Postgame Quotes -- Apr. 6, 2006

George Karl - Denver Nuggets Head Coach
"Carmelo seems to have the cockiness and the confidence when it counts. In my NBA career I haven’t seen anyone hit the big shots in crunch time like he has. I thought Francisco played a great all-around game tonight. He might be the reason we won this game. I thought we made Kobe miss a lot of shots. He got a lot of his points in transition. The only thing we did wrong was letting him get to the line too many times."

Carmelo Anthony - Denver Nuggets Forward
On the last shot
"I wanted it in regulation, but they were denying me and weren’t giving me too much. In the overtime, I wanted to put the team on my back, and take the shot. I live for that stuff, trying to get it in the last second. I don’t feel the pressure."

On Kobe Bryant
"Tonight it didn’t seem like he had 40 points. I think Buck did most of that."

On winning the division
"That’s what we went out to do tonight, is win the division, and we took a step in that direction tonight."

Francisco Elson - Denver Nuggets Forward/Center
On his career high
"I wasn’t even thinking about it, I was just trying to stay out of foul trouble and help my teammates."

"It was an incredible shot (regarding Kobe’s four point play). We’ve been in games like that before, and a player like Kobe hits a huge shot. They put our backs against the wall, but we prevailed. He’s (Carmelo) been hitting shots like that for the three years that he’s been in the league. We’re trying to establish our toughness, especially at home."

LAKERS QUOTES

Phil Jackson - Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach
"We kept coming back. I don’t know if we ever led. Lamar Odom had an opportunity to put us ahead. It was an overtime game that we should have won. We have to find a way to win these games. It’s the kind of game you play in the playoffs. Carmelo finally got a shot to go down. He had some time and got a rhythm. I told the team they would triple team Kobe, and somebody else would have to step up."

On falling behind by a lot of points early
"I told the team, "the quicker you fall behind, the more time you have to make it up.”

Lamar Odom - Los Angeles Lakers Forward
"I was picking up some soft fouls under the basket. We were still in contention to win the game. On the last play of regulation I should have taken the drive. I took the pull-up jumper and just hit the front of the rim. Tonight, we were a little bit short. It was the play-off type atmosphere. Carmelo hit a couple of big shots in overtime. Against a team like this, you don’t want to get 18 points down. Every loss like this is tough, but you have to put it behind you. Carmelo off the double-team was really tough all night. We didn’t attack him defensively. It was a good game for us to learn in."

Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Lakers Guard
On Carmelo’s game winning shot
"He made a big time shot, but I’m proud of us though. We came back and played hard. We got into a big hole in the first quarter, and we were able to fight back in the second half. Late in the fourth quarter we were able to make a push, and give ourselves an opportunity to win the game. Both teams played hard, and it’s a shame that someone had to lose. We learned from this game. You gain more experience and maturity as far as execution, and finishing plays and defensive stops. Hopefully when we get into the post-season we won’t make those same type of mistakes."