Suns-Lakers Quotes: 2/26/2009

(On the Laker’s performance) “Pretty good team huh? You know, they’re good. I thought we started off playing well. I think it was 20,17 and then we turned the ball over some and as I said earlier you just can’t turn the ball over against that team they just make you pay. They’re just so long and so big and we’re so undersized right now. It was tough. They did a good job and took us out of a lot of stuff we tried to do. They made shots early and shot 60% for most of the game. Obviously you’re going have a tough time winning with a team shooting 60%.”

(On the Lakers bench and the team’s depth) “As I said they have great depth. One time they were even bringing Lamar off their bench. Sasha and those guys did a good job. I think Jordan and those guys come into the game and push up defensively. They make it really tough on you. Ariza is a good athlete and they do good things, so yeah they have great depth and they did a great job.”

(On Shaq’s touches and the absence of Nash) “It’s tough against this team because they play a great Zone defense and don’t allow Shaq to get touches a lot of the time. We could have thrown it to him a little more but we were out running early, got some baskets in transition and some easy shots so we didn’t have an opportunity to go in to him. I was satisfied with the way he played. Its tough getting guys touches when we don’t have Steve out there. He creates a lot of easy stuff for everyone, easy shots for guys on the perimeter. He’s able to get the ball to Shaq on the inside so it’s tough when we don’t have him out there.”

(On whether he coaches toward having the best record in the league) “No, don’t coach towards it. But obviously we follow it. You know, what else was on tonight but Cleveland vs. Houston? That’s the only game. So, for the game we saw that looked like Houston might be victor in that game. Yeah, we will measure, you know, how players play in the course of a, you know, season as, obviously, as to what the record is.”

(On whether he can remember Lamar Odom ever being as efficient as he was tonight) “No. He was having a really terrific night. A lot of things off the break; a lot of things around the hoop. I mean, a really good night for him shooting wise.”

(On the bench having an opportunity to play a lot of minutes) “Well, they did. I thought they had a chance to stretch their legs a little bit and play outside their roles. A lot of times in games that are, you know, nip and tuck we have them, you know, under wraps and try to keep them, you know, playing within the context of what they’re in the framework of what the game demands. Tonight they were able to do some things a little more, you know, expansive. You know, some good. There were some good things that went on out there. And some of these guys, you know, got double figures and made some shots.”

(On Kobe’s strong performance in the post) “He’s stealing the post from Pau. We kind of have a “first-in” rule about the post – whoever grabs it. But they have to be efficient down there.”