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POSTGAME QUOTES
NOVEMBER 15, 2002
ROCKETS COACH RUDY TOMJANOVICH
On the game:
"A miscue here or there, you look at the final box and it’s really close. A few more turnovers for us and a missed shot here or there made the difference."
On Marbury’s game-winning shot:
"We knew it was coming, and we talked about it. Our help came over but he made a great, great shot. He didn’t get all the way to the basket so he made a runner, and that’s a big-time shot."
On Francis’ final shot attempt:
"Same play (as Marbury’s). We cleared out a hole and he tried to drive into it. They ran a guy in there and he popped it to the open guy. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. I was happy he found a guy for an open shot."
YAO MING
On his bench role:
"Coming off the bench is definitely a different role for me, but when I was in there I got a lot of touches in the offense."
On not being in the game at the end:
"That’s one of the reasons I can only play about 15 minutes right now. I don’t have enough NBA experience. I need to accumulate more NBA experience."
STEVE FRANCIS
On the game:
"We had good balance, but I look at myself and I look at Cuttino (Mobley). He didn’t get enough shots for us to win. He only shot the ball nine times. We can’t win if he only shoots nine times. He has to get more shots than that, regardless of our balance. He’s one of our most prolific scorers."
On the last play:
"I was trying to get to the bucket. If I couldn’t get to the bucket I was trying to kick it back outside."
On Marbury’s winning shot:
"We had good defense. He threw the ball up and you know it went in. That was the type of defense we were playing the whole game. He was fortunate enough to make the big shot."
SUNS COACH FRANK JOHNSON
On the game:
"This was the first game in which we scored 20 or more points in every quarter. And again, our defense certainly rescued us tonight. I like the fact that we got 21 assists out of Penny (Hardaway) and Steph (Marbury). That really helped us tonight."
On Marbury:
"Steph did a hell of a job on Steve Francis tonight, he held him to 5-18 from the field and he’s been averaging 30 points a game, the second leading scoring in the league and that was huge."
On Yao Ming:
"Yao did a nice job tonight. When we had Amare (Stoudemire) on him, it was a tough matchup for Amare. He can play and he’s going to be pretty good. You always have to stay into him because if you give him any room, he’s skilled enough where he can make shots and do some things."
SHAWN MARION
On the game:
“The win felt good. We had to buckle down and play defense. They hit some shots tonight, but we played good defense. They’re a really good team."
STEPHON MARBURY
On his game-winning shot:
"I think in those situations, you have to go to the basket hard, and that’s what I did. They were in the penalty, so they were a little bit passive as far as going to the basket, and it went down."
JAKE TSAKALIDIS
On the game:
"We played good defense. We had some problems with the rebounds, but we still made them work, made them take tough shots. This was great win for us. Last couple years, since I play here in Phoenix, we always have problems with Houston here. They always play against us good."
On Yao Ming:
"He's long. He needs work. He's not enough strong for big guy. He can shoot. He has feel from outside. If he take inside position, he's just so long, he don't need to jump to dunk ball. But he's OK if he work."
ANFERNEE HARDAWAY
On the game:
"It was a great game for us. I would have hated to have lost this game. The Rockets, for whatever reason, always play well here in our building, and they always make shots, and I’m just glad we got out with a win to keep our streak going."
