When did you notice you were close to your career-high in assists?
“When there were three or four minutes left in the game. Carlos (Arroyo) told me that I had 17, and I knew my career-high was 17. I knew I wasn’t going to be in for the rest of the game, so I just started calling Rip’s play, so there would be no issue.

(On him and Hamilton’s play:
“I know we just wanted to be aggressive, and get us off to a good start early in the game. We did that, but we struggled a little bit in the second quarter. So we knew, in halftime, that we had to come out and put it on them a little bit. We just wanted to be extra aggressive and our big guys played great. Everybody just played good. There was a great effort by everybody.

On Ben’s frustrations:
“Ben doesn’t speak that much, so when he does, we listen. He was a little frustrated. Everybody goes through that one, two, three times a season even though it looks good on the outside, people get frustrated. We know that, we understand that and we’re sensitive to that. It’s just getting back to our meat and potatoes.”

“I don’t think we made enough stops they were in control of the game after the first half. They got more active against that zone and shooting the ball very well, the two guards. In the fourth quarter I didn’t think there was any doubt. The way they were shooting the ball and we weren’t making any stops, you’ve got to get in the game, you’ve got to make stops, and we never did it.”

On reverses:
“Well I thought they came in and gave us a nice effort when they went to the zone and got it close. But like I said, their guards are too good for us tonight.”

On Billups:
“He’s a hell of a player. I think he is underrated, and he deserves a lot more credit than people give him credit for. I think he’s one of the top in the league.”