I got to see my old friend Hedo Turkoglu last night when Toronto came to Orlando to play. I didn’t get to play in the first two games against Toronto this season, so this was the first time I’ve seen Turk since he left.

When he played for the Magic, our lockers were always side by side. Turk and I became pretty tight and we always worked well together on the floor. I switched to the power forward slot so that he could stay at small forward because we knew how good we could be together. It was a good mix that we had, and I like to think the way we meshed together helped us get to the NBA Finals.

I miss Turk and wish he was still here, but I don’t begrudge him because he had to make a business decision for what was best for his family. I had to do something similar three years ago when I left Seattle for Orlando, but as it turns out it was the best thing I’ve ever done.

Lots of my friends and family called me and texted me last week about that mess about me not wanting to go back in the game. It wasn’t like I refused to go back in at all. I just told coach that since I had two fouls and Ryan Anderson had it rolling to keep him in the game.

There were so many stories going around in the media and I just had to tell my family and my boys that there was nothing to it. I think everybody just blew it up into something that it wasn’t. Me and Stan actually joked about it in the locker room. He told me he was going to go tell the media that he hates me, and we both just started laughing. We have a good relationship like that and this really was no big deal.

People don’t have to worry about me doing something selfish. For me, it’s always all about winning. I’ve been through the ups and downs in the NBA and I’ve scored a lot of points and haven’t won. Now, I’m at a point in my career where I’m just all about trying to win a championship. To do that we have to sacrifice and I’m willing to do that to win it all.

Well, we have a tough one tonight in Miami. Those guys got us by a point early in the season, so we need to go and steal one on their court. Wish us luck because we’re going to need it!!! Back-to-backs are always tough, but as long as we play defense, I think we’ll be OK..

Later,
SHARD