What they said after the Hawks’ 98-95 loss to the Suns Saturday:
"Heck of a shot by Archie Goodwin. He played well tonight. They made more plays than us. We are not making enough plays from the start of the game to the end of the game. Understanding what is important. Dug ourselves a hole early. Dug ourselves a hole at the end of the first quarter with a couple mistakes. We are constantly having to dig ourselves (out of holes) and come back. They guys are playing hard. They are competing. I just think we have to be smarter for more of the game." – Mike Budenholzer's opening statement
"Yes. He hits a contested shot, falling away, two, three feet behind the (3-point) line. Thabo (Sefolosha) is long. He made it. Credit to him for making the shot. I think the defense was, at the end of the day, pretty good." – Budenholzer on final-play defense
"I think he had nine offensive rebounds at the half. He finished with 13 offensive rebounds. I think that is an example. We can't have nine in the first half. He's unique and he's very gifted and he played with a lot of energy tonight but that many opportunities are difficult. That was one of the plays at the end of the first quarter. He taps it out. They get two or three possessions. They hit a 3 to finish the quarter. Those kinds of plays add up over time, over 48 minutes." – Budenholzer on Tyson Chandler
"I think the whole group (is frustrated). I don't think anybody in the locker room feels good. It's a game of mistakes. Nobody is going to play a perfect game. We talk about being a team that makes less mistakes over 48 minutes. We just have to have less of them and be better." – Budenholzer on frustration
"Our team is either going to learn a lesson or we're not. We are going to decide to be a great basketball team and play with the effort and attention to detail that we are capable of or we're not. If we are not, we will keep on hanging in the middle of the pack. If we do, we are going to be a really good team. The first half we didn't come out with the right focus. We just didn't play well in a lot of ways. We played better in the second half and fought and came back but we shouldn't have been in that spot." – Kyle Korver on loss
"We have to play smarter. We have to play better as a unit. Obviously, not having Paul tonight we are not at our best. But we still had enough to play better tonight." – Korver on mistakes
"Everyone is frustrated. Even as bad as we played a couple of plays go the other way and (a win) could have easily happened and we are feeling a lot better in the locker room. As a whole, we just have to decide if we want to be a great team. Do we want to do it or not? I think it's all here. I think we are very capable of it. A lot of us have to play better." – Korver on mood of locker room
"I'm personally very disappointed. It's very frustrating." – Al Horford on loss
"It's effort. It's effort. I think we played hard at times but we can't overlook anybody. Tonight is a perfect example of that. We need to bring that energy, every single player. It can't just be … we have to do it for 48 minutes and be consistent about it. We can't just say 'Now we have to come out and play.' Sometimes, teams get confident and it's hard to make up for it. That's what happened tonight." – Horford on team's issues
"They played hard. Don't get me wrong. They played hard and did some good things. Teams like that, you have to put them away and to impose your way. We didn't do that tonight." – On loss to injury-depleted Suns
"We have to take the challenge on that. The second half we did a better job. We got him going in the first half. He got some easy tap-outs and easy rebounds. He got confident and he kind of went off. That's something where we have to get those long rebounds. We've got to do all those things. We weren't doing that tonight." – Horford on Tyson Chandler rebounding
"I didn't think so (could have played better defense). I think he did a one dribble, pull up from the 3-point line. It was a contested shot. You have to tip your hat and congratulate him on making that shot." – Thabo Sefolosha on final play
"It's not great. We wanted to win this one. We played pretty hard. Now it's just a matter of playing smarter for most of the game." – Sefolosha on mood of team
"We had some turnovers. Sometimes were are not sharing the ball. We are not finding the open man. We are taking some quick shots. Over the course of the 48 minutes that cost us." – Sefolosha on playing smarter
"We are playing so hard. We just have to play smarter. It's tough to put a finger on it other than making the right plays. It's about playing for 48 minutes and not picking and choosing when we (play hard)." – Kent Bazemore on loss
