Postgame Quotes: Suns 87, Celtics 104 - Jan. 19, 2009

(On his emotions during the game)
"I think it was a little bit of everything. Disappointed that we didn’t come out and play the way we’re capable of playing. We’ve been really playing a lot better than we showed tonight. It has been probably 20 games – the Dallas game was probably the last game we played this poorly and just got beat up. They came out and the physicality of the game just threw us off. They knocked us off our spots, and we just didn’t resist. No resistance on our part."

"This is the worst of the year. No doubt. Like I said, the way they came out and just gave us a good old spanking. They just were into us early, and the physicality of those guys, they were just picking us up, and really just knocking us wherever they wanted us to go, and we didn’t come close to making them feel our presence on the floor."

(On team physicality)
"It always takes five guys. It’s not a one man sport. One guy can’t be physical, its got to be everybody as a group. Shaq is a big figure, and can be physical, but from the standpoint of just getting knocked off our spots, that’s perimeter guys not popping out aggressive, catching the ball, getting denied easily, so that’s all those scenarios that was disappointing."

(On trying to stop Rajon Rondo)
"The challenge is what everybody’s challenge is with him – keeping him in front. He does a great job of penetrating, getting to the paint, and causing havoc that way." (On whether he was surprised by the Celtics)
"It’s not a surprise the way they played. We haven’t faced these guys before, but this is the way they play. They play physical, they get up into you, and we just didn’t do a good job."

(On Rajon Rondo)
"He’s improving all the time. He’s emerging as one of the elite guards in the league. I think regardless of whether he’s shooting the ball wall and he needs to improve there, his game has improved. I think it’s made the shooting not as big a question; he’s become a better and better passer. He’s a great athlete who does a lot of things for his team on the floor. He’s emerging as one of the elite guards in the league."

(On the Suns' draft-night trade of Rondo)
"Well, we’ve had a few draft-night trades to stay under the salary cap that were difficult in the big picture. Our franchise is built on a business model that tries to stay under the cap as much as we can. It’s just how it’s been."

(On the loss)
"I think it was such an outclassing if you will, from the beginning that it didn’t look promising from the start. Body language, connectivity, all those things just seemed to be lopsided. It was never to be, that’s for sure."

(On his emotions)
"All those emotions, you get angry, humiliated, you feel helpless. You feel demoralized. You go through all those things. It’s not a lot of fun, it’s one of the biggest challenges of a professional athlete to be able to bounce back and pick yourself up."

"We knew they were going to come with this intensity. With a team like this you gotta match it and we didn’t match it. We didn’t match it. No excuses for that."

(On whether he will write this off as just a regular season loss)
"No, I won’t. I don’t write it off. You always gotta come to compete. We’ve got a long way to go and there is no excuse for this."

(On Rondo)
“Rajon, you know, the pace... half court, (Steve) Nash is going to hurt us, if we play half court, half speed. But speed, we just felt that that was our advantage, and then Rondo did it."

(On Scalabrine's defense on Stoudemire)
"He was phenomenal. He just fronted him. We very rarely front, if you’ve watched us. But we just thought tonight was a night we could do it because Scal had the quickness to front. Clearly if he stands behind and Amare catches it, that’s not a great match-up for us. We understand that. And with Shaq flashing to the top, that didn’t bother us because that pulls him away from the basket. So we just felt that that was a good way of guarding tonight. We don’t do that often, but it was great tonight." (On Phoenix trying to take advantage of mismatches)
"That’s how they play now. They really do get the ball low and play in to out. The problem is we just – the way we played tonight – we denied the in pass. We were just not going to let them throw it in there. And it was good for us."

(On playing a quality opponent)
"It was good, especially early. We came out with a great spirit. You know, I’ve said it about four or five games ago, I just like where we’re going right now as a team. We’re starting to make plays for each other. And everything’s about each other. Ray (Allen) made a cut today, just a back cut on the baseline out that was so hard, and it ended up giving Scal a wide-open shot. You know, those are the type of plays we’re starting to do, almost with every possession now, and we’ve just got to keep doing that."

"We felt like we have been playing better and this is a great test for us. Not taking away anything from New Jersey and Toronto, but they’re not as good as phoenix. So this is more of a test for us to maintain our consistency especially with a big road trip coming up in Orlando and Miami."

"When Rajon is up and pressuring the ball and hes active, you can see it in his eyes. He is going to sort of take over and he wants the ball. He and 'P' have a good flow when they run the 1-3 pick and roll and I think that’s one of the hardest to guard and he’s good at diversifying the ball with everybody and at the same time being aggressive with himself. He’s on both ends. When he’s active like that it is hard to beat us especially when he’s up and playing against Steve Nash, it doesn’t get any better then that. He was looking forward to that match up, but like I said earlier, its start to finish with him."

(On guarding Shaq)
"It's like holding up a wall. Go home, knock out the foundation in your house and just hold up the wall. And when it’s about to fall on you, that’s what its like holding Shaq. Just knock the side of the house and when the wall is coming towards you... hold it up for 48 minutes over 2 hours, 15 minutes. Have someone in your house come hold it, you take a break, get some Gatorade and come back and just hold it up. That’s what its like guarding Shaq. Every now and then let it fall on you and try to pick it back up. That’s what its like guarding Big Diesel.

“Baby’s makeup is probably more built for the pounding and the force and more compact. With them two its just like boulder moving boulder. I think Baby’s body is a little more built for that and thought he did a good job of staying down and keeping him. You’re not going to stop Shaq. Shaq’s too big and clever. He’s been in this game a long time and you don’t just score 25,000 points. He has different ways of scoring and tonight when we helped he was effective, but you're just trying to slow him down."

"We have been passing the ball better, taking better care of the ball, and defensively just back to our principles."

(On his role this season)
"I just, whatever it is I need to do, I just try to fill in the blanks, every game is a new adventure and with that I’m just trying to figure out what I can do help the team win."

(On tomorrow's presidential inauguration)
"I’m ecstatic, just being able to step into history, and be a part of it, and we’re all a part of it whether we're there or not. But to actually be down that at DC, I’m just tickled, to be able to participate, and so I look forward to it."

"It was great, you know, I think we started on the defensive end, and we just kept our intensity the entire night. It shows a lot about where we come from, you know, the whole time and the halftime we just kept saying 48 minutes, gotta put it together for two halves, the entire season, tonight, we did a pretty good job of it."