Game Quotes: Cavaliers at Suns

(Opening Statement):
“Well obviously it was a good win for us. It hasn’t been the easiest place for us to play especially last year. I thought we did some really good things. Especially after the first quarter, I thought our defense was fantastic, holding them to 60 points for the next three quarters. Offensively we did a good job finding the open guy, that’s what we’re all about.”

(On the tempo):
“I think it’s really important. We are still not getting the tempo that I want. I want to push the ball a little bit more but I think as time goes on we will get better at it. I loved the poise we had at the end; the way we were moving the ball. I still want us to get up and down the floor a little bit better.”

(On Kyrie):
“I thought he played really well. I thought at time he is kind of late on screens and I want him to understand that he has to do a better job to guarding point guards in this league and just staying competitive. But obviously offensively he had it going pretty good.”

(On playing against Steve Nash):
“It was definitely fun, playing against such a great point guard. I have been watching him for so long so to finally get to play against him it was a little surreal but once you’re out there you’re in the game. I am a competitor and so is he and it just shows you he is still doing the things he has done for his whole entire career. It was an honor to play against him.”

(On his scoring stretch in the 2nd quarter):
“I was basically just feeding off my teammates. I was going around the screens, taking what the defense gave me and my teammates had the confidence in me to keep feeding me the ball and telling me to keep going so I did.”

(On the team’s defensive mentality):
“We are at our best when we are focused and locked in on the defensive end, getting stops. It does something to you when you are taking the ball out of bounds two or three times in a row. When you get stops you get the momentum, you can get out on the break and that is when things happen so we really tried to start with our mentality on the defensive end and lock in and get stops”

SUNS HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY

(Opening statement):
“The game was on the boards and we did a poor job on the boards and that’s something we’ve got to take care of. I told the guys that here’s a team that shoots 43 percent against us and finds a way to win the game and that shouldn’t be the case. I just thought that they beat us to the ball. They did a good job they broke us down and had dribble penetration and they play. ”

(On Michael Redd):
“I thought he shot the ball well, obviously he’s got a long way to go before he’s in good basketball shape. But you can see he’s still got the ability to make shots out on the perimeter and we’ve just got to work with him. He’s still just learning our plays so a couple of times he was a little hesitant where he should be, but that’s to be expected. I thought he did fine for what we asked him to do tonight.”

JARED DUDLEY

(On the game):
“When you look back at the end of the year, you’re going to look back at this game and probably say that it was a bad loss. Obviously at home to a team that you expect to beat, you should expect to beat, but they played a little bit hard, made more shots and Kyrie (Irving) was definitely a problem out there tonight.”

(On the team’s energy and rebounding):
“Yeah, I mean I didn’t think our energy was that bad. I mean, that is what (Anderson) Varejao does, he gets paid a lot of money to get those offensive rebounds. It’s tough. Obviously, we’ve had trouble in years past here (with rebounding). Obviously rebounding has always been one of our weaknesses and we’re trying to shore it up. I don’t know what more you can do.”

MICHAEL REDD

(On his first game with the Suns):
“(I was) a little rusty, which is to be expected. My wind felt pretty good, surprisingly. Just got to find my game legs and game rhythm and just try to figure out the system on offense. I was just trying to find my way out there tonight.”

(On his knee):
“Yeah, it felt fine. It’s just sore. For me, this is a preseason. Yesterday was our first practice going up and down full court and I hadn’t done that in eight, nine months, so this is all fresh for me and so I’m going to just continue to keep working hard to get better.”