms of a killer instinct? Finishing them off in the next game here might mean -- something you guys did during the regular season. Does this last one sort of reconnect you to that?

Allen: We're in a situation where at least we regained home court advantage by winning last night. It's just as important that we can go into the building and we know what it's like now in this postseason with this team, what it's like to win on the road and what we have to do and how we have to be for four quarters.

RIP HAMILTON

Q: Do you guys ever talk about desperation?

Hamilton: I don't think we're desperate, not at all, not one bit. We've proved that we can go to their home court and win, and they proved that they can come to our home court and win. So now it's just going out and taking care of business when we've got another opportunity at home.

Q: I know you guys have had a lot of big games and won a lot of big games over the last six years, but is this one of the biggest ones you guys have had in the last six years?

Hamilton: Well, like I said, it's a game that we want to get. It's a game that we've got to get. We just said that we wasted an opportunity going to Boston and playing the way that we've been playing and then coming out, and playing in front of our home crowd and not getting it done. So that's the most frustrating part. We've just got to figure out a way to come out tomorrow and do what we do