“I think overall, in the second quarter, late in the third and early in the fourth, this was our best effort.” — Center Elton Brand, who had eight points and seven rebounds in 17-plus minutes.
“(Rebounding) was something that hurt us a lot in the first half, especially the offensive rebounds. With Jordan Hill and Pau Gasol, they’re so big and so long and active and athletic that everybody has to participate. Our guards have to get in there and help. It’s something we’ve been emphasizing all year. And the first half tonight, I think our effort wasn’t where it needs to be. In the second half, on both ends, we really attacked the boards.” — Coach Mike Budenholzer on the Hawks out-rebounding the Lakers 27-15 in the second half.
“We struggled tonight (on offense). At one point the ball just stopped (moving). It would go to one side and would stay on that side. We did not compete in the second half the way that the Hawks did. They upped their intensity and we didn’t match that. Hopefully tomorrow we can correct that. We have to compete. Everybody plays the same schedule. We can’t sit there and feel sorry for ourselves. Until we get our guys back, we still have to compete. We have to play better defense.” — Lakers Coach Mike D’Antoni.
“We have to do a better job taking the burden off him.” — D’Antoni on Kobe Bryant’s lackluster (eight-point) performance.
“He didn’t have preseason and I’m sure he hasn’t been able to practice as much as he’d like. We know that was not (the real) Kobe tonight.” — Center Al Horford.
“The Hawks were very aggressive and we didn’t keep up our intensity and aggressiveness. We really would have liked to have won this one, but not it’s gone.” — Lakers Center Pau Gasol.
“We came out and played with a lot of energy. We picked up full court and we got after it. Guys really wanted this win. We had a letdown in the New York game (Saturday). Guys just wanted to bounce back and play well, and we did that.” — Guard Jeff Teague.
“DeMarre is up for a challenge, and obviously Kobe is a big challenge in our league. He had a lot of help, a lot of people participating, but he was in the front of that effort. We’re fortunate to have a player like DeMarre to put on him.” — Budenholzer on Demarre Carroll’s defense on Kobe Bryant.
“That’s what they brought me in here to do. One of my goals, something I’ve told all my coaches every year is that I want to try to make the all-defensive team. I always thought I could be one of those lock-down defenders.” — Carroll on his emphasis on playing D.
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