George Karl - Denver Nuggets Head Coach
On the Raptors
"They did a lot of things really well. I’m really impressed by their team and I think they might have the best talent in the Eastern conference - best talented team with their two guys not playing. Their eight, nine guys, they know how to play. Detroit (Pistons) probably has the best starters in the league, but this team just has some great players and a chance to be a great team."

On what was most impressive about the Raptors
"I’m more impressed by their unselfishness to play together. Their size – they are not a great individual defensive team but they start three big kids that get in the way. We didn’t start the game with much energy; we definitely got caught off guard with the intensity in the game. But even when we tried to fight through they did some great stuff."

On playing back-to-back games
"I give them (Toronto) credit. They know last nights’ game could’ve taken some mental energy out of us and they came out buzzing and that’s the way they should’ve attacked us. They got us down and we could never come back, we didn’t shoot the ball well enough. Their big guys bothered our penetration and we didn’t make enough early shots in the game and their offence swarmed us. It happens five-seven times a year where you kick someone’s butt. We beat Phoenix (Suns) by 40 a week ago and you see games like that all the time. You know, our gas tank was empty, and their gas tank was full."

Allen Iverson - Nuggets Guard
On starting slow and being unable to recover
“Yes, they jumped right on us, they had the energy, they used the crowd, and they just played well on both ends of the court. You can’t take anything away from them."

On whether or not last night’s tough loss played a factor
"No, last night was last night. We came in with a whole different mind set, we came in trying to win a basketball game. They were just better than us tonight."

On what about the Raptors was most impressive
"Just them getting up and down the court. I don’t know if they make shots like they did tonight. I haven’t gotten the chance to watch them for a whole game, but tonight they just wouldn’t miss any shots. They had open looks and they knocked them down. They were just hot."

Carmelo Anthony - Nuggets Forward
On the game
“It was a tough loss for us, especially after last night putting all our energy into trying to win that game. Coming out tonight, not taking anything away from the way they played, they played awesome, they played terrific, and they made shots. When you have a team that shoots 70 per cent from the field, 70 per cent from the free throw line, you can’t really do anything about it."

On his performance tonight
"I am not too concerned about that. I will put this game behind us, we have to learn from it, try and get better and go into Cleveland and try and win another one."

On it being just one of those nights
"It was just one of those nights that a team shot pretty well. We missed shots, they hit shots, it was just one of those nights. We have games like this a lot in 82 games."

RAPTORS QUOTES

Sam Mitchell - Toronto Raptors Head Coach
On Denver’s start of the game performance
“I mean coming into the game we talked about trying to hold Carmelo (Anthony) and A.I. (Allen Iverson) to a certain amount of points but never in my wildest dreams did I think our defence against that team was as good as it was. They hurt us on the boards in the first quarter but we blocked some shots. I think Garbo (Jorge Garbajosa) had probably as complete a game as he’s had rebounding, defensively and shooting the ball. I thought we set the tone. We came out in the first quarter and we went after them. I think we jumped on them and by the time they kind of realized what happened it was kind of a snowball effect."

On the game
"No it was the defence. We set the tone with the defence. I think at some point they had nine points late in the first quarter. It was defence, rebounding, and the way we were moving the ball. We started making shots and then our defence takes off and I thought everybody, it was probably as complete a game we played on both ends as we have all year. It would be hard to beat this one when you factor in assists, even with them on the boards, a team that beat us up pretty bad on the boards in Denver and then the way we shot the ball obviously. Defensively, you got two of the leading scorers in the NBA on one team and those guys weren’t the leading scorers and that doesn’t happen too often."

On thoughts about Chris (Bosh) going down
"Well, we’ve had so many ankle injuries you’re afraid of that, but I just talked to him and it’s a light sprain but luckily we’ve got two days before the next game and we’ll give it some treatment and he said he could of come back but we had such a lead and the way the other guys were playing it just wouldn’t make sense.”

Chris Bosh - Raptors Forward
On his injury
“I’m alright. Luckily it was on a jump shot. I rolled it just a little bit. It’s not bad so I am fortunate for that."

On the first half
"I think we were just concentrating on defence. We came out, stayed aggressively defensively and good things happened for us. Offence was just great. We moved the ball and knocked down open shots.”

Morris Peterson - Raptors Guard
On the game
“I definitely felt good tonight. I was able to knock down some shots but I think overall we played a great game. I think the shot at the buzzer gave me some confidence going into the second quarter, and I was able to knock some shots down. I want to do whatever I can to help us win. We came out and played aggressive in the first five or ten minutes. We rebounded, we moved the ball and that’s our brand of basketball. When we do that I think we can play with anybody.”

Jorge Garabajosa - Raptors Forward
On the career high
“I fell really good because the team won and because I played a good game. Everybody put in a good effort for a great win tonight. It’s a great night for everybody and the Raptors. We have to enjoy this tonight because tomorrow we have to get ready for Boston."

On keeping the pressure on the whole game
"At the beginning everybody saw that we had lots of energy on the court. Then what usually happens is you relax a little bit. Today we kept our intensity at the highest level. The second half was a little different but I think the first half was one of the best this year."

On the play of the bench
"I think that it was a great night for everybody because everybody did something for the team. Everybody put in a good effort on defence and on offence.”