Postgame Quotes -- Apr. 12, 2006

Nuggets Head Coach George Karl:
"I thought we could have played a little bit better in rebounding the ball and not turning the ball over and I thought we would have had a chance to win the game but end of the third quarter beginning of the fourth quarter Boozer and their rebounding took control of the game and we didn’t have the heart or the energy to fight down the stretch."

"They’re a very good team and do that (get a lot of lay-ups) against everybody, but Marcus helps us there, but I thought is was more our offense and their defense. At the end of the game they got out of control offensively but most of the time other than the first quarter and fourth quarter I thought we did some good things defensively, our conversions and rebounding the ball because we didn’t rebound the ball well enough to get a running game going and that was the way I think we had to win tonight was by run by and play an up tempo game and we didn’t rebound the ball well enough to do that."

Nuggets Guard DerMarr Johnson:
"We’re a real good defensive team sometimes with some teams we don’t look that good at all. These next three games we just need to be a little more focused on our defense."

On the key to getting out and running offensively
"Getting stops. When we get stops its easier to run."

On missing Earl Boykins
"We miss him a lot. Of course we think we play pretty well with the new guys we’ve got and we could use, anybody could use a guy like Earl."

Nuggets Guard/Forward Ruben Patterson:
"We were outnumbered without our big man. Boozer and them guys dominated on the inside and they got second shots and second opportunity shots and that’s what killed us."

"We just want to have a momentum for these last three games before the playoffs start. We just got to have everybody healthy. Getting Kenyon back and Marcus we need them guys because tonight they dominated us inside but when we have those guys rebounding the basketball…we’ve just got to get ready for Sacramento on Saturday you know they’re going to come in playing because they’re still trying to keep that eighth spot. You know they’re going to trying to fight hard so we just got to play hard on our home court."

JAZZ QUOTES

Jazz Head Coach Jerry Sloan:
"I thought he (Boozer) was terrific in the latter part of the ball game. He got the ball, and got on top of the basket, which was very very good. Andrei, I thought was terrific as well because he got himself going and made terrific plays on the offensive end of the floor...and I think he kind of created the idea of passing the basketball, and once that happened, everything else kind of fell into place, and the other guys were passing the ball to the other guys to get an easy shot. I thought we did a much better job really trying to pass the ball and execute. I thought Memo did well too...he found himself the open shots, which he can make."

On Andrei's complaint about not getting the ball enough
"Yeah, we probably didn't get the ball to him enough. We gave it a couple of times to him in the first half...tonight he was in the post a couple of times and we couldn't get him the basketball. That's when guys need to stop looking for themselves, and start looking for the other guy... It was much better tonight in the 4th quarter, because his(Andrei) idea of passing the ball kind of rubbed off on everyone else."

"Devin Brown did a much better job defensively, he cut off a couple of key plays in the ball game, that kind of broke the ball game up."

"Our fans were terrific, they got behind them, and pulled out a little extra energy. That's what home-court-advantage should be a lot more than it was this year."

Jazz Center Mehmet Okur:
"I think we execute the ball well the second half, especially the 4th quarter, so help each other defensively and execute on the other end. We're still alive, so four games left, it's going to be tough three games on the road. It was a huge game for us."

"It's not going to be easy for us, you know cause every game we're gonna play like a playoff game and we knew it was going to be tough and we just need to go out there and play hard … play like we did 4th quarter tonight and I think we'll do fine."

"We're such a young team so we're learning everyday something. I think we learned tonight, especially second half, we came out there we executed, we had fun, we had a great time out there. It's all about playing hard and having fun. I think we did both tonight."

Jazz Forward Matt Harpring:
"We started to pass the ball and just started to play with a little bit more confidence out there and we were getting easier shots, layups and stuff, and that always helps."

"Every game is different, they played us tough for three quarters and it seemed like once we got the lead it kind of just opened up from there. That's what happens late in the year like this with teams on the road. We're just happy to have a win and move on."

Jazz Guard Deron Williams:
On playing the pick and roll with Boozer
"They got to pick their poison. They want me coming off shooting jumpers or they want him rolling to the basket and he can step back. So it's a combination of different things, how teams guard it, sometimes it's open sometimes it's not."

"That was definitely one of our best quarters, especially passing the ball. We shared the ball well, made the extra pass, guys got easy shots and they just really couldn't defend it."