Post Game Quotes
Jazz 96, Lakers 107

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Jazz Quotes
Coach Jerry Sloan
on the response of the Jazz in tonight’s game:
“I thought that it was fair at best. I would like to congratulate the Lakers, I thought they played extremely well and took advantage of every situation that they had. They did a great job. They have a wonderful team and they should go a long way.”

on coming within 6 points in the fourth quarter:
“I was surprised that it took something like Ronnie Prices’ effort to bring us back out alive. I have never seen a guy play that hard in my life, in that situation.”

on Okur’s performance in tonight’s game:
“I cant say. He wasn’t here and he wasn’t with our team, and we had to play without him. That is life in the NBA and everybody has to go through it. We feel bad he didn’t get to play as much but he got to play a little bit more tonight.”

on the Lakers’ ability to proceed in the playoffs:
“They are awfully good. They are good defensively, they all pass the ball, they all shoot the ball, they have tremendous number of things to deal with. I would say that they would be as good as anybody and they have shown all year that that is where they belong.”

Deron Williams
on Utah’s season:
“It’s definitely a frustrating season for all of us here. We had high expectations coming into the season, you know, expected to be one of the top couple seeds in the playoffs. Injuries kind of affected us and really weren’t able to ever get into a rhythm. We kind of headed down hill towards the playoffs and we just really didn’t get the type of effort we needed to win a series.”

on the strong play from the Utah bench tonight:
“We were definitely playing catch-up. You’ve got to be proud of how their group played; they came in and battled. That’s the type of plays and type of effort you need if you’re going to win a series, especially against the Lakers, from everybody.”

on the physical play tonight:
“A little bit. It is what it is. It happens out there. You’ve got to take your hat off to those guys though. They came out, they had a game plan, they were a focused team and they executed their game plan.”

Mehmet Okur
on the Utah run late in the game:
“It was a little bit too late cause they had a 20-point lead. We just wanted to come out there in the fourth, just bring our A-game. We should’ve started the game like that. It was a must-win game for us. For some reason, we just couldn’t start like that.”

Ronnie Price
on the physical play:
“We’re all competitors. When your back is against the wall, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Whether it’s taking some hard fouls, getting in guys faces; those things happen when you’re competing.”

Carlos Boozer
on if this season is his last with the jazz:
“I don’t know that, not at all. I got a lot of talking with the team to do, talking with my agent, my family; we’ll figure everything out this summer.”

on watching his teammates play in the 4th quarter:
“It was great; they played with so much energy. Ronnie Price came in, he’d been sitting most of the season, and obviously sitting most of this series as well and just came out there like he was shot out of a gun; just came out played hard, played aggressive, got a lot of offensive rebounds, pushed the ball offensively, played great defense, didn’t back down from anybody, I’m very proud of him. He’s one of the guys that should have been in the series a little bit. If we have guys playing like him, we’d have a better chance to win this series.”

on his performance tonight:
“I think I had eight shots, pry the least shots I’ve had. They did a really good job defensively; I thought I could have had more of an impact with the game.”

on if he was disappointed about sitting the 4th quarter:
“No, I’m a team guy. I thought they were playing great, I thought coach made that decision about letting them just play and they brought us back. Obviously I want to be out there every moment of the game. I know I’m a huge impact player and I can help out, but at the same time I thought the guys that were out, were playing their butts off.”

on tonight’s game:
“For the most part they took it to us in the second half. Our second group brought us back and gave us a chance to win.”

on if he would like to come back to Jazz:
“Absolutely, I would love to be in a jazz uniform. I feel like one of those cornerstone people that brought this team back to the prominence, to the playoffs, and I’d love to continue to move forward and have a chance to win a championship in the future.”

BOXSCORE | GAME RECAP | 2009 PLAYOFF CENTRAL

Lakers Quotes
Coach Phil Jackson
on the outcome the first series of the playoffs:
“Well we out did them. I thought it was a disappointment to them but they played hard; they played together and you have to give them credit. They deserve that. I thank them for giving us a run and a good, hard series.”

on letting Utah back in the game in the fourth quarter:
“I think it was pretty obvious, they just started running the ball. They got a couple of three point plays the natural way, the old fashioned way and that stopped everything. We turned the ball over a couple of times, to add to that.”

on Kobe playing a small forward tonight:
“He played small forwards defensively tonight because Trevor got in some foul jeopardy and Luke was obviously out.”

on the team’s performance throughout the series:
“I think we played well. Offensively, we had some really good games. I thought we played spotty defense tonight. I liked our defense for the first three quarters; good hands, taking the ball, kind of broke the game open.”

Kobe Bryant
on preparation for the second round:
“We have to kind of go over and evaluate it to be honest. It’s different then playing them in the regular season. We’ll have to look at them and see what areas we can exploit offensively and defensively and go from there but it’s different then playing them in the regular season.”

on his team’s improvement since last year:
“We’ve improved. Last year we went to Utah and dropped both of those games. We were able to bounce back and showed a lot of mental toughness to comeback as sharp as we did in that game.”

on his team’s tendency giving up leads:
“We’ve got to give a better effort. The second unit comes in there and we’ve got to give a better effort defensively, running back on defense, not giving up easy baskets, stuff like that we have to continue and keep up with the hustle. We have a week here. We’ll have a spirited conversation with the group and see if we can’t correct that for the next series.”

on Andrew Bynum’s performance the last few games:
“He just got back. He just got back. The other games he got into some foul trouble. He’ll get a week here or so to kind of prepare get him in practice, get him in good rhythym and he’ll be fine.”

Pau Gasol
on how he felt to win the first series:
“That was definitely very satisfying to be able to beat Utah in five games. We let that third game get away from us but still, we won and I believe we will be able to take it all the way. We are really happy about it. We are ready to take it to the next round and get ready because it is going to be extremely tough.” 

on allowing the Jazz to come back within 6 points:
“Obviously, we were concerned. It kind of woke us up because we thought that with a 20-point lead going into the fourth quarter, that it was pretty much the result. But they continued to fight and that is something that they have been doing all series long, and they did well.” 

on the Houston vs. Portland series:
“I am hoping that Portland wins and extends the series. I think that it has been a pretty difficult series between them and if Portland wins, they stay alive and go back to Houston, so that would give us a couple more days of rest.” 

Lamar Odom
on scoring 26 points tonight:
“I am just being aggressive, with and without the ball. The best thing you can do out there is play hard. Get offensive rebounds. Get the rebound and push it. .” 

on going forward in the second round of playoffs :
“This game is over. We get a day off and it is time to focus and find out I’m going to score and pick my spots against Houston and Portland. Hopefully, we can take some time to get some rest and keep it going.” 

on being relentless until the end of the game:
“I just kept playing and they kept playing.” 

on shooting more in tonight’s game :
“Phil put me at the three, in the small forward spot. But whatever position I have to play, I will.” 

Trevor Ariza
on how much harder they need to play in the next round:
“Probably a hundred times better than we did in this round. We can’t relax at all in any game.”

on his performance tonight and his career high in rebound:
“That’s what my team needed me to do. I try to do everything I can to help my team win.”

on giving up leads:
“We’re happy that we got the win, but I don’t think we’re happy about how we won so we have to pay attention and stay focused on closing games out.”

Sasha Vujacic
on whether this was an ugly game or if a win is just a win:
“A win is a win especially when you have to close out a team. I think it was very ugly; we lost the momentum but we were able to pull it out.”

on whether giving up leads or having an ugly is becoming a problem:
“I don’t think so. I think we’re going to be okay for the next round. I think it was a good learning experience. We keep saying that it’s a learning experience, but we have to take care of that and play a little bit smarter.”

Shannon Brown
on tonight’s performance and the victory:
“It was an ugly win tonight but we got it done. Like I said, it’s time to go back to school and get better for my mistakes and continue to do well at what we do good out there.”

on whether or not giving up leads or having ugly win is a becoming a pattern:
“I don’t think we get concerned about it. We just have to go out and continue to play Lakers basketball. We can’t continue to let it happen but it’s not a nothing to be concerned about.”

BOXSCORE | GAME RECAP | 2009 PLAYOFF CENTRAL