Postgame Quotes: Suns vs. Spurs - April 25, 2012

(Opening Statement)

“It was an interesting year, the ups and downs over the course of the season. We had a rough start trying to get everyone acclimated to the system we were trying to run. Through all the struggles I think we came out of it, roles were defined and guys began to play better. Early on in the season we didn’t shoot the ball well. Our defensive was good and as the season went on I thought we shot the ball well. I thought it was a good group of guys, I thought we played hard and unselfishly. I wanted to see if we could win a game with Sebastian and those other guys in that’s why I left those guys in. It was a game where they could get a lot of playing time and a lot of experience so I thought that was the most important.”

(On Steve Nash)

“I’ve been with him eight years and I’ve always admired him. He always tried to do everything really professionally. He is an unbelievable student of the game. He played with reckless abandonment. Got everyone involved in the game and I always thought he was a guy that made guys better. It’s fun to watch him play. What he’s done for my coaching career is priceless as far as I’m concerned.”

(On the fans’ reaction in the fourth quarter)

“It was obviously amazing to get that type of reception and support. It’s very special because it’s not something that I asked for or imagined to get that type of spontaneous reaction. It’s authentic – the relationship that I thought we had, so it’s great. It really feels special and the fans have been phenomenal. It meant a lot to me to play in a city like this for as long as I have and to feel important to the fans and the community. And I just feel like a really lucky guy.”

(On this season)

“This was a rewarding year. This was a positive season. Obviously, I’m used to playing in the playoffs and that’s important to me, but you know we took it about as far as we could this year. It’s inevitable with a change and from some of our flaws, we weren’t going to have a good start. We struggled and the most important thing was the coaches stuck with us and never let us give up and found a way to make the pieces work to be greater than the sum of the parts and here we are with a chance to get in the playoffs, and here we are ending .500, which is pretty fitting. We hung in there. So there’s reward to be had. It’s not a championship, it’s not the playoffs and so were disappointed in that, but when you look at it we were greater than the sum of our parts and we had a lot of guys who sacrificed and fought and made this a pretty good year. ”

(On his first season in Phoenix)

“I wish I could have been summing it up after a playoff series, but a pretty good season for me. I thought I got a lot of positive things: that I got an opportunity of a lifetime this year, I think I proved a lot on being consistent and I’m real excited for myself.”

(On everyone contributing to win)

"That’s who we are. We need everybody that we have. The guys have been great all year supporting each other, making the right plays. I’ve changed the lineups and rotations at different times, the guys just come out and play and make the most of the minutes on the floor. We’re going to need that to continue to get better."

“I think the guys feel good about their effort. We’re all happy; we wanted to get sharper and better when the night was done. There are always things we can do to get better but there were a lot of positives tonight. I think that at this stage of the season being healthy becomes priority number one. But you still want to have a rhythm and have guys playing and feeling good so coming out healthy was most important. Guys playing well was just a nice added bonus.”

“I think everybody had to step up tonight without the big three. Well I got more touches and more opportunity to play my game and I think all of our team did a great job to win this game. We knew they have some pretty good guys that can offensive rebound, like Gortat and Lopez and we just tried to block out and take care of the basketball every time. Patty was shooting well and everybody was playing well and we won this game.”

“It’s one of those funny situations: end of the season and resting guys. As crazy as it is it does make a lot of sense. I thought for the main guys to go back and recharge the batteries before the playoffs, that a chance to give the other guys a great opportunity. Just to play with confidence and play up and down and I think we made the most of it.” “I think from the first guy to the last guy we came in and came away with the win. When you’ve got a group of guys that have a real understanding of their role you can come out with so much more. Again, it’s a small opportunity and making the most of it.”