SONICS COACH NATE MCMILLAN:

On winning in Utah:
It’s always a good feeling, because you know those guys will challenge you. They’re going to play physical, aggressive basketball. And to beat them here at home, mentally is a challenge. I thought our guys tonight kept their composure, played through the aggressive play. Second half, I thought we got stronger.

On what changed during the pivotal third quarter:
I thought we were playing slow. We were playing at their tempo; we allowed it to become a half court game. There weren’t too many stops, not many hustle plays. But when there were we weren’t getting up the floor. I thought we fell asleep and fell into their tempo, and let them control the game.

GUARD LUKE RIDNOUR:

On the game:
It was just a good game for us. We had two or three nights off; we didn’t want to come in rusty. Its always tough to beat Utah at Utah, so we knew we had to play well.

On starting the game aggressively:
Against Utah, they attack you so quick we wanted to make sure we started the game attacking them.

GUARD RAY ALLEN:

On the game:
I think it was typical NBA basketball. We controlled the tempo in the first half, and they made runs. They're on their home floor, in the third quarter they come out and make a run again. They're at home, I’m sure (Coach) Sloan chewed them out in the locker room at halftime. They got juiced to come back out and stem the tide a little bit.

On Utah's frustration with the refereeing:
That has been synonymous with Utah basketball. It seems like they get every call for the last twenty years. Inside the paint, free throws, trick plays everything. I think with (John) Stockton and (Karl) Malone and the guys they played with, they set a precedent in the league. A lot of guys learned to play a different style of basketball, moving without the ball, from this organization.

UTAH COACH JERRY SLOAN:

On the game:
Whenever we had things going our way, I thought we just kind of fell apart. We couldn’t sustain any energy to continue to do what we wanted to do. ... We were really lost with what we were trying to do.

On the Sonics run:
I felt we gave up way too many easy baskets ... and on top of that we kept turning the basketball over. Unforced turnovers are something that shouldn’t happen and that’s where we seemed to fall apart.

On the Jazz's effort:
I thought we tried hard for most the night - some of the turnovers we just almost handed them the basketball without any kind of pressure on us.

GUARD KEITH MCLEOD:

On the Jazz's turnovers:
I don’t know. I can’t tell you what happened or what it was; one of those days, I guess.

On the Sonics run:
They came out in a zone ... I think that kind of threw us off.

On returning to the starting lineup:
I just came out and tried to play as hard as I can and do what I can do to help this team.

GUARD RAJA BELL:

On the Sonics run:
They changed defenses on us and it took us a while to figure out what was going on; we didn’t execute well against it. It was tough.

On whether the Jazz feel sorry for themselves:
It never feels good to lose. That’s Jerry’s assessment and if that’s what he feels is going on, I can’t argue with him.

On Utah's effort:
I know were playing hard trying to fight to get over the hump and we haven’t got over. I know I sound like a broken record with that, but it’s just what it is.

On the Jazz's turnovers:
We just didn’t take care of the ball; that’s mental errors, costs you ballgames.

2004-05 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive