What they said after the Hawks’ 104-96 loss to the Raptors Thursday night:
"Credit to Toronto. They made a lot of plays. They got a lot of things that we were trying to limit. They got to the free-throw line. (Kyle) Lowry hits a big 3 there in the fourth quarter. (DeMar) DeRozan was great getting to the basket, got to the free-throw line. We've got to be a little sharper, a little bit better, especially on the road against a good team. But we competed, we played hard. We'll just go home now and get ready for a couple games this weekend." – Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer's opening statement
"I thought Lowry hurt us in the fourth quarter. Terrence Ross made some tough shots. The other guys stepped up when we were able to limit DeRozan a little bit. They are a good team. They've got other guys who can step up and make a play." – Budenholzer on limiting DeRozan in fourth quarter
"At the end of the day, they had 52 points at the end of the first half. We didn't finish the first half well. I think we just allowed too many runs. The turnovers, they were just part of it. You create some, sometimes you don't. I don't think we stopped competing or being active defensively." – Budenholzer on Raptors' four second-half turnovers
"Just felt like we were a half-step slow on a lot of things. We weren't very sharp. And they are a good team. Good teams take advantage of that. It just felt like we were a step slow rotating, a step slow to the boards. It wasn't our best game." – Kyle Korver on loss
"We take some positives. At the end of the day, we're not happy." – Tim Hardaway Jr. on loss
"How they closed out the first half, they got their energy. The fans here are incredible so they feed off of them a ton. Once that happened, it's kind of hard to stop a team like that. They have two All-Stars in the backcourt. They were running the show today. You have to give credit where credit is due. They did a good job of finding their guys and their guys did a good job knocking down shots. They also found a way to stay aggressive and finding ways to put the ball in the basket as well." – Hardaway on difference in second half
"You have to give them credit. We did a lot of different things. We just couldn't slow them down as much as we would have liked to. Then on offense, we missed some shots if we wouldn't made would have changed the game. That's just part of the game." – Al Horford on loss
"Maybe our energy went down in the second half and we weren't flying around the way we were earlier. That probably had something to do with it." – Horford on Raptor's four second-half turnovers
"He's improved. He's gotten so much better from last year to this year. Even from the first time we saw them early in the season, he's gotten so much better with the ball, the offense is going with him, he's getting in the paint, using his size to finish up around the rim. He was a tough guard for us tonight. He shot 11 for 20, which is outstanding." – Kent Bazemore on DeMar DeRozan
"Execution. Our execution wasn't very good going down the stretch. They were more aggressive – offensive rebounds, attacking, getting to the free-throw line. That's the game. They were the aggressors." – Paul Millsap on loss
About the Author
