See what the Brooklyn Nets had to say after their 135-125 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
KENNY ATKINSON
On holding on for win:
“We just found a way. Crazy game. A lot of back and forth. Ingram was phenomenal of course. He hit some tough shots We took a combination, a haymaker, however you want to call it, a couple of left hooks in the jaw in the third quarter. I thought in the fourth quarter we did a better job and slowed them down a little, but third quarter, they were unstoppable.”
On value of winning close game:
“Hopefully. They tested us, and we did come through. Like I said, we made a lot of winning plays. I will say this, and we all know this, with the 3-point shot, 15 points in today’s NBA is like nothing. You don’t feel comfortable. And the pace that the game is played at, the 3-point shot, there is no lead that you feel really comfortable. That being said, I think they shot 48 percent from mid-range. They hit some tough, tough shots. I thought we had a little bad luck on some of those. I thought we played good defense, but they made shots.”
On committing turnovers:
“We’re gonna look at it. We’re gonna talk about it. We’re gonna get our spacing right. My gut is it’s happening a lot in scramble situations. You run a play, two-down or whatever it is and you run it and they take it away and it’s that next phase. How do you play when they take your initial action away or that initial play. It’s not really on initial play. I do think sometimes we’re playing too fast. We need to do a better job of changing speeds a little better. I think we’re rushing into a lot of mistakes.”
KYRIE IRVING
On needing a win:
“Man, I mean, three in four nights is never easy. No back-to-backs in this league is easy. We don’t want to make any excuses, but obviously we wanted to come out and win this game and really put a statement down for the rest of the week before we go on this long road trip so it was good. We had an intense focus. I know you could feel it out there. I was really just trying to create great energy with the basketball throughout the game and get to the free throw line and create easy opportunities for myself and my teammates.”
On Nets record of 222 points in first seven games:
“I’m happy to go down as another Irving in Nets history. That’s a great thing. I’m going to continue to say it, but it’s a dream come true since I was in the fourth grade, left an NBA Finals game, went home and wrote it on sheet rock. Now to be going in Nets history, I’m always appreciate of different records you break, but obviously doing it at home it’s just a different feeling. But obviously I know the important goals ahead and that’s something that goes in the accomplishment group that I’m very grateful for.”
On closing out the game:
“That’s part of my responsibility – getting in the paint I draw so much attention. Being able to see that weak side, guys are putting the triangle on me when I’m driving left or driving right. That’s part of the evolution of my game, just being able to make those plays as often as I can. Whether I’m scoring or whether someone is getting a wide-open shot – just got to trust it. Continue to trust that the basketball gods will reward you for making the right play. I think they did that for us tonight.”
JARRETT ALLEN
On the win:
"Honestly it went better than it should have. They came back 48 points in the third quarter. One, that's unacceptable. Two, we held our composure and won the game."
On Kyrie Irving's 39 points:
"Honestly, tonight I didn't know. I looked up and said damn he had 32. It was crazy. That just shows he's been doing it every night. Coming with the same energy and mentality to propel us forward. Especially towards the end of the game he took over the game not only on the court but getting us together keeping us on track knowing what plays we're running, what defense we're going to do."
On turnovers:
"We have three days until the next game. Coach already said we're going to be working on a lot of things that we need to so really just slowing down. I know I had a couple of them so if you look a lot of people had the same kind of mistakes."