SONICS COACH NATE MCMILLAN:

On the game:
We played aggressively from the start. It was a very good game. Our entire team was more aggressive defensively and we put a lot of pressure on the ball. Defense sets up everybody, not just Rashard (Lewis). In the second half we tried to take our offense through Rashard in the post. He is our go-to guy. It was a scrappy game. Houston is a very tough physical team. I thought Rashard did as good as you could do against Tracy (McGrady) down the stretch. Jerome (James) made a big stop when he caused the foul from Yao (Ming).

On the Sonics effort:
The scrapping, getting down on the floor, made the difference in the game. We have to make plays like that to win games and we did that tonight.

FORWARD RASHARD LEWIS:

On defending McGrady:
He's a good player and an All-Star and I just tried to keep the ball out of his hands.

On his key steal late in the game:
I kind of stuck my hand in there and knocked it off his knee.

On the game:
You really can't look at the stat sheets on this game because we didn't knock down our shots. We kind of stole this one tonight. It was very nice and a good win for the team to get back on track after the All-Star Game.

On his performance:
I got in foul trouble in the first quarter and I couldn't get into any rhythm. In the second half of the season you are going to see a different Rashard Lewis.

GUARD RAY ALLEN:

On the game:
I know why we won but it is one of those questions you wonder about. We played defense down the stretch and we got some breaks but our defense caused the breaks to go our way. If you want to win games, those are the plays you have to make.

On going to the free-throw line late in the game:
There is no one better. I feel I have a great chance. A free throw isn't guaranteed and I had to go through my routine and then knock down the free throws.

GUARD LUKE RIDNOUR:

On the Sonics poor shooting:
It shows that we gutted it up. Our defense won this game.

On the game:
Houston is a good team and they have been on a roll. This is a huge win on the road for us. Anytime you win on the road, you'll take it.

CENTER JEROME JAMES:

On the refereeing:
They were calling a lot of touch fouls both ways.

On Yao's sixth foul:
I was so happy when they called it against him. I was surprised when they called it on him. I told the ref, 'Thank you very much,' and ran down the court so they wouldn't change it. Vitaly (Potapenko) played a great game against Yao Ming but he gives up about a foot and a half to him. So the size disadvantage hurts him. Coach put me back in the game and my whole focus was to try to keep Yao Ming away from the basket.

GUARD ANTONIO DANIELS:

On the key to the game:
The biggest reason we won the game is because we made all the hustle plays.

HOUSTON COACH JEFF VAN GUNDY:

On the Sonics offensive rebounding:
They're the best offensive rebounding team in the league, percentage-wise, and we're the best defensive rebounding team, and I thought they manhandled us tonight. I thought we spent far too much time looking to the referees to bail us out of physical play, so instead of being the initiators, we were the reactors. I thought we gave up two transition baskets late that hurt, obviously, (Vladimir) Radmanovic's 3, and Ray Allen's breakaway and his two free throws on the loose ball, so we never really made them score against our set defense.

On the loose-ball foul that sent Allen to the line for the game-winning free throws:
If I was on the other end, I wouldn't have wanted that call to decide the game. It's a loose ball, it's a hard play, there was contact, just give it to the other team out of bounds, be very simple.

On the final play of the game:
We gave the ball to Tracy, drove it, they sucked in off (Scott) Padgett and I wasn't at all disappointed in that shot. It didn't go in, but I was fine with the shot.

FORWARD TRACY MCGRADY:

On the final possession:
I was just trying to get to the hole and I knew that those guys were going to collapse on me. I saw Scott Padgett in the corner wide open. There was nobody around him, so I just kicked it to him. He got a good look at it, but it fell short. I didn't think those guys were going to double-team me in a situation like that because they were up two. They surprised me on that. I made the right play, the right decision; we just came up short on the shot.

On being outscored in the fourth quarter:
I think they were a little more aggressive. They got some calls that went their way and down the stretch we didn't do a great job of executing on the offensive end. They just killed us on the boards. They had opportunities to get 2nd chances offensively.

On playing without Bob Sura:
First and foremost we hope that Bob is healthy and able to come back as soon as possible. We just want him to be healthy and that's the first thing. He's a big loss for our team, he does so much on the basketball court. He's a great leader and a great general for us. He's a true warrior.

CENTER YAO MING:

On playing without Sura:
That was the big blow, losing Bobby. He's one of our strongest rebounders and we lost on the boards tonight.

On the reason for the loss:
We will talk about it tomorrow and figure out what it was.

On a potential playoffs matchup with Seattle:
We don't want to think about the playoffs right now. All we have to think about is playing the Spurs tomorrow. When you talk about the playoffs, who knows who you're going to face?

On Houston's 13-game losing streak in San Antonio:
Any streak can be ended, just like our winning streak today was ended.

GUARD JON BARRY:

On the game:
It really wasn't our defense that lost the game. Offensively we were terrible. 34 second half points and you hold them to 87 (points) and 36% shooting ... you have to win that game. I thought we had pretty good looks (offensively). Not having Bobby out there, we had some lineups that we weren't really used to playing. Our spacing was not good and we were a little ragged turning the ball over. I think the game was lost offensively and on the boards.

On the matchup with San Antonio:
They will probably have a little bit of rest, just like we did tonight. It's going to be tough; they've had one loss at their place all year and we've just got to regroup after the loss (tonight), but we'll be ready.

On the Sonics run to close the game:
Our inability on offense, poor spacing, we didn't get a lot of great looks. They had two transition baskets that were huge. I thought we did a pretty good job on the half-court sets, but their transition baskets and our inability to score is not going to get it done.

2004-05 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive