JERRY SLOAN, JAZZ HEAD COACH

On the game
“First of all, I’d like to congratulate the Lakers. I thought they did a terrific job on their offense; they got after us hard defensively and made it difficult for us to do what we wanted to do to start the game. I think they carried that out into the first half. It looked like we didn’t have any life to compete against them. Finally we got a little bit of life and got back in the ballgame. I thought the second half obviously, from my standpoint, showed that we weren’t just going to lay down and die. I was concerned about that after the lead they got.”

On whether he was concerned about having a sense of urgency after the Lakers got the big lead
“We came out, they got after us, and that’s what experience can do. It can come out and get in your face a little bit, and get after you, and I thought they did that. Those are things a young team’s got to learn in order to be able to handle a situation so you don’t get lost in what you’re doing. We got lost in what we were doing.”

On whether he thinks the Lakers can make it to the finals
“I always believe you can beat anybody, if you believe it and you’re not trying to fool somebody. I’m sure they’ve got some guys on their team that feel the same way. And they’ve got a great player that can get you 15-18 free throws a game and you see what the benefit of that is.”

On if he was excited when they started to come back
“I was excited all night. It looked like if we could get a little run going, put a little pressure on them, then I thought we could get back in the ballgame—but we couldn’t calm down. We were fighting against ourselves a little bit, and you have to stay focused on what you’re doing. That’s my responsibility, and I didn’t do a very good job.”

DERON WILLIAMS, JAZZ GUARD

On Millsap’s game tonight
“He was just very aggressive offensively and defensively he was very active and just provided us with a big spark of energy and he was running the floor hard and it’s rewarding getting the ball to him.”

On if he rushed his last three point attempt
“Yea, I did. I didn’t know how much time was left on the clock so I think I rushed it a little too much. I probably could have taken my time a little bit more because Kobe wasn’t going to risk fouling me so I cold have taken my time a little bit more but it was a great look, I just missed it.”

On the teams slow start tonight
“It’s just tough. The things that hurt us in the first two games in LA was our starts and it hurt us again to be down 19 or 20 at halftime against a good team like this is hard. You can come back but it’s hard to get over the hump and that was the case tonight, we just couldn’t take the lead back.”

CARLOS BOOZER, JAZZ FORWARD

On the game
“We were down, I don’t know what it was, 19, 20 points at half time, and tried to come back in the second half. You know we had a valiant effort, we just, uh, fell a little short.”

On watching the last few minutes from the bench
“It’s terrible man, you know you wanna be out there, try to help your team, get over the hump. You know it’s tough to do, but in that situation you just gotta cheer ‘em on, and I thought we did a good job of that as a whole. The bench guys did great tonight and they gave us a chance to come back in the game.”

Surprised by the slow start
“I mean, more than that we gave up a little too many points in the paint early in the first quarter. They got off to a, I don’t know what it was, 20 to 10, or something like that, and we tried to fight back from there but we did a good job in the second half trying to get it back down, but they made their free throws.”

KYLE KORVER, JAZZ FORWARD

On the game
“It’s disappointing, you know, uh we just put ourselves in too big of a hole to begin with. Fought back, you know, had some chances at the end, didn’t work out.”

On the last play of the game
“It was a run on the break, and I saw D-Will [Deron Williams] coming down, I was going to spot up, then I saw, he kicked it up to me. I thought I probably could have shot a quick one. I saw Memo [Mehmet Okur] coming up behind me, and just passed up to Memo, then I slipped to the corner and Memo took a shot and batted it around, and it happened fast. I don’t know, I probably should have shot it.”

PHIL JACKSON, LAKERS HEAD COACH

On the game
“They made some run at us at the end of the game. Surprisingly enough I think the best looks they had may have been at the end of the game when they missed two open threes. We’ll remember most of all the fact that we played with some sense of urgency and determination. One of the things you have to remember is that it takes just a couple misplays to turn the game around and momentum shifts and those are the things that coaches’ harp on that you have to play a 48 minute game, 42 minutes isn’t enough.” “That was a wire to wire finish for us and that’s impressive when you’re on the road.” “I wasn’t (worried), Frank Hamlin, my assistant sitting beside me was a wreck. I had confidence we would make the right play at the end of the game. I just felt they (Jazz) made some incredible shots; obviously five 3-pointers down the stretch is pretty remarkable in itself.”

On how they neutralized Carlos Boozer
“We moved into spaces on little feeds that he has and we tried to make him have to guess a little bit of what was coming. Whether we were coming to him, rotating to him, or whether we were going to challenge the ball so he didn’t have that same natural energy that he normally takes the ball to the basket with.”

On who he would rather play in the next round
“We know San Antonio is the best of the two teams. I think either team is a very difficult match up for us and we anticipate a real tough series.”

DEREK FISHER, LAKERS GUARD

On the last few minutes of the game/series
“Obviously at the end there they had an opportunity to tie the game and send it to overtime. The fourth quarter we played was definitely disappointing, but not even close to overshadowing what we’ve accomplished here on the road. There are always things to learn in every win and loss and we’ll be able to learn from tonight, but I’m not going to allow myself to have it take away from the positives that have happened here on this floor tonight.”

On the next series
“Isn’t that nice. You can’t even untie your shoes and everybody’s like ‘what’s next?’ The Western Conference this year is just truly unbelievable. I know there’s been a lot of talk about the home court record in the conference semi-finals and the home team’s having so much success. You’re talking about the best teams in basketball facing each other.”

“The Spurs are the defending champs and until they’re done, everything goes through them.”

KOBE BRYANT, LAKERS GUARD

On the game
“This is a big step for us. I think the important thing is coming on the road and winning in this building, a place where prior tonight they lost five games all year. It shows a lot of character on our part to come out of here with a victory.”

On his health
“I felt normal, felt 100%. Our staff did a fantastic job and our therapists, part of our extended family, came in and did an excellent job and got me ready.”

On the addition of Derek Fisher this year
“He provides a lot of things for us. Obviously offensive execution, his shooting, his leadership, his toughness. I think that was the biggest thing we were missing at that position is just that toughness that he brings to the table defensively. He’s been a huge addition.”

On the Jazz being a worthy opponent
“They’re an incredible team. A tough team to play cause they execute so well and they play so hard. This was a tough matchup for us and we had a great series.”

LAMAR ODOM, LAKERS FORWARD

On letting the Jazz get back in the game
“We needed that (hearing the final horn). We were letting them (Jazz) off the hook too many times. Luckily we were able to build that lead, everyone was able to get involved, and Kobe and Pau were able to take over in the second half and Derek made some big shots as well. We were able to protect that lead just enough.”

On the poise to close out another game on the road
“That’s all our coaching staff, Kobe and Derek, who’ve been in big games before. It’s all a reflection of them. The poise and the killer instinct they gave us is remarkable.”

On the Jazz’s comeback
“We gave them too many second opportunities and I thought we did a good job by staying aggressive. In this hostile environment with this crowd you kind of understand that things are going to turn their (Jazz) way. We can do a much better job than that. We can play a better game than that.”