December 9, 2005
SONICS COACH 
BOB WEISS:
On the game:
Our guys had to work their tails off to get this win. I thought we made some good changes in the second half . . . we played a lot of zone because they cut up our man-to-man with their execution . . . that was the difference in the ballgame.
On the difference between this game and Utah's Nov. 22 win in Seattle:
Our focus was better. When we played them last time, we knew how many guys they had out and tried to win the game in the first three minutes. We (felt) like we gave them one there and we needed to get one back from them.
On 
Reggie Evans' performance:
He did a great job rebounding and giving us some energy, but he also guarded (Mehmet) Okur, so he had double duty tonight.
GUARD 
RAY ALLEN:
On the game:
We felt like we should have beat them (in Seattle) . . . we took them for granted because of their injuries. Tonight we focused in on what we needed to do and played a full four quarters.
It wasn’t easy; the score isn’t indicative of how hard the game was. We still had to grind it out and execute. You can never think they’re going to lay down and be and easy win.
FORWARD REGGIE EVANS:
On the game:
We played a little like last year’s Sonics tonight. Everybody finding each other for open looks . . . that’s Sonics basketball. It felt good tonight.
On the Jazz:
They play real good team basketball, they always come to play. We let Okur get off last game so tonight he was our focus. This time I got a chance to guard him for four quarters . . . we did a good job defensively on him. I just wanted to stay in his face tonight and not give him too much room. All those guys from overseas can shoot so I wanted him to work for everything.
UTAH HEAD COACH JERRY SLOAN:
On the game:
Well, they just had us totally confused as what we were trying to do. Everything we tried to do offensively, they had us confused with that. And they had us confused with their ability to get an offensive rebound; it really hurt us. I think Reggie Evans had 18 rebounds and seven offensive rebounds. And those types of things kept giving their team chances, they step out and make 3s, make a couple of passes and it didn’t make a difference how we tried to play them. We had a difficult time. We were concerned about the guy making a 3, then would go to the other end of the floor and start walking around and if they matched up zone against us, we just kind of stood around. That took us totally out of what we wanted to do. They had, from the game we played up there, they had taken us lightly, and I think it looked like we took them lightly tonight, and we have no reason to take anyone lightly.
On what happened in the second quarter:
We didn’t know how to match up with them. When they were in a zone, we didn’t know if they were in a zone, we didn’t know if they were in a man-to-man, we just started looking around to see where we could get help. And consequently, we couldn’t shoot the ball very well out of it and we had too many turnovers, and if we took a shot, we had trouble running back down the floor and trying to guard them. We lost all confidence in what we were trying to do. And that happens with a team like that. You have to be able to judge, you have to be able to think … when you walk through it, and don’t pass the ball, you come out of it with nothing.
On Andrei Kirilenko:
Andrei did terrific - he played his heart out. We get one guy playing well, three or four guys drop off. We’re not good enough to play that way, or good enough to compete that way.
FORWARD ANDREI KIRILENKO:
On his performance:
Not good enough. I mean pretty good defense, but I missed lots of free throws.
On the Sonics offense:
We just stopped executing and we just need to help each other defensively because they were just standing on the perimeter with four guys and making the extra pass. It was just like a shooting drill.
On his team's concentration:
We need to become more consistent because I think we aren’t consistent enough. We keep concentrating for like 25 minutes and then we just drop our heads and we forget about everything.
GUARD DEVIN BROWN:
On playing 19 minutes despite scoring 14 points:
You come out and you have a start like that and think you’ll get more minutes but then you don’t. It’s frustrating. It needs to be more defined in what kind of rotation that we’re going to have. We don’t have a defined rotation. It’s just confusion.
On defending Allen:
Ray Allen had nine points at halftime and nine points through the middle of the third quarter. We made him take tough shots, doing everything you’re supposed to do.
2005-06 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive
