Post Game Quotes -- Dec. 13, 2006

George Karl - Denver Nuggets Head Coach
On the game
“Every NBA season you have ten games that are blowouts. Five or six are on your side and three or four are against you. Maybe we hit a wall in the season because our starters are not doing a very good job of getting into a defensive focus. All three games in this road trip, the first quarter has been lay-ups or open shots. It seems like everyone wants to jump into the game scoring and not try to play on the defensive end of the court. You can’t play like this against good teams. Dallas and Washington are good offensive teams -- Atlanta we got lucky with because we came back and caught a team that didn’t have their offensive weapons.”

On the Wizards
“Washington is a great offensive team. I think they are one of the best offensive teams in the NBA. When you give them the confidence, and they have weapons all over the place, it is tough."

Marcus Camby - Nuggets Center
On upcoming games
“We still have two games left on this road trip -- two games we should win. Washington had its way with us but we get to play these guys again.”

On the team
"Ever since we went down to Dallas we have been digging ourselves a hole and trying to crawl our way out. We lucked out and had a great defensive night last night but that wasn’t the case tonight. We let Arenas get his points -- which we all know he is capable of doing -- but we let Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison get into a good rhythm."

Carmelo Anthony - Nuggets Forward
On the game
“I think we could have come out with a little more energy and a little more focus on the defensive end. You can’t take anything away from what the Wizards did. We were embarrassed tonight; I can say that we were embarrassed tonight. The Wizards were able to do whatever they wanted out there. They had every shot that they wanted, jump shots, lay-ups and there wasn’t anything that we could do.”

On the Wizards defense against him
“I think tonight that was part of their game plan, to get physical with me and try and get me a little frustrated tonight. They tried, they were physical with me down there, but I tried to keep going but sometimes things just don’t go your way."

WIZARDS QUOTES

Eddie Jordan - Washington Wizards Head Coach
On the game
“The emphasis was to really keep the pressure on them and to keep the energy up because they came from behind last night to win. We wanted to make sure to take care of the rebounding situation because they are number one in offensive rebounds. They also have a terrific bench. We had to keep the energy up and keep attacking them.”

“I really respect George Karl’s teams; they are never out of it. He is a terrific coach and you need to keep your energy up and keep your execution going to finish the game.”

On Brendan Haywood
“We were happy that he got his rehab and got healthy. He was diligent in that regard. He was looking forward to starting this game and it worked out.”

On Carmelo Anthony
“Carmelo (Anthony) is one of the best players in the league. He is in his backyard and we knew he would have a high level of energy. We wanted to double-team him sometimes. He is good enough to be double-teamed. He is a quick jumper who rebounds his own misses and gets put-backs. He got his points, but we did a good job everywhere else."

Gilbert Arenas - Wizards Guard
On the game
“We got off to a good start. We made shots and we beat them in their own game tonight. We came out flat in that third period at the beginning, but we pushed the lead back up and blew the game wide open.”

On the team putting it all together
“We’ve been playing great basketball the last seven games. We’re five and two, and that Houston loss was a tough one. We’re getting our swagger at the right time -- last year we had a bad December, this year we had a bad November, but we fee good right now.”

On ending the losing streak versus Miami
“Right now we’re not worrying about the streak. We’re going to go out there and play hard no matter how we’ve played them before. We’ve played them without Shaq and Zo, and they still did a number on us. They’ve played without Dwyane, and they did a number on us. Rumor is that Shaq is coming back. It’s kind of funny that everybody wants to come back against us when we play them. We’re playing great basketball right now, so we’re up for the challenge.”

Caron Butler - Wizards Forward
On playing with momentum
“We’re now over a quarter of the way into the season – it’s time to play with a sense of urgency. We can get to .500 with a win Friday, so let’s keep the momentum going. I think we’ve turned the corner. Chemistry takes time – we gave it some time – but now we’re understanding our roles, finding our niche, and we’re seeing some success.”

On the Miami Heat
“I guess they won’t have Shaq, and we don’t know about Dwyane Wade, but we know that Coach Riley will be there, so they’ll be ready. We can’t ever let our guard down against them. We are approaching it like we’re playing the NBA Champs – that’s what they are. We have to gut it out…grind it out…and hopefully we can snap that streak. I was in Miami the last time we won.”