SONICS COACH NATE MCMILLAN:

On the game:
I thought Doc (Rivers) had his boys ready. I thought Boston came out and played solid defense. We had more shot attempts then they did but they made every shot for us tough. Defensively, we just couldn’t stop them. (The Celtics) were more aggressive getting to the basket. They earned the game. They were rewarded by their hard play at both ends of the court. They just controlled the game. They beat us at the game we have had success with; small ball. Tonight they were better. Paul Pierce did a good job of scoring and getting to the basket. (Ricky) Davis came off the bench and had a very good night.

On the impact of Friday's Detroit-Indiana incident on refereeing:
I think that officials always try to control games that they think come even close to what happened last Friday night. I think that has always been a rule and that is why the flagrant foul rule is in effect. Officials always have tried to prevent that.

FORWARD DANNY FORTSON:

On the game:
We had a good comeback, but somehow, some kind of way all the calls went one direction, real fast. That had a lot to do with our comeback. That stopped the comeback, but oh, well, that’s one game. Were not happy we lost, but nine games in a row is pretty good.

GUARD RAY ALLEN:

On the game:
They made a lot of shots, the roles reversed. We really didn’t have anything working tonight. Our defense wasn’t working, our offense wasn’t working and that’s a bad combination.

On why the Sonics couldn’t come back:
We started the third quarter, I got a shot, they got a shot, we got a shot they, they got a shot; we traded too many baskets. We started to get some good offense, but we weren’t getting any good defense, so that whole time it was killing us because we weren’t playing defense. We knew that at some point offensively we would come around the corner.

On the officiating:
When you’re on the road, the calls aren’t in your favor. Sometimes it's not worth arguing. A lot of times I just want to know what the referee saw, but a lot of times there is no need to argue. At home, teams are going to get more favorable calls. That’s just sports.

BOSTON COACH DOC RIVERS:

On the game:
It’s a win. I’ll take it. Very, very good win, because that’s a good basketball team. I thought our defense all game, actually all season for the most part, but our defense tonight was absolutely unbelievable. To hold a team that has been firing on all cylinders, you know they only had five threes made, 5-for-23, they shot 36% from the field, I thought that won the game for us. Our offense - we were able to run tonight, because we were getting stops, and we didn’t give up offensive rebounds.

We came in to the evening thinking that if we could take away their three game, make them use clock offensively, and push the ball up the floor and keep Danny Fortson out of the game - meaning I think he really is their energy guy, you know, he gives them so many things with how physical he is. He gives them their swagger, their toughness. And we really focused on him tonight. I just told our guys, I noticed Al Jefferson came in one of the timeouts and said, ‘Coach, that guy is strong.’ And I said, ‘I can’t coach that. You know, you’re going to have to deal with that one on your own.’ But he is, and so anyway it was a good win for us.

Ricky was awesome. You know, under control. When I told him he was going to go to the bench, I basically said, ‘You’re now Vinnie Johnson. When you come in, just go for it. And if you get out of control, then it’s my job to take you out.’ And what I was more impressed with, he got it in rhythm, he got it under control. I thought the biggest play of the game was when they were making a run and we were walking the darn ball up every single time. Gary (Payton) just grabbed the rebound and fired it all the way up the sideline to Ricky, and Ricky shot a three. You know, if you can get a wide-open shot with 22 seconds left, that’s fine with me. And I think Gary, you know, he was sitting on the bench because he kept seeing me do this (waving his hand) and it wasn’t happening. And Gary walked on the floor and that was a huge play. I thought that allowed us to exhale. You knew that we were going to get hesitant at some point in the fourth, just because of the past, so it was good to exorcise that away from us.

FORWARD RICKY DAVIS:

On coming off the bench:
I got plenty of offense, just been playing a lot of defense over here so far and trying to fit in. Coming off the bench would be a great chance for me to score when Paul is on the bench and lead the second group. It’s going to be a big difference in the first and second quarter.

The coming off the bench just gives me another look with my group with going out there and being free. Hopefully that will be the road: me coming in and being the sixth man.

FORWARD RAEF LAFRENTZ:

On the game:
We had to put up a fight in the last minute and we still had it but we were able to push through with positive offensive plays and get some stops. They took us off the hook a little bit and took a couple quick threes - that was the difference tonight.

On the lineup change:
It was a good look. I think Jiri (Welsch) will play much better - takes a little pressure off this ball handling, off of him in general. Ricky is a great one-on-one player, and he’ll a little more opportunity in that role. Tonight it was a great move.

FORWARD JIRI WELSCH:

On moving into the starting lineup:
I think it worked out pretty well for our whole team tonight, with me being in the starting line up and Ricky coming on the bench. He’s a great player with great energy and he brings a lot of energy to the team when he comes off the bench. It worked out well tonight.

On when he found out about the change:
He didn’t exactly tell me yesterday at practice. He put me with the green team and Ricky with the white team so that’s how I kind of knew that I would be starting tonight. He didn’t really come up to me and tell me anything in particular. It felt good (to be starting again). I don’t know if things are going to stay the same way for next game but it seemed to work out pretty well.

Notes: