 | Suns Head Coach D'Antoni
“I thought [it was] a great game. I thought our intensity – especially after the first quarter – picked up and I thought it was wild and willy out there. Bodies were flying all over the place, both teams played hard and well, and it seemed like last year or our past battles. Give it to them, they won this one, and I don’t resent to play a little bit better but I’m pretty pleased in the way we played.”
(On whether the first-quarter deficit was too much to overcome)
“Well, we got into it a couple of times and you’ve got to give them credit, too. They were the aggressors at the first of the game then we picked it up and we came all the way back and couldn’t quite get over the hump and made some turnovers that were costly but they kept battling and that’s all you can ask for. This is December, this just one game and I’m pretty pleased with the toughness that demonstrated, especially in the last three quarters.”
(On the disappointing start)
“Darn, it’s hard. Y’all can write what it is you want to, but they’re battling out there. There’s grown men out there battling, and these guys are good. Obviously we didn’t quite have enough juice at first, or they had more, but then we adjusted and we battled all the way down to the end and that’s all you can ask for.”
(On a tough third-quarter stretch)
“Yeah, little bit, yeah, but we scored 105, we shoot 52% and that should be enough and we didn’t win it enough tonight. They hit the timely shots, we didn’t and they stayed on their shooters, we were dunking the ball, but just couldn’t quite get over the hump and it comes down to big plays and they made a couple of better plays than we did.”
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 | Suns guard Raja Bell
“We’ve played well in second halves and been able to turn it up and get back in games, but in this league that’s not good enough. We have to find a way to have that energy and defensive intensity from the beginning, and we haven’t figured out how to do it yet.”
(On feeling good about overcoming big first and fourth quarter deficits)
“Yeah, but ultimately you lose. That’s a game we feel that if we can put it together from the beginning of the game, we win that. There’s no moral victory there in my book.”
“We started getting some stops. We just couldn’t string the stops and buckets together at the right time. It seemed like we would get a stop and then they’d get a stop. And then they’d score and we’d score. So it was matching possessions, and we needed to string together some stops and some buckets to close that gap and we weren’t able to do it.”
(On Steve Nash’s missed shot at the end of the game)
“When it went up, I just knew it was good. But that’s a tough play when all your momentum is going one way and you have to throw such a big fake at somebody, and then reverse directions and get it all the way up from 20 feet. We can’t put him in a position to have to save us here every time. These are games, if we come out and do what we’re supposed to do early, we should win this game. And that’s putting a lot on his shoulders at the end of these games.”
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 | Suns forward Grant Hill
“We played them to the end. We got stops. We did what we had to do down the stretch, but we spotted them a little too many points there in the first quarter. I think they played a hell of a game, and you have to tip your hat off to them. They were really good.” |
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 | Mavs Head Coach Avery Johnson
“We were really active, energy was good. Guys were competing at a high level. You don’t necessarily want to be on the losing side and we’ve been on both sides with this team. The games are always so highly contested and are always coming down to the wire. We had energy. Thought our energy was good. We were back and forth pretty much all night and we were fortunate to have a few more points than them at the end.”
(On allowing Suns to capitalize on turnovers)
“We were really going good early. We just got burned by a couple of turnovers there in the second quarter. We were on the verge of really getting a pretty substantial lead there. Turnovers hurt us tonight and that’s why they had 43 fast break points. But other than that, besides giving up those points off turnovers, I thought, defensively, we were really competitive. You can’t turn the ball over against this team like that and expect them not to make you pay the price.”
(On Stackhouse)
“Biggest play of the game was Stackhouse’s assist to Dirk on that 3-pointer and Stack wasn’t having one of his better nights, but again, he got to his four assists. And when he gets four assists, we’re pretty good.”
(On Suns vs. Mavs)
“It’s a heavyweight match-up. Their team has been to the playoffs quite a bit – deep into the playoffs. They have quite a bit of experience. They haven’t changed much. We haven’t changed much. And just when you think you’ve got them down, they come back. And, probably, when they think they get us down, we come back. Again, I’m proud of our effort.
“I don’t think we’re going to win consistently giving up 50 percent from the field shooting and 60 points in the paint. But at the same time, our offense has been carrying us pretty good. We are getting four or five guys a night in double figures. We’re moving the ball – 19 assists tonight, that’s a little low for these days – but when you are playing a guy who is really a stud at point guard that knows how to run a team. But at the same time, I thought Devin Harris was really competitive tonight. He didn’t have to take a backseat to anybody.”
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 | Mavs guard Devin Harris
(On Steve Nash)
“He’s a tough player. It was a good match up and it kind of went back and forth. Obviously we should have kept the league a little bit longer and kind of gave up our leads in the fourth and in the second quarter. It was a tough battle and it’s always fun playing against him. He’s very gritty, very competitive and he brings the best out of you.”
(On getting into the paint)
“It just was what the defense was giving me. Obviously we got a lot of stops and it was a back and forth game so there was a lot of transition. I thrive on the open court and was able to get to the basket tonight.”
(On having fun with teammates)
“It’s fun out there, guys are laughing we’re joking around and we’re still serious and the same time. We want to win and we’re going to win, but we’re having fun doing it. The locker room is a lot more loose and guys are relaxing. The more relaxed we are out on the court the better we play.”
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 | Mavs forward Josh Howard
“It was a game of runs, but we just stayed aggressive, stayed confident and finished the game off.
“Both teams got up and down the court well and made some big shots, but in the end we finished the game off.
“They (Phoenix) are an aggressive team in the pick-n-roll and they have awesome scorers in Nash and Stoudemire so we knew they were going to hang around, but in that first quarter I’d like to take my hat off to Damp (Erick Dampier) and Dirk. Both those guys really came to play tonight.”
(On Eric Dampier’s play)
“Damp’s our catalyst on the defensive end, we feed off of him. For him to do the things he’s done the last two games has helped out the team a lot.”
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