What they said after the Hawks’ 120-89 win over the Wizards Sunday afternoon:
Coach Mike Budenholzer
Opening statement: "The message and the mantra that we've been talking about is our activity and our hands and our defense and creating turnovers. If we can do that in a solid active way, it's important to us. We talked about if we could get them to miss and get our field-goal percentage defense even better that would be the final piece, particularly tonight. They shot a high-percentage, at halftime they were at 54 percent. Again, the activity and the defense is what we are continuing to talk about and work on. That was great. Offensively, the turnovers and the activity can fuel our offense with the ball moving, guys attacking, playing with a lot of confidence. The bench was good. Thirty-four assists, the ball moving, playing unselfishly. The crowd at home as been great. I think it has helped us with our defense. We just want to keep moving forward and not let up on the defensive end of the court."
On defensive activity when Wizards cut deficit to two points: "I don't think the defense was where it needed to be for that stretch. That is when they were shooting 54 percent. You can't depend on the turnovers. We weren't as good. Offensively, we got a little stagnant for a pretty good stretch where they could cut a pretty good lead down to two. The NBA, we all see it a lot, we've got to get better. We've got to fight and find a way to play better for more of the 48 minutes than our opponent."
On eight players with at least one 3-pointer: "We have a lot of good shooters that hopefully they understand when and where there shots are coming from. We always want to get to the paint. We always want to attack the basket first. And then have great spacing, great pace and it's going to lead to lots of different guys shooting 3's. It's a bigt part of what we do."
Jeff Teague
On difference after Wizards cut lead to two points: "They are good team. We knew they were going to make a run. We came out energized, playing great, a good team effort on the defensive end."
On 19 turnovers: "We were active defensively. We knew we had to bring it on the defensive end tonight because they are a really good squad. We knew we had to have active hands. We did that tonight. It paid off."
On winning by 31 points: "It was just a good night for us. They are capable of doing that too. We were glad we had a good crowd out there and we brought it defensively."
Al Horford
On difference after Wizards cut lead to two points: "Our defense was much better. In the third, once they made that little run, we started building off that. They are a resilient team. They kept fighting and getting back in the game. We kept our composure. We didn't get too high or too low. We made sure we kept playing and it worked itself out."
On winning by 31 points: "The important thing for us was to win the game. We knew they were going to come in and play hard. They are a really good team, a talented team. We understood that there was a sense of urgency. We needed to come out strong. And we did that. They made their runs but we were able to hold them off and use the home-court advantage. I feel like the fans were great tonight. Their energy really got us going, especially in the third."
On 19 steals: "We just knew that we had to be good defending all of their ways just because they are the type of team that if you let them do whatever they want, they are going to hurt you. They were doing the same to us, pressuring. They really didn't let us get into our offense. We had to find other ways to create offense."
Kyle Korver
On difference after Wizards cut lead to two points: "They started switching on all of our pick-and-rolls with Jeff. We were kind of hurting them with a lot of our motion. When they started switching, it takes some of that away. We got stagnant. They are a good team, a big team. We knew they would make a run. They did. We came back at halftime and figured out what we wanted to do and we were able to do that in the second half."
On winning by 31 points: "We were clicking tonight. At this point, I don't think we've played a better game. We just had that one stretch in the second quarter. Otherwise that's as good as we've played this year. I'm sure they feel like they could have played better. They had a bunch of turnovers in the first half which helped to get us out and running and got the crowd into the game. That was really exciting. But we are going to see them a bunch more."
DeMarre Carroll
On fast break: We all understand not to give up on a play. If somebody has a fast break you still don't give up on it. We know how to pass the ball. We understand where each other is going to be. I think that is all a part of growing."
On difference after Wizards cut lead to two points: "We just kept staying the course, playing Hawks basketball, and letting our defense dictate our offense. We were just sharing the ball. That is the thing about this team. We share the ball. We'll pass up a good shot for a great shot. If you do that, it's going to be hard for teams to beat us."
On 19 steals: "We've got to be like pests, be like gnats. We've always got to be active. We are not the biggest team so we've got to be scrappy, be up and in guys, get steals."
On winning by 31 points: "We aren't worried about the standings. All we are worried about is playing the right way. I think, man tonight, we showed everybody 1 through 15 comes in clicking, we play great basketball."
Thabo Sefolosha
On winning by 31 points: "I think the stretch that we are in right now says a lot about this team. We don't take it for more than what it is. It's a regular-season game and we beat a very good team. We are happy about it but we are not going to get ahead of ourselves. It's still a long way to go. I think we can get better, especially when we get the lead. There is a lot we can take from this game on the positive side and move on."
On 19 steals: "Everybody is playing great, playing on a string, helping each other. It's fun."
Paul Millsap
On winning by 31 points: "It says a lot but we don't want to put too much emphasis on it. It's still a long season. It's still just one more run. But it was great. They are a pretty good team. We did what we were supposed to do and won at home."
Will win like this be in the back of their heads down the line: "It's important in one aspect, but when it gets to playoff time none of that really matters. It is good for our confidence."
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