After brazving the throngs of Catholic priests at Verizon Center who were preparing for a huge mass and then march to the Supreme Court on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade – not in support of that ruling, obviously – a few of us talked briefly to Antawn Jamison and Flip Saunders.
Before I get to what they both said about whether or not Jamison deserves to be an All-Star, a story from Wednesday night’s game that demonstrated how Jamison was affected by his subpar performance (7 points on 2 for 10 shooting, 3 rebounds) against the Mavericks.
In the locker room afterward, Mike Miller had brought his two sons in, and as they were grabbing drinks from the refrigerator, Miller said to his older son, “Say, good game, Antawn.”
Miller’s son did exactly that. Jamison’s response? “Thanks, but don’t say that today. Just say, ‘Go get ’em next time.'”
So I asked Jamison this morning about his mentality going into tonight? “I think the more you dwell on it, that’s when it lingers. But I’ve been doing this for a while. It was a tough one. After the game, you just sit there, like if I had played better, maybe the outcome would’ve been different. But my teammates picked me and up, and we still had a chance to win it. You just learn from those mistakes. You try to be more prepared for the next game. You try to be more aggressive. Throughout the game, guys were telling me, ‘Take that shot,’ and that’s not normally what I’m accustomed to hearing so I just gotta be really aggressive tonight and do the things that I normally do.”
Does Jamison want to be a coaches’ selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star team?
“Who wouldn’t?” said Jamison. “One of the things is you try to win as many games as possible so that won’t that hinders me. But you always want to participate in the game. I’ve been an All-Star twice, and I would love for it to happen, another opportunity to get a go at it. The most important thing is just trying to win. But I’m going to go out there and play hard and do the best I can, and hopefully the coaches recognize that and select me. It’s always in the back of your mind. You just want to participate in the weekend and participate with those guys and have fun doing it.”
Flip’s take on Jamison’s chances: “What always happens is that when you get to the All-Star selection, there’s usually 16 guys that are deserving, and so those spots end up becoming difficult. The thing is, if he can make it, it’s great. How I’ve always voted a lot is, I’ve voted on record, to be honest. If he doesn’t make it, it’s not because he’s playing at an all-star caliber, it’s because the team is not functioning at the level that it needs to be. So you’ll see players that make it, a prime example here, when Washington was good, then Caron made it. Good teams get rewarded.
“But considering where he was, missing the first ten games, coming back and playing. He’s been a rock for us as far as how he’s played here in January. He’s been one of the better players in the Eastern Conference. He’s deserving to be an all-star, there’s no question. I sent some things out to some coaches, sent some things out to let them know about those things, but we’ll have to kind of wait and see.”
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