What they said after the Hawks’ 111-92 loss to the Pacers Thursday:
"Obviously we hit a wall at the four-minute mark. I think it was 91-90 and they got the free-throw line twice in a row to get up to 96-90 and we were never able to regain our footing. We fought back to get to that position. We just need to be smarter on both ends of the court. Move the ball better. They shift and attack the ball well. When you move it, there are opportunities. When you don't you end up not getting what you need to get. On the other end, they run a lot of screen actions. Monta Ellis had a heck of a night. He was 5-for-7 from the 3-point line. George Hill is 3-for-4. Credit. They made shots. They made plays. We just couldn't keep up down the stretch." – Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer's opening statement
"I don't want to say tired. To make a good play. To make a good decision. To make a good defensive play. I don't think it's just tired. There is a point where you are playing well and doing things well and we just didn't make plays down the stretch." – Budenholzer on team hitting a wall in fourth quarter
"They were making shots. They did a really good job defensively. We had some careless turnovers. They got in the bonus too. Give them credit. They played better than us." – Al Horford on Pacers' 23-2 run to close game
"We had a hard-fought game the other night. We were very close to pushing through. We had some mental errors at the end that changed the momentum to their side." – Horford on hitting wall
"The two times we've played them we've done a really good job on (Paul George). That's a priority for us. I think maybe we need to do a better job on (Monta) Ellis too." – Horford on containing George
"We didn't do anything right that last few minutes of the game. We missed some defensive assignments. They hit some shots. We had turnovers on the other end. Missed some shots. The thing just snowballed on us. We have to be better at the end of the game." – Kyle Korver on Pacers' late run
"You never want to make excuses for something like that but we certainly significantly tailed off there at the end." – Korver on hitting wall
"We all, starting with me, have to play a little bit smarter. I think we almost fall into the same trap where we don't move the ball enough. We play our best when we play with everybody who is on the court. We share the ball. Sometimes, down the stretch, we tried to make something happen after one pass or two or zero. That sometimes gets us in trouble." – Thabo Sefolosha on being outscored 23-2 to end game
About the Author
