What they said after the Hawks’ 89-88 loss to the Celtics Wednesday:
Coach Mike Budenholzer
Opening statement: "A lot of credit to Boston. The second half, their defense and their overall game, we weren't able to get to a lot of things we need to get to. You give them a lot of credit. It's a 48-minute game. They played better for more of those 48 minutes than us. I think we lost some of our discipline, some of the things that we emphasize and do every day. But you always give your opponent credit. There is a reason as we weren't as disciplined as we needed to be. They are well coached. They played hard. We will be better because of tonight.
On fourth-quarter turnovers: "We have to execute. We have to take care of the ball better. Several possessions we didn't get to where we want and our execution was not where we needed it to be.
Al Horford
On difference down the stretch: "We missed some good looks that we had. They hit some shots. We played great defensively the whole game, holding a team to 32 percent you are usually going to win. They made shots."
On fourth-quarter turnovers: "That's a part of it. Definitely affected us. That's not the way we wanted to go into the break."
On loss being bitter heading into All-Star break: "Definitely. There are some things we need to address and clean up to get ready for the second part of the season.
Paul Millsap
On difference in game: "Lack of focus. Simple as that."
On fourth-quarter turnovers: "We can look at the four quarters and say turnovers, missed shots, this and that. The game kind of turned when we gave them a little confidence. When you give a team like that confidence, they are going to be tough to beat. Give them credit. They hung in there and continued to fight and the outcome was good for them."
On losing despite holding Celtics to 32 percent shooting: "Defense was there, man. Defense was there. Full commitment, full focus, wasn't quite there. Something to learn. A year and a half and we are still learning, still learning how to close games, still learning how to keep leads. It's a positive thing going forward. It's a lesson that I guess needed to be taught. I guarantee we'll learn from it."
On loss being bitter heading into All-Star break: "It keeps us humble, keeps us level. We know we should have won the game but it's definitely a lesson to keep us hungry and humble."
DeMarre Carroll
On difference in game: "Lack of focus. We were up 18. We should have just put them away. We played lackadaisical with a lack of focus. Sometimes it's better to happen early than later in the season."
On Budenholzer's postgame message: "He told us we have to be more focused. When we have a team on the ropes we have to learn. We'll learn from it. We had a good 54 games. He told us to get away from basketball, enjoy it and get ready to get back at it."
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