Larry Brown will be undergoing a surgery to help urinary difficulties he's been having recently, and he informed the media of this before telling his team.

"Is he really?" was Richard Hamilton's first response. "Wow. Losing coach Brown is definitely a big blow to our team. Not having him out there will be tough. But we're a veteran team. We know what we want to accomplish."

"I don't know when I will be back," said Brown, who has been in constant discomfort since the surgery. "Hopefully it'll be sooner than later, but I honestly don't know."

"I think we will (handle his absence better)," Chauncey Billups said. "We know what to do now, even the new guys. We know how we have to play. I think we will be fine. We know what he wants and how he wants us to play. We just have to go out take care of our business until he gets back."