Toronto Raptors vs. New Orleans Hornets
Friday, March 28, 2002 – Air Canada Centre

Wilkens

(On being eliminated from the playoffs changing anything) "No, it was going to be an outside shot anyways. We are not shooting the ball well in the second half, but in the first half we shot 47 per cent, the shot was there. I thought we had it going and then we lost Antonio and I thought that hurt us a little bit. After that, we just didn’t shoot as well. We had some wide-open looks and if you don’t put the ball in the basket, it’s tough and then our defence just hasn’t been consistently good at times. We helped real well and doubled and got back, and then some other times we didn’t."

V. Carter

VINCE CARTER

"They are definitely a playoff team but this is a game we could have won. I think we should have won the game. In the fourth quarter, we slowed them down, but one we couldn’t get the rebounds, and two we couldn’t put the ball in at our end. It’s tough when you lose, when you play good enough basketball to still be in it at the end against that caliber of team. They started hitting shots from everywhere and everybody was contributing. We were able to fight back and in the fourth, we had a chance, but we couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”

Peterson

MORRIS PETERSON

"It was a tough game. I thought that when we had an early lead, we should have put them away. They are quick and they bounced back and they put the game away. We didn’t play great defence in the second half. We had some let downs and Mashburn hit some great shots. They controlled the game in the second half and that is what hurt us." (On the fourth quarter) "We had a couple of stops but the ball didn’t bounce our way. We played better defence in the fourth, but it was the third that hurt us. Against a team like New Orleans, they do the things that they need to do in order to win and they put it away from us.”

Silas

PAUL SILAS, Hornets

(A nice bounce back from Orlando?) "I thought our first unit was a little slow tonight and the second unit came in and really picked us up. Moiso tracked the play really well, although under the weather, played extremely well. Kenny got us going and when I put Baron in and had a small line-up, along with Ice (Stacey Augmon), I thought we really took off. It was a hard fought game, they really played hard and came with it, but I’m glad we got the win." (Containment of Vince Carter – was it a major factor even though he had the 20-plus?) We scouted him and told G (George Lynch) how to play him and he played that way and tried to be as physical as possible but Vince clearly wasn’t on his game tonight. You can’t stop Vince Carter when he’s on his game. I thought we did as good a job as anybody could. Trying to force him to his left, flooding the lane when he did get inside, but all in all the defensive effort was very good tonight.

Magloire

JAMAAL MAGLOIRE, Hornets

(On purchasing 70 tickets) "I thought that the people who gave me a call and showed their support via the phone, I thought it would be best that I went ahead and got them tickets. I know that I may have left a couple of people out, but then again the ones that called me were the ones I was able to take care of. I thought that the two games prior to this one, we lost and weren’t doing very well. But this is a big win for us. We have got nine games left in the season and now it is time to fine tune and get ready for the postseason." (On his role in the offense) "It means that the coach has confidence in me and I have an opportunity to play. That is always a good thing.”

Mashburn

JAMAL MASHBURN, Hornets

"The first quarter we were kind of going through the motions and at this time of year you get the attitude that you can show up and beat teams. They came out and played extremely hard, and played with some intensity. They got a lead and we knew what they were capable of once we started giving them confidence. Anybody in the NBA can beat you. You have to come prepared every night to play. This time of year you want to get guys healthy and get a little bit refreshed. It is a grind, and it’s a long year with the preseason, an 82 game schedule and then playoffs. People are nicked up, banged up, and you have to fight through it at this time of year."