Postgame Quotes -- Feb. 21, 2006

George Karl - Denver Nuggets Head Coach
"We would not have won this game without Linas Kleiza’s first half, and Francisco Elson’s second half. In the second half we picked up on the defensive end. At half I told the team this was a must-win game, because I think the team felt the sense of urgency. I would like to be a defensive first team as we finish up the season, but right now we are an offensive first team. We allowed them to play a zone defense against us by shooting as poorly as we did by going 4 for 18 on open shots."

Andre Miller - Denver Nuggets Guard
"We got off to a solid start, then they started making their shots. We had a really good second half. They did well in the zone against us, and that forced us into our half-court offense. We moved the ball pretty well, we were sharing the ball tonight. Tonight we did our job, we came out and won. That’s really what matters (that we got the win)."

Carmelo Anthony - Denver Nuggets Forward
"We weren’t concerned at all (at half time). We made our run, they made their run. In the second half I just take my hat off to our defense, we held them to like 27 points in the second half. We couldn’t lose the first game back after the All-Star break. We didn’t want it to come down to the wire. Hopefully he’s alright (Greg Buckner). It seems like every game someone gets hurt. Hopefully we can get everybody back."

BOBCATS QUOTES

Bernie Bickerstaff - Charlotte Bobcats Head Coach
"The beginning of the third quarter was atrocious. Most of our errors were unforced. We had twenty assists in the first half and five total assists in the second half. We had an inability to sustain anything and also we missed our shots. Our defense did a nice job. We got tired. Denver started to make shots that they didn’t make in the first half. The right guys took shots and they were good shots but we have to make them. Our rebounding sucked."

Jake Voskuhl - Charlotte Bobcats Center
"I thought we played well together. We shared the ball, we rebounded, defended, got quite a few steals, and turned those steals into points. Unfortunately, we really didn’t get it done in the second half tonight, and obviously that’s why we didn’t win the basketball game. It’s hard to place your finger on it, to say that it was one thing. It wasn’t an issue of guys being selfish, I just think that Denver went in at half time and made some adjustments. They’re a good basketball team, and that’s what good basketball teams do. We did not do a good enough job making adjustments to their adjustments. We just didn’t make the adjustments to get that win."