Posted: Dec 23 2007 12:52AM
Mike D'Antoni | 
Steve Nash | 
Amare Stoudemire | 
Sam Mitchell |
Chris Bosh | 
Carlos Delfino |
Click on a player to read quotes
| Suns Head Coach Mike D'Antoni
(On the game): “I thought it was pretty good, offensively it was good. Bosh obviously is a handful and I thought we did OK, but we kind of wanted to just to let him go one on one and keep the other guys and not let the other guys go crazy from the three – that’s when they’re really dangerous, but Chris played a good game. Our offense was good all night and we did a pretty good job.”
(On Leandro Barbosa): “Well I mean obviously he’s pretty good. He’s going to have his ups and downs, he comes from the bench and he can’t make every shot. He’s a terrific scorer and a terrific basketball player and he’s back on top.”
(On Amaré Stoudemire): “He’s going to be aggressive as always and we want him to do that. And you just can’t mess with peoples’ minds, you can’t change their games, they have weaknesses and strengths and you just play on the strengths as much as you can and know that not everybody’s perfect. And if you try to get them to be perfect you either get a robot or a shell of a guy and we don’t play that way. We try to play with a lot of confidence and we try to play hard. For the most part this year’s been a little bit more difficult with nitpicking little things.”
|
Top
| Suns guard Steve Nash
(On playing Lakers): “It is going to be tough, they have a lot of length and size which is going to be tough for us if we don’t play well. But if we’re active and hustle defensively and move the ball it is going to give us the chance to win on the road. It’s a big game, they’re playing well and fired up to play at home on Christmas day.”
(On starting Barbosa): “I think it does, it gives him more opportunities by playing 30 minutes rather than in the 20’s. That can help sometimes, but I think it is also that some games you get opportunities and some games you have rhythm and other games you don’t. Tonight he did.”
|
Top
| Suns center Amare Stoudemire
(On the game): “We came out from the start and played strong defensively. Offensively we shot the ball well and that is what it takes.”
“They tried to keep up with us, but we had guys that were just relentless out there. Leandro played well, Grant played well, and Steve did a great job of distributing the ball. As a team we did the job.”
(On Skinner/Stoudemire combo): “It works, that puts me back in my natural position. Whatever works we definitely want the team to go with it. He comes in the game and gives us a lift. That is something we need and the bench as well. Not only Brian, but Leandro and a lot of bench players came out and played great for us. That was big time.”
|
Top
| Raptors Head Coach Sam Mitchell
“The offensive rebounds in the third quarter just killed us. We had the lead cut down to five and were playing pretty good considering all the mistakes we had made but they’re a good basketball team. I’m not going to talk about the NBA schedule because everybody plays the same schedule. You know what, they beat us and they’re a better team than we are right now.
I think they hit a 2 or a 3 on every offensive rebound and when you get good stops against this team, you have to finish the play or rebound the basketball. We felt we could score or get a good shot, and that just killed us.”
|
Top
| Raptors Forward Chris Bosh
“We talked about not giving up lay ups and we still gave up some lay ups. We know they have some great shooters from the outside, but that’s how they get on a lot of runs. You hug your man on the weak side and Amare and Shawn Marion and Boris Diaw started to get lay ups. We should have stayed consistent in our defense and kept our man in front of us, but you know, stuff happens.
It’s tough, it’s constant movement, but it is what it is. You have to find your man, you have to help out and then you have to go out and get the ball. It is tough and it is what you do, but you have to be a tough basketball player.”
|
Top
| Raptors Guard Carlos Delfino
“It happened to us last night and it’s happened to us the last couple of games. I think we need to focus on those third quarters. Teams get those runs and we’re losing games and we’ve got to work on that. I think we have a young team that can develop, but we have to be more focused on that. |
Top
|
