Suns 113, Pacers 103

Postgame Quotes: Suns at Pacers, Nov. 5, 2008

Terry Porter	Amar'e Stoudemire	Steve Nash	Jim O'Brien
T.J. Ford	Danny Granger

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Suns Head Coach Terry Porter

(On the Suns)
"Very exciting game for us. We knew this game was going to be tough. It was a great character win tonight. They just gutted it out."

(On Amar'e Stoudemire)
"Amar'e really carried us all night. Steals, rebounds, points, everything we needed tonight. We needed every one of those 49 points."

(On Shaquille O’Neal)
"He wasn’t even going to play tonight. He had a great pre-game workout and gutted it out for us tonight."

(On the Pacers)
"I was really impressed with them. I really like T.J. Ford. If they can stay healthy, I like chances.”

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Suns forward Amar'e Stoudemire (49 PTS, 11 REBS)

(On being upset about not getting his career high)
"No, not at all. The most important thing is we won the game. The defensive effort is what I am most impressed about."

(On dominating from the start)
"I worked to dominate from the start. I took it upon myself to go out there and get guys involved and just to dominate offensively and defensively. Defense is something I’ve been keying on this year. I really tried to set a tone early with that."

(On giving the team a spark)
"Tonight, with back to backs, I took it upon myself to give us a spark. I was just totally into it. I was in here before the game preparing myself. And when the ball went up, I was totally into the game."

(On only missing four shots tonight)
"I’m just trying to really stay sharp from all aspects – from the free throw line, field goal percentage, and my all around game. My ultimate goal is to be a complete player.”

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Suns guard Steve Nash (7 PTS, 6 ASTS)

(On the Suns slow start and turning it around in third quarter)
"I think we were able to string together some stops and we made a lot of plays on defense. I thought that is what turned the game around. It gave us the momentum into the fourth quarter and we were able to keep it. We didn’t play well early. It was a tough game for us, but the fact that we were able to pick it up in the third and fourth quarter, it was good for us."

(On Amar'e Stoudemire’s 49 points)
"He was unbelievable. It might have been the best game I’ve ever seen him play since he’s been with us. He was doing everything, rebounding, he shot the ball well, had a high field goal percentage, he was unstoppable."

(On why they struggled early)
"Early on we weren’t mentally or physically sharp. Like I said before it took us a while to get into it. But we were able to find a way to hang in there and it was a good test for us.”

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Pacers Head Coach Jim O'Brien

“That was a terrific performance by Stoudemire. We had no answers for him. The story tonight was Stoudemire. We have to understand and be disciplined to do what we do best. I think we have to move. We stood around in the third quarter. We didn’t have our tempo because they were scoring buckets. We played a brilliant first half of offensive basketball and not even an average third quarter.”

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Pacers guard T.J. Ford (23 PTS, 3 ASTS)

(On the game)
"We started well and they were able to keep their composure and come back. They’re a good basketball team, we knew that."

(On the third quarter)
"We just couldn’t figure out how to do the things that we were doing earlier. We lost our offense, defense and couldn’t get stops. We couldn’t get the spark that we needed. We knew they were a good basketball team, they knew it and showcased it very well tonight.”

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Pacers forward Danny Granger (23 PTS, 3 REBS)

(On the game)
"We couldn’t get a handle on it and struggled in the third quarter. We should have and could have won the game. We had lapses and it costs you in the NBA. No excuse when you let a guy score 49 points on you. He’s good and we respect him, but we shouldn’t let him score 49 points. We got away from our system and it cost us the game.”

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