Posted: Jan 30 2008 1:03AM
Mike D'Antoni | 
Steve Nash | 
Amare Stoudemire | 
Mike Woodson |
Joe Johnson | 
Al Horford | 
Anthony Johnson |
Click on a player to read quotes
| Suns Head Coach Mike D'Antoni
(Opening statement): “Right from the beginning our defense was good and kind of took their heart away and we didn’t let up – the second group came in and finished the game up and I thought start to finish this was probably our best effort, defensively. And it’s been getting pretty good in the last few games, so hopefully we can keep it there.”
(On the Spurs game Thursday): “That doesn’t give me comfort that they’re 7-7 (over the past 14 games), because they’re going to come in wounded and desperate and needing a win and so that’s probably when they’re the most dangerous. We know that at the end of the year they’ll be right there with the best teams and you’ve got to go through them, they’re the champs. It should be a great game, for everybody, hopefully, especially the fans.”
(On the difference in defense from the first time they played the Hawks): “In November, Boris had a bad ankle and Amare wasn’t there and we were back in that period where we were up and down and up and down a little bit with what we were doing. Physically we weren’t good back in November. Raja was still struggling with his injuries and we didn’t have Amare, like I said. I just think right now, physically, we’re getting better, we got Grant back and everybody feels good right now.”
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| Suns guard Steve Nash
(On tonight’s game): “I thought we had a good performance, we played with energy and we concentrated and I thought we did that for the whole game. That’s always positive and I think that is what we really should judge ourselves on nightly is our energy and concentration.”
(On commitment to defense): “I think it’s been more consistent. We’ve shown throughout the year that we are capable, but I think our consistency has improved. It was a very good and very solid performance defensively, lots of deflections and blocked shots.”
(On Amaré and Boris offensively): “Amaré had one of his typical performances where once a week or so he just kind of gets everything around the basket and finishes and just dominates. And Boris was just outstanding with everything, passing, scoring, rebounding. And he’s great when he’s aggressive like that since he’s been in the starting lineup.”
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| Suns center Amare Stoudemire
(On game tonight): “We were ready and focused. It’s a big week for us, for the state of Arizona and the cities of Phoenix and Glendale. There’s a lot of festivities going on but we came out focused, understanding our position right now and where we are in our division. We know what it takes to be number one so we’re trying to get there.”
(On confidence going into Thursday’s game): “We feel great about ourselves. We’ve done a great job defensively in the previous games we’ve played, especially down the stretch in the fourth quarter. Our last five, maybe seven, games we’ve been doing a great job in the fourth quarter especially. We’re just trying to make sure we convert that over to four quarters and we did that tonight.” |
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| Hawks Head Coach Mike Woodson
(On his team’s performance): “We just didn’t show up tonight. Marvin (Williams) was pretty good tonight, he competed. The other four guys didn’t compete and it showed across the board. I thought our bench came in and was productive but we had no defensive presence at all. We just didn’t come to play defensively.
“You get a good butt-whoopin’ like we did tonight and you should be embarrassed. We all are embarrassed because we didn’t compete tonight. We have not had a lot of games like this where we have been blown out. But you tip your hat to the Suns. They made shots tonight and did everything the other way.”
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| Hawks guard Joe Johnson
“They came out and set the tone from the start. They came out with great energy and we just weren’t ready to play tonight.”
(On this Suns team compared to the ones he played on): “They are still a great team. They prove that every year by making it to the Western Conference Finals. I think the sky is the limit for them. They are hitting on all cylinders right now and they have always been one of the top teams in the West. They have a great coaching staff and a great group of guys.”
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| Hawks center Al Horford
“I really don’t feel like we had it from the beginning. We didn’t really come out with the right mentality and you could see it on the court. It was a long game. I don’t want to experience anything like that again. I think they were really aggressive in the first and I think for the first time this season we backed down a bit. You have to give them credit.” |
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| Hawks guard Anthony Johnson
“I don’t think we came out with the necessary focus that you need to compete against a team like Phoenix in this building. We came out a little sluggish and they took advantage of it and went out to a big first quarter lead. When you are playing catch up with these guys it makes things difficult. But give them all the credit in the world. They played well tonight and we didn’t.” |
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