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GAME 4 POST-GAME QUOTES
Jazz 94, Lakers 108 L
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UTAH JAZZ:
Notes: With tonight’s loss the Jazz fall to 10-12 at home in Game 4 of the playoffs…When facing elimination the Jazz are just 3-11 on the road in a best of seven series…The Jazz are 0-10 when they fall behind 3-1 in a playoff series and six of those series ended in five games…The 16 points scored in the third quarter are the lowest amount of points scored in a quarter during this series…Carlos Boozer recorded his third double-double of the series with 23 points and 16 rebounds…Deron Williams also finished with a double-double by scoring 23 points and dishing out 13 assists.
On the game
“First off, obviously a lot more fun when you win. But, we got a whole new team tonight; Kobe Bryant was spectacular. We never could get close enough to guard him, really. He just shot through us, over us, whatever he took; he was very difficult for us to play. I think he put everyone on his back and got them off to the way they wanted to play. That was difficult for us to get stops on them. We had a difficult time shooting the basketball—they took us out of our offense, and we got really anxious to try to do it. Everybody tried to do it themselves.”
On the play of Kobe Bryant
“Let me tell you something about Kobe Bryant. I’ve played great players like that myself a little bit—and I was not a very good player. Kobe Bryant never had to guard us…don’t ever think that a player of Kobe Bryant’s ability will not fight back. I had two of those guys on this team at one time. And if they had a bad game, they came back and gave you everything they’ve got, and it wasn’t about what you did yesterday; it was about what they were going to do today. I never said that we stopped Kobe Bryant. I knew better.”
Deron Williams – Guard [23 points, 5 rebounds, 13 assists]
On the game
“A lot of it was just Kobe taking over. You could just see he came out on a mission tonight. He shot the ball well, you know.”
On the difference between tonight’s game and Thursday’s win
“It’s tough. We thought we’d put a better effort forward tonight. I was kind of disappointed in the way we came out, and disappointed our fans a little bit tonight. The series is not over; we’ve still got a little hope. We know it’s going to be tough to win three games in a row against these guys. But we should be playing free now, loose, because nobody expects us to win.”
Carlos Boozer – Forward [23 points, 15 rebounds]
On the game
“They did a good job of maintaining composure. We got up early on them. We had a good first quarter and then in the second quarter they came out and hit shots and we didn’t do a good job defensively and they shot a high percentage.”
On the key to winning game five
“Playing more aggressively like we did in game three when we came out and attacked them defensively. It’s a tall task. They’re a very good home team, they have a really good offense, but I believe that if we, one through 15, come with it defensively and share the ball offensively like we usually do then we’ll have a chance to win the game.”
Kyle Korver – Guard [12 points, 3 assists]
On the game
“I thought Kobe (Bryant) was pretty amazing. We played good defense on him but he was making them. That’s why he’s Kobe. We tried to trap him in a double team. He played pretty well.”
On Kobe having to prove a point (from Game 3)
“He probably was trying to prove a point. He knows he didn’t have the greatest game before so he probably wanted to prove to everybody.”
Ronnie Brewer – Guard [9 points, 2 rebounds]
On his defense of Kobe Bryant
“Sometimes I knew the shot clock was going down. I tried getting in his face and jumping early. He continues to hit those shots, that’s what makes him a good player. He didn’t have the performance that he wanted to the last game. We knew as a team he was going to come out aggressive and we tried to help the best we could as a team. It’s tough to leave any guy on their team open.”
On tonight
“I was just going to play the first five or six minutes in the beginning then the second half a little bit. I was gonna check myself. I felt a little bit sore. I was on the bike when I wasn’t playing trying to stay warm and keep muscles warm and relaxed so I was ready.”
BOXSCORE | GAME RECAP | 2009 PLAYOFF CENTRAL | PLAYOFF TICKETS
LOS ANGELES LAKERS:
Notes: Scoring 38 points tonight, Kobe Bryant surpassed Hakeem Olajuwon, ranking eighth on the NBA all-time playoff scoring list (3,792 playoff points)… Bryant scored 13 of the Lakers first 15 points… Bryant ended the first half with 24 points, six more than he scored in all of Game 3 (shooting 10-13)… The Lakers went on a 20-2 run in the second quarter… Lamar Odom scored his second double-double of the playoffs with 10 points and 15 rebounds … Pau Gasol scored his first double-double of the playoffs with 13 points and 10 rebounds… Before tonight, the last time the Lakers won at Utah was 3/20/08… Bryant was one point shy of scoring the Lakers all-time playoff high against the Jazz… Lakers are now 3-10 all-time at Utah during the playoffs.
Phil Jackson – Head Coach (3-1 in the 2009 Playoffs)
On tonight’s game
“We put two quarters together tonight, the middle of the game that gave us some advantage in this game tonight to kind of walk this one home. I wasn’t happy with the way we made it but we were able to contain the Jazz in the second half. Too many turnovers, errors that were made that were thoughtless, the little things like that. I didn’t like the way we ran our offense at the end of the game, we stalled the clock rather than just stay consistent with what we try to do. This is as good as we can play on the road, lose a two-point ball game and come back and play even better the next game that is important.”
On Kobe Bryant’s shooting night
“He started off the game and was hot right off the bat and continued his onslaught basically during the course of the half and went back the second half and started the second half strong.”
Kobe Bryant – Guard (38 points, 6 rebounds)
On his performance tonight
“I think it makes it easier for them to gain confidence in a hostile environment. I kinda was sensing that the team wanted me to get it going a little bit.”
On whether he was disappointed in his performance on Thursday
“Yeah, I was, but I’m the type of person where, you can’t do nothing about it, don’t worry about it. It’s one game. It’s not the end of the world. That was my message to the team—it’s one game. You just move on from it and get ready for the next one.“
On importance of defense to win a championship
“If we’re going to win a championship, it has to be defensively. We’re a great offensive team but you can’t be on every night so it’s important we keep the defense first and foremost.”
Pau Gasol – Center (13 points, 10 rebounds)
On the game
“Obviously, it was really important to us after Game 3, where we lost it, to come out tonight extremely hard and aggressive, focus on what we needed to do and sustain our effort for a longer period of time. So I think we did that pretty good tonight and we were able to control the pace of the game for the most part. We got away with a nice win. That will give us a nice advantage and puts us in a situation that we can go back home and close the series out and move on. Definitely where we wanted to be.”
On Kobe’s play
“Obviously, he came out extremely aggressive. You could tell that he was ready to leave that game three behind, that bad shooting night behind him, and really be aggressive and assertive. He was really effective tonight shooting the ball. He started out really well and continued, pretty much throughout the whole game… being as confident as he usually is.”
Trevor Ariza – Forward (5 points, 4 rebounds)
Comparing Game 3 to Game 4
“I think we did a better job of playing harder and rebounding. Everybody came to play tonight.”
On Kobe’s play
“He’s the best player in the game, so he’s going to have nights like that. So give him the ball and get out of the way.
On closing out the series in Game 5
“I think it will be real important for us to finish it at home. We don’t want to have to come back here. Guys need to rest. People have been playing a lot of minutes. If we could close it out at home, it would be great. But, this is a team [Utah] that fights all the way to the end, and it’s still going to be a tough game no matter what.”
Shannon Brown – Guard (9 points, 5 rebounds)
What did you do differently tonight than you did on Thursday (Game 3)?
“Locking in, sticking to the game plan, staying focused. We didn’t finish out the half like we wanted to, but we locked in on what we were supposed to do as far as the game is concerned. We have a heck of a game plan if we go out and execute it and stay focused.
On Kobe Bryant’s play
“He was locked in tonight. He came out and set the tone, and the rest of us followed in behind him.”
Derek Fisher – Guard (12 points, 4 assists)
On the game
“We were frustrated and disappointed that we allowed a road win to get away from us Thursday night. Having played this team before, last year, and knowing how good they are at home, we thought it was important to really try and take control of the series if we could, and we responded well. We didn’t allow ourselves to get snowballed early in the game, and we hung close until we could get control of it.”
BOXSCORE | GAME RECAP | 2009 PLAYOFF CENTRAL | PLAYOFF TICKETS
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