"I think the second half our defense and our activity put us in a good place. The offense was pretty decent, at least from the second quarter on. I think the first half, we can't give up 66 percent (shooting) and 63 points. It was just too easy. The second half it felt like we made it more difficult on them, made entries more difficult. I think it was reflective. We have to figure out a way to do that from the beginning of the game to the end of the game. Credit to our guys for changing it." – Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer's opening statement
"No. I would say we tried to make his catches more difficult, tried to make his catches farther away from the basket where his height and his size weren't as impactful. Just more physical. Making it tougher on the guys feeding him. Everywhere, just making it more difficult. I thought (Kent Bazemore) in the second half, third quarter, was denying him, making his catches tough. Then you follow it with Thabo (Sefolosha) coming in and his activity and a lot of the same. Those two guys, there activity and energy was very good." – Budenholzer on defensive work on Knicks' Carmelo Anthony
"I thought Mike Scott and the bench, I would say parts of the first quarter, allowed us to stay close and then into the second quarter Dennis (Schroder) and Mike were both very good. I thought Lamar (Patterson) made some good plays. Thabo we already mentioned. I thought that was very big." – Budenholzer on play of Mike Scott
"The first eight games I thought (my defense) was good. I was aggressive. Then, after that I slipped a little bit. We watched film and now I understand I'm a defensive player who comes in and tries to be aggressive and pressure the point guard. I started to do that and good things happened." – Dennis Schroder on his defense-first play
"We just ramped up the defensive intensity. I started to fighting his touches a little harder and when Thabo guarded him it was a different look. Thabo did a great job. We did a great job of keeping him off balance. We threw a lot of bodies at him. Al (Horford) contested shots at the rim. Early on, he was getting the ball wherever he wanted. Great players like that you can't let them be comfortable and in their element or they will pick you apart. We started playing a little faster and the ball started changing ends a little quicker and we were getting quicker shots and running it back down their throat." – Kent Bazemore on defending Anthony
"For a guy like me, I'd rather look at the scoreboard. Jeff (Teague) drilled a shot and I looked up and we were only down three. We came in (the locker room) very optimistic. We all knew what we needed to do. We had that holiday hangover. We came in, went up by three (on his 3-pointer) and never looked back." – Bazemore on Knicks shooting 66 percent in first half
"I got a few buckets on my head so it didn't quite work out. I was a little down because my defense wasn't up to par in the first half. I took a lot of that to heart. But it's got to be better. I'm glad we settled down. The matchup was to get me on a taller guy and try to expose him on the offensive end. It just didn't quite work out in the first half." – Paul Millsap on playing some center
"They came out blazing. Everything they did, they did with a little pace. They got a few open looks and got going. We felt like once we put a little pressure on them, shots would stop falling a little bit." – Millsap on Knicks shooting 66 percent in first half
"We've got a team that plays with a lot of energy. We didn't come out with the right energy at first. We've got different guys who can match up against him. After a while, he started to get more tired and our energy went up." – Thabo Sefolosha on guarding Anthony
