Post Game -- Mar. 17, 2007

George Karl - Denver Nuggets Head Coach
"Our defense was carried out with intensity and energy tonight. Any time A.I. gets ten assists, we are in good shape. I thought Marcus had a good game as did Steve Blake. We seem to be getting our endurance back as a team. I thought it was a weird third quarter. We gave up 29 points and gained ground. I was worried how we would play in that third. I think Phoenix was a bit tired coming in late last night. I’m not going to jump off the bridge and celebrate this win. I think we wanted this one more than they did. I think we can be a dangerous team to our opponents and to ourselves. We put ourselves in a place of confidence. It’s time to go out and start playing some good basketball."

Allen Iverson - Nuggets Guard
On the good defensive effort tonight
"Just getting at it. Just taking it on as a personal challenge. Understanding they are a great offensive team and if we didn’t come out with a defensive mentality we wouldn’t be able to win the basketball game. But we responded to what type of team they are and played great defense."

On what it is like to be in 'the zone'
"You just want to get one up. You just want to get the shots off and make a lot of shots. The whole thing is trying to get some space just to get the shot off. When you’re in the zone it doesn’t matter if guys are on you or anything, you just feel good. It feels like throwing rocks in the ocean."

On this being a statement game
"I think every game is a statement. Something that we try to prove to ourselves. We’re not trying to prove anything to anybody else. We just feel like we can be a good basketball team. To be able to be a good basketball team you’ve got to transfer the good things you do in practice out on the court during the games. And the negative things you work on those things and make sure that they don’t occur in the game situations. We just feel good about the win streak and we are taking it one game at a time. That’s the most important thing."

Carmelo Anthony - Nuggets Forward
On what this win means
"It really lets us know where we are at as a team. Going up against one of the top teams in the league, against Phoenix. That was just another confidence boost for us going into this big road trip coming up next week."

On him and Iverson finally gelling
"I hope so. The last four games that’s what has been happening. Before these last four games you’ve seen signs of us when we do get it going how good it’s going to be. These last four games have been good for me, been good for him, and it’s been good for the team. We just want to get everybody involved and make everybody else better."

On the defensive effort during the last four games
"I think that’s why we are 4-0, playing defense for most of the game. Going out there and telling yourself everybody get your man and if you get beat we’ve got your back. The last four games we’ve really been approaching the games like that."

SUNS QUOTES

Mike D’Antoni - Phoenix Suns Head Coach
On the difference in the first and second halves
"Obviously, they played great. We are in a little bit of a funk right now, we are discombobulated, but give them credit. We just have to regroup a little bit and get after it. We just aren’t playing real well. We just don’t have a lot of emotion out there or play with any kind of passion. And they did. They are a good team when Iverson and Anthony play like that. They played well so give them credit. We just have to regroup. We’ll be okay, we’re gonna be alright. We’ll right the ship. We are just in a period where we’ve got to dig a little deeper. These guys have been through it, we’ve lost games in a row before and they’ll reflect on it and we’ll be ready next game. They took it to us. Give them credit because they made every shot in the world. When you’ve got guys like Iverson and Anthony coming at you, they are hard to handle on any night. We weren’t hitting threes and were just kind of demoralized out there."

Amare Stoudemire - Suns Forward
"We had an altitude issue. That could have been the case, but they just came out and got us. They played hard nose ball from the beginning to end."

On why altitude would be difficult when you won the last two times in Denver
"It caught us off guard this time. I don’t really have an answer for that question. The players came out and played good as well with A.I. and Melo and Marcus and Nene. Those guys played good basketball out there."

On Denver’s energy
"They got us a little bit on that. Iverson was pretty much unconscious. We couldn’t stop the guy or contain him. We’ll see them next time."

Steve Nash - Suns Guard
"Three games in four days, we’re a tired team a little bit. But you’ve got to fight through that, this is the NBA."

On how to regain momentum
"I don’t know. We have to play with more energy. We weren’t moving around with any energy. They were playing with a lot of heart and energy, and we weren’t, so I didn’t see any way we were going to get back into the game. I don’t know, I don’t have any answers for you. I wish I could give you guys some good quotes, but I don’t know what to tell you."