What they said after the Hawks’ 121-115 win over to Rockets Tuesday:
"Obviously, on the road, against a good team, I'm proud of the way our group fought. We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole. I think you have to give Houston credit for how they play. I think they were 69 percent from the field and 69 percent from 3-point line in the first half. We couldn't guard them. We couldn't keep them in front of us. They were very, very good. They had everything they wanted. In the second half, we played better defensively. We worked to keep them in front of us a little better. Obviously, we had guys step up on the offense end and make big shots. Al Horford was shooting the ball extremely well from the 3-point line. (Kent Bazemore) made some big shots. Paul (Millsap) was big everywhere. Jeff (Teague) was good. Those guys really stepped up. It's a very good win for our group on the road." – Coach Mike Budenholzer's opening statement
"I thought it was good individual defense. (James Harden) is such a creative offensive player. He gets to the free-throw line. He knows how to create contact. I thought Baze was disciplined showing him his hands. Disciplined on giving him the foul. Then I think he was able to knock the ball away a little bit and cause the shot-clock violation. Harden with the ball at the end of the game is not something anyone wants to see." – Budenholzer on Bazemore's shot-clock violation defense on Harden in final minute
"I thought Edy (Tavares) helped us. Ten minutes, I thought he was really good. He made a few plays, rebounded and he made a couple plays he'll learn from and he'll be better the next time he plays. It was great to see Edy get in a game." – Budenholzer on Tavares
"It's a two-folded thing. Harden is a great scorer. If you can maybe give your defense a break from having to guard somebody like that and put somebody who struggles a little bit or has poor efficiency or not the efficiency of where Harden is (from the free-throw line), then you have to take advantage of it." – Budenholzer on late fouling strategy
"It's a coach's decision. We gave Shelvin (Mack) a look and continue to grow and develop the roster and continue to grow and develop Dennis (Schroder)." – Budenholzer on not playing Schroder
"I didn't even know it was a shot-clock violation. I was trying not to foul him or let him get a 3. Help defense was solid down the stretch. Forcing them to the paint and having them finish over Paul and Al was what I wanted to do. I stayed on his body and got a stop." – Kent Bazemore on shot-clock violation defense on Harden in final minute
"It's easily the biggest win of the year for us. It feels great. To overcome a tough loss last night, physically and emotionally, for us to respond like this against a very good team at home says a lot about us. … I think Coach Bud is the happiest out of all of us. To have that start, overcome all that and respond says a lot about this team." – Bazemore on win
"I think they were giving it up. I think they played to the percentages. I'm glad Al really stepped up and knocked down some 3's and really opened it up for us." – Paul Millsap on Rockets strategy to allow Hawks bigs 3-pointers
"We felt comfortable coming in at halftime that (the Rockets' shooting percentage) is going to do down. It would be us to go out there and play aggressive defense. We were about to push them down a lot. I think the defense really stepped up and made it tough on them." – Millsap on Rockets' hot start
"As a player, I'm impressed the way guys stepped up, the way guys kept their focus. The focus was there. To go down 19 and come back and go down 11, it was a roller-coaster of emotions that we were able to keep in check." – Millsap on win
"It's a game of runs. We put in the effort to get back in the game. We knew they had another run. They are a great team at home. Baze said keep chipping at that wall. It will break. It broke." – Jeff Teague on win
"I'm going to be honest. They are a very capable team. They did it for the first half. I don't think they could have kept the 73 percent (shooting percentage) but they could have kept shooting really well. The biggest thing is we had to contest better and not give them any easy baskets. We did a much better job of that in the second half." – Al Horford on Rockets' hot start
"Kent just manned up. He stayed with Harden and made him feel uncomfortable. Once we got that stop it fueled us and gave us momentum." – Horford on on shot-clock violation defense on Harden in final minute
"Kyle (Korver) was very instrumental in letting us know to stay strong and keep playing and not to get discouraged. I honestly thought that was what put us over the top because we could have very easily folded." – Horford on win
"It speaks a lot about our group. Kyle is such a professional that he is going to do other things. Put it this way, I'll give him 10 more 3's to make and I'll live with every single one of them. This was just a bad game." – Horford on Korver shooting struggles
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