"We're a group that's gone through a lot," Noah said. "And it's just, looking at it as a teammate, it's just frustrating because I feel like he's sometimes portrayed as something that he's not. You don't come back from the injuries that he's coming back from without unbelievable commitment, you know what I'm saying?

"I'm just growing and just watching the power that you [media] guys have, sometimes it's just you guys can really portray somebody as something that he's not," he continued. "It's just that, to me, that's a little disappointing. Just because I know how much he cares about this game. I see it every day. I think we're all in this together and this is not a one-man team, but at the end of the day, we need him. We need him.

"I just, I don't want to see him down. I know sometimes it's frustrating, you got injuries, you got tweaks. Every time something happens to him, people act like it's the end of the world. And that's f---ing so lame to me. Relax. Like, OK, he's coming back from two crazy surgeries. Obviously we're being conservative with him, and when things aren't going right, he's got to listen to his body more than anybody. So everybody needs to chill the f--- out. I mean, I'm sorry for cursing, but I'm really passionate. I don't like to see him down. And he doesn't say that he's down, but I don't like it when, like, people portray him and judge him. ‘Cause it's not fair to him. It's not.

"We're going to be just fine. We're going to be just fine. We just got to take it as — just, everybody needs to chill out. Chill out."