Postgame Quotes: Suns at Jazz, April 4, 2012

“For us we look at every game as kind of a playoff game, and for us we are trying to play to stay alive in the playoffs. They are a really good team in this building, I think they are 19 or 20 and six or seven. So to come here and win is really difficult. Great win for us.”

On how he felt Millsap played

“You know Millsap got loose a couple of times. You know the one thing he has really improved at is his ball-handling skills, as far as taking the ball to the basket. So he makes it a little tough on the four man that is guarding him.”

On how he felt Gordon Hayward played

“I just think Hayward is one of the bright young stars in the league. He’s the whole package, he can put it down, he can shoot it from the perimeter, he is a slasher and cutter and on top of all of that, he is a really good defender.”

On how he felt the bench played

“I thought the bench came in and played really well. Michael Redd did a great job for us, Sebastian (Telfair) did a great job for us and then the starters came back into the game and finished the game. Steve (Nash) made two big shots for us, which I have seen that the last eight years.”

“I think to be over .500 right now we’ve overachieved. We are gaining confidence and we believe that we can keep winning. The spirit is good. Guys are sticking together and playing hard. When we were 12-19 it could have gone the other way. Obviously we hung together. The coaches have been phenomenal. We’ve stuck with it. We played hard and persevered and we are being rewarded for fighting hard.”

On the final play to put the Suns ahead

“We ran a play to get Channing (Frye) a shot and then Michael (Redd) a shot and neither of them got it. The ball kind of fumbled to me. I was able to get Millsap, I think, off his feet and I was able to lean in and just make one. I knew we didn’t have a ton of time, but I didn’t have to rush. I saw Gortat open under the basket, but I didn’t want to mess around with it.”

“I just wanted to come out and be prepared to play whatever amount of minutes Coach gives me and contribute the best I could. Tonight my teammates were finding me and I was just in good rhythm. Tonight was a team effort, we played well together tonight. It’s a tough place to win and we did a great job tonight.”

On the second units play

“It was huge. Again, it was a team win and we just try to pick up the slack with Grant (Hill) not around. We just try to elevate our games. It was a great win, we just need to keep doing it.”

“The first quarter we came out and weren’t as aggressive as I thought we would be. I thought we would be more aggressive towards them. Our rotations weren’t as aggressive as they were in the second half. I thought we did a better job rotating. We can’t wait to get ourselves going, we have to be ready to go at the beginning and set the tempo. We did it in the second half.”

On Steve Nash

“You get the ball in his hands and you know he is going to get something good for his team. He just gives you that confidence. He is who he is. He is a great player and he made great plays for them down the stretch. He made two big buckets to get them a win.”

“You expend too much energy trying to get back into the game. We have to be able to play like that from the second we start, and I know everybody keeps saying it, we keep saying it, but if we don’t do it, it’s not going to make a difference if we keep saying it. We’ve just got to come out and play. If we play like that from the beginning, we win the game…hands down. If we play with that sense of urgency, we make up for the mistakes. When you make mistakes during the game, playing hard is how you fix it.”

On the playoff race

“We can’t let it take over our focus. We have to come in and play one game at a time. We have to be able to play the way we played in the second half of that game. Our backs are against the wall, and there should be a sense of urgency. We have to get in the game now.”

“We have to be better early on in the game. We made a run in the fourth quarter, but they (Phoenix) hit some big shots, so you have to credit them. It’s a tough loss.”

On the tempo of the game

“We started the second half, kind of were up and down a little too much…but once we slowed it down a little bit, we were more aggressive defensively, and we made our run at the end. We just have to be better.”