On 4th quarter:
“I think we did a pretty good job coming down the stretch we just couldn’t do the same with scoring. We got the basketball inside… we had some opportunities, missed some shots we’d like to have back, but that’s the way it goes.”
On turnovers”
“Both teams turned the ball over. Both teams turned the ball over, they turned out equal, but free throws did not turn out equal. We had the basketball inside, and you’d think that we’d have the opportunity to come away with at least something, and that’s the tough part of it. We’ve always tried to get lay ups; that’s always been a big part of it, but you have to come away with something more, at least a free throw or put the ball in the basket. We didn’t get the ball in the basket.”
On trailing game:
“We couldn’t get over the hump. We were right there, but we never did get there. As I recall, we never could get over the hump and put the pressure on them.”
On Kobe’s free throws:
“He had 17 free throws. Any time you start the ball game off with a great player knowing he’ll have 17 / 18 free throws … that’s a very difficult thing for any team to play against. But that’s who he is. I’m not taking anything away, he’s a great player, but we have to do better than giving him those situations, and that’s easier said than done. But you have to try and keep him off the free throw line as well.”
DERON WILLIAMS, JAZZ GUARD
On his number of assists the first half and his scoring in the second:
“I felt like we had good looks, I got guys good shots. We just missed some shots that we normally make. You know I was more aggressive scoring the ball but I was still trying to get people involved and even if I didn’t get the assist, I think guys made extra passes to get the assist. We had good ball movement, good shots. We just missed some easy ones. ”
On playing :
“We definitely played a better game this game than the other two. We battle to the end. It’s promising we feel like we can win here. We just got to go back home right now and take care of business at home.”
On Coach Jerry Sloan’s comment about the Jazz being intimidated by the Lakers:
“We haven’t won here yet. That’s the hump. We’ve took care of business at home. Now we got to do it again and hopefully come back here for a Game 7 and get over that hump. I thought we had a better half than we had in the first two games, and I think that gave us confidence to carry it over to the second half. We were in the ball game all the way to the end, we just missed some shots. They made some better plays down the stretch and that’s why they won the ball game.”
CARLOS BOOZER, JAZZ FORWARD
On the game tonight:
“It was a close fought game, we had an opportunity down the stretch to win the game. A couple balls didn’t bounce our way, missed a couple shots. At the same time we put them on the line a little bit too much. I thought we let one slip away. I thought we had opportunities, I thought we made too many mistakes but at the same time I thought we were being aggressive. Taking the ball to the basket, hoping for some fouls, but sometimes in game 5 fouls aren’t going to be called. So we got to play through it and get ready for game 6 at home on Friday.”
On defending Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom:
“It’s tough because sometimes you’re helping so much on Kobe. Kobe did a great job, he only took 10 shots, and was very aggressive and getting the other guys involved. Sometimes you have to help on him and Lamar got an easy basket. Pau is a very good passer and Lamar definitely got busy tonight and so did Pau. We got to do a better job on those guys, we got to do a better job on keeping Kobe in front so we don’t have to help as much but that’s a tall task.”
ANDREI KIRILENKO, JAZZ FORWARD
On Kobe’s facilitating role tonight:
“He’s always dangerous with the ball, doesn’t matter if it’s shooting or passing the ball. So you got to give him more credit.’
On going back home for game 6:
“For us it’s the last chance. When you win the game at home and hopefully come back here and finish it here.”
On if this was a demoralizing loss:
“We can’t be demoralized right now, we need to be confident. We need to get back home and play with really great enthusiasm and win the game. That’s the bottom line right now.”
MATT HARPRING, JAZZ FORWARD
On the play of the Lakers role players:
“I don’t think Kobe was the one that killed us tonight, I think it was the rest of their team and Kobe did a good job passing the ball. Down the stretch we had our chances to win it, we missed some shots and they got some hustle plays and you can’t let that happen if you want to win the game.”
On how much of an issue the length of the Lakers is:
“Definitely they are tall and long, but we get our shots. We have open looks, we are just missing our shots right now and coming down the stretch you can’t just miss shots and expect to win on the road.”
PHIL JACKSON, LAKERS HEAD COACH
On tonight’s performance:
“Well I wasn’t particularly happy with the way we played tonight. I thought we were a little bit excited and didn’t have the kind of poise I wanted to see. But our energy was good, that’s for sure.”
On Kobe’s 10 shots:
“Well I think he took about 7 good ones, so I was happy with his productivity out of ten shots. And he really saw the game from a perspective of how we could win the game and how he could do his best through the team. I didn’t think he had elevation on his shot; his shot was flat.”
On Kobe being Play maker:
“It was just read how you feel, play the game the way it has to be played.”
On 4th Quarter start”
“Yeah, I kept Lamar on the bench too. They both were playing a lot of minutes and they both had to be fresh going down the stretch. They were resting their guys, with Boozer on the bench, Okur having a break, so we have a game on Friday- it’s bang bang almost- with a day in between to rest. These guys have to get back at it in two days.”
On team coming through
“We liked Lamar, what he did out there. He gave us some big game, and Pau had a couple of things happening for him. We got to the foul line in the fourth quarter, which helped us keep that lead of some sort. Our bench came in and gave us some productivity in the start of the 4th quarter that was a difference giving us a little separation.”
DEREK FISHER, LAKERS GUARD
On the performance down the stretch:
“We did what we had to do to win the game. There aren’t any scripts for winning playoff games and you can game plan, work on things, come out with certain things in mind that you want to do or you want to happen, but until the game starts and things start to unfold, you just have to keep playing and that’s what we did tonight.”
JORDAN FARMAR, LAKERS GUARD
On the importance of his performance in winning tonight’s game:
“For us to take care of home court it very big, and I’ve just been working hard all week, getting repetitions in, seeing myself do what I know can to do, and just coming out here and being aggressive.”
On his and-1 play in the fourth quarter:
“I was a little upset that I got beat on the other end, and he got straight to the basket, so I just wanted to be aggressive, I was going to make a play, try to make something good happen, and it worked out for me.”
On withstanding the numerous opportunities the Jazz had to take the lead:
“They did a good job, they kept fighting, they’re a very tough team. They come on the road and play well every game, and we just find a way to pull it out, but we have to be better than that, going up there is going to be really tough. We have to do a good job eliminating their second chances, they got a lot of second chances which keeps them in the game.”
SASHA VUJACIC, LAKERS GUARD
On Kobe’s performance playing injured:
“I’ve known him for four years now, and I know there’s not one injury that can keep him off the floor, and he’s always going to perform at his best... I just think he played very smart. He’s got a back injury and he played like the MVP tonight so it’s great. We won, and now we have to go to Utah and get game 6.”
KOBE BRYANT, LAKERS GUARD
On the game
“We turned the ball over quite a bit. Down the stretch in a critical situation we put them on the line four or five straight possessions and gave them easy opportunities. We clawed back, but with that said we can’t turn the ball over 18 times. We had a lot of open looks that just didn’t go for us. You can sustain a night like that, when shots don’t fall. We’ve really got to keep our turnovers down and not allow them to get out in transition and get some easy points.”
On Carlos Boozer
We expected that. We expected him to come out and have a monster performance. Again, the thing that hurt us was the transition points. Getting out on the break and getting those easy opportunities.”
On Pau Gasol
“I think they did a good job crowding him once he put the ball on the floor and tried to surround him. We’ll have to make our adjustments in this next game in terms of freeing him up a little bit. Get him a little more spacing.”
On back pain:
“I feel okay. It feels really really tight right now, pretty sore. I took some extra time after the game to loosen it up again.”
On only 10 shots:
“I just wanted to pick my spots. I knew I wasn’t 100 percent healthy so I wanted to get us off to a good start, give us an emotional boost. In the 3rd quarter, I had a moment where I was able to pick it up a little bit. In the 4th quarter, Lamer and Pau took it from there.”
On back’s performance:
“I got a lot out of my back tonight. I think it was better than I actually thought it was going to be. I was able to spin; I was able to slide defensively; be active; be aggressive. In the 4th quarter we executed extremely well. We moved the ball; we shared it; we were aggressive... that’s kind of what we did.”
On tonight’s game vs. last game:
“I just play the game. I don’t go in with preconceived notions; I just play. Let the flow of the game take me. The biggest different between tonight’s game and the last game was tonight I could penetrate. I could put the defense in jeopardy. Last game I couldn’t; I just couldn’t do it; my back wouldn’t let me do it. Tonight we penetrated and closed off lanes…”
On Exploring “the next region of pain”
“There can not be another level after what I went through over there. That was the worst, most pain I’ve ever felt in a game. I can’t imagine there being another region besides that one.”
LAMAR ODOM, LAKERS FORWARD
On Kobe’s performance tonight:
“Whenever he’s injured, he’s an ultimate competitor and why he is so great is because he competes with his greatness all the time. He came out really aggressive and that’s what we expected.”
On the rest of the starting five stepping it up with Kobe injured:
“We wanted to stay aggressive and make plays at all times. Gasol really opened the game up with his passing tonight. He nearly had a triple-double. That’s why he’s so valuable to this team [and] valuable to our execution. We really wanted to get looks with Vladi because we really need him. We need him to shoot the ball well.”
On taking it to the basket at every good opportunity:
“I want to take it to the basket. Every game right now, I’m thinking I need three or four dunks. And it seems like when you dunk the ball, you get those foul calls. That’s something we focused on as a team at shoot around; we want to take it to the hole as much as possible. Especially Pau (Gasol) and myself.”
On Kobe’s role in facilitating:
“Kobe is so good offensively that you have to expect to catch the ball in places where you can really be aggressive. The whole team leans towards him. When he’s passing and looking for all of us, he makes us really hard to guard.”
LUKE WALTON, LAKERS FORWARD
On the team stepping up in the fourth:
“When everyone’s involved in making plays, I think just naturally, stuff like that happens. We were going to Pau a lot throughout the offense, with Kobe’s back being sore, and he was fighting down there and he came up with 2 huge offensive rebounds for us, and that’s the advantage of having talented weapons all over the court.”
VLADIMIR RADMANOVIC , LAKERS FORWARD
On going into Utah Friday:
“We have to stop their quick buckets. That’s what they did the last two games we played over there. They started really quick on us and scored easy in the first 4 or 5 minutes, and took the lead from the start and we were just trailing all game long, and that’s something we can’t let happen when we go there on Friday.”
On Kobe’s performance:
“Kobe is one of those guys you can always count on. Even if he’s hurt, he’ll find a way to play, and we’ll appreciate it.”
PAU GASOL , LAKERS CENTER
On the game:
Obviously the game was on the line and we had to bring out everything we had left. It was a tough game. It was a very physical game. They played very aggressively and we had to fight for every ball and every possession. I had to dig from inside of me and bring out some energy.
On the Lakers’ offense:
“Every time we hit the post and we move and we cut and we set our picks and the ball keeps moving we are more effective. I’m going to try to make the right decision. I’m not going to take a shot if I don’t need to. I’m going to find the open teammate and get a shot off.”
On playing late in the fourth quarter:
“Its about making the right plays for us to score and get stops when it comes down to the last two minutes. You want to score no matter how or no matter what. If we execute and play well and we share the ball and move the ball we get better shots.”
On the Jazz swarming defense:
“They have been pretty consistent about try to swarm and strip the ball out of my hands and make it difficult for me. I need to do a better job of going stronger and going quicker.”
