QUOTES

GILBERT ARENAS

Arenas on practice
“It felt good. I was surprised about my wind.. I wasn’t as tired as I thought I was going to be. I was just excited to get out there and play basketball.”

Arenas on his Knee
“My knee is fine so far. We’ll see how it acts tomorrow after a day of rest.”

More on Practice

“It was one of those practices where my teammates are preparing for tomorrow’s game and I’m trying to get my conditioning up and trying to back into the rhythm that I once had.”

On regaining his confidence

“Little by little it comes back, the more you play, the more you interact on the floor, the more you watch. Just to go out there and do things you are used to doing…you just have to get your confidence back little by little.”

HEAD COACH EDDIE JORDAN

Jordan on practice

“It was great….. the guys were active and were into it, Gilbert (Arenas) had a good practice for a first practice. Etan (Thomas) practiced today and did some physical contact.”

Jordan on Arenas

“We are trying to allow him to come into practice and get a lot of non-contact drills and when we do get into contact, we want to allow him to see where the contact is coming from. So we limited back screens and pick-and-roll screens when he can’t see it. We want him to react to seeing a screen coming, and as we move along we will get him in more normal situations.I think he handled it well.”

More on Arenas
“What was great was that Gil brings energy. His passing was phenomenal. The way he found people with his passing was phenomenal. His team got a lot of easy baskets in practice.”

Jordan on tomorrow’s game
“I know they are a good team and I hope we have kryptonite somewhere in our lineup, because Superman (Dwight Howard) is pretty good and they have a good good supporting cast around him. They are good all the way around, and they have a good coaching staff, so it is going to be a great challenge for us.”

ANTAWN JAMISON

Jamison on practice
“It’s good to see two of our troops back out there and going through contact drills in Etan and Gilbert. We know we have to work hard and put ourselves in a good position when we get some of our guys back that can really make a difference.”

On the Eastern Conference standings
“The most important thing is to put a string of wins together. As far as catching anybody, that’s really not in our mind frame at all. We are worrying about us and continuing to improve.”

On Arenas’s return to practice
“It’s good to see him out there. It’s good for him to finally be out there. He is moving around and doing the things you are accustomed to seeing from Gilbert. For me it’s a good sign.