What they said after the Hawks’ 111-103 loss the Celtics in Game 3 Friday night:
"Our players response could be better but at the same time we were focused, we were ready. They threw a heck of a blow coming out of the first quarter and some nights you're just on the wrong side of that. Could we be better? Yes, but I'm not overly critical of how we responded or how we came out, or how we met expectations being on the road. We need to be better and that includes on a road game there's lots of things that add up and hopefully we'll be that going forward." - Hawks coach Mike Budennholzer on Celtics fast start
"The first quarters have been really important in this series so far. They came out and played great. I'm sure there were mistakes that we made, but it was more them playing really well and feeding off the crowd; the crowd was amazing tonight for them. They hit a bunch of shots early, shots they hadn't hit in the first two games and caught us on our heels a little bit." - Kyle Korver on Celtics' fast start
"That's happened a lot of times in this series. I'm not that strong." - Korver on flop by Celtics' Marcus Smart
"The first two were physical as well. But here at home they probably feel a little better about themselves and they were going harder, I guess." - Hawks' Al Horford on physical nature of game
"Well, I mean, we're playing, of our nine guys that played, four of them our point guards, because I included Evan (Turner) in that. So, yeah. Yeah, I mean, and we'll look at what was good, what was not good, and have to adjust some." - Celtics coach Brad Stevens on Isaiah Thomas playing off the ball
"Allen Iverson just said keep fighting, they did what they were supposed to do in Atlanta, now its time for you guys to take advantage of being at home. Then Isiah Thomas just gave me a few tips I cant tell you guys about. He told me what he has seen and he helped me out a lot." - Thomas on texts he received before the game
"Yeah you know, one of the things coach said to just come out and play your game you know, the first two games we came out flat and I just wanted to bring that energy at the start of the game and start the game off right. Got a little lucky there on Isaiah's miss there and that started the game off right." - Celtics' Jonas Jerebko on start, incluing a put-back dunk
