Postgame Quotes -- Dec. 23, 2005

George Karl – Nuggets Head Coach
"This is the best we’ve passed the basketball this year. They were short handed and we took advantage of it. Carmelo and Marcus continue to play at a high level. We tried to make someone else besides McGrady beat us tonight. Luther Head has been hot as of late, but he was off tonight. Our execution was good. When you score 108 you’re doing something right. We played with a lot more passion and heart tonight. We didn’t have that against Washington the other night."

Carmelo Anthony – Nuggets Forward
"It was a must win for us, especially with the streak we were on. We came out with a lot of energy tonight. They were struggling and we were struggling. It was embarrassment; we gave up 116 points the other night. It shows when we focus more, we can play good defense. (Re: Defense on McGrady) We tried to send two people at him. I know it’s frustrating for me. Other players didn’t step up. My shot was falling early in the game. We ran a lot. But in the second half we kind of slowed down a bit. We wanted to get two wins for the holiday, but we let the Wizards slip away. At least we got this one."

Marcus Camby – Nuggets Center
On Tracy McGrady
"We just tried to double team him and get the ball out of his hands especially with Yao out of there. D.J. and Buck did a good job on him. We had more players than they had. It was kind of like the game down in Atlanta when we lost. Never complain about a win, but everyman knows we can play better. We talked about getting off to a better start and coming out with more energy. Andre and Earl pushed the ball and got us off to a good start."

ROCKETS QUOTES

Jeff Van Gundy – Rockets Head Coach
"What you saw was exactly what you would see with a bad lottery team. There was little put into it. It was not a competitive game it was not a competitive spirit. We were beaten by a better team and before the game started by our attitude. We were beaten before the game which was disappointing. It’s not a personnel situation; it’s an attitude situation. We were very weak-minded tonight. It’s not the situation; it’s how you deal with that situation."

Tracy McGrady – Rockets Forward
"It’s just a tough time right now, especially with having a lot of our key guys out of the lineup right now. I’m facing a lot of double teams every night. That seems to be every team’s plan right now. That’s been very frustrating. We’re not shooting the ball extremely well and we’re not playing defense. We have a lot of guys right now in the line up that are playing significant minutes that we’re normally not playing. Right now is just a very frustrating time for our team. Some how, some way, we’ve got to figure things out. We a least have to go out and compete for four quarters. We have to go out there and do that every night and right now we’re not doing that."