What they said after the Hawks’ 116-98 win over the Nuggets Thursday:
"Good win. It was great to see Tim Hardaway in the starting lineup step up and have a good game. And, obviously, Thabo (Sefolosha) off the bench I thought were great. Thabo staying in his spot and Timmy going into a little bit different one, it was great to see that. Obviously, we started well. Then we lost our focus, lost our concentration, for a big chunk in the bridge of the first and second quarter. Coming out in the second half, we were able to have a better focus and concentration throughout the third and fourth quarter. To follow up last night with back-to-back situation is a good win. A lot of guys played well." – Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer's opening statement
"People see the points, 21, but I think seven rebounds and four assists is a complete game. I thought defensively he was active. One of the steals he had in the third quarter was a big one. The game was in an interesting spot. He's competing. He's competing on both ends of the court. He's making things happen. I think it was a complete-type player, a complete-type game." – Budenholzer on Tim Hardaway Jr.
"It seems when I look there is very little difference between third and 10th. It changes every five days. One team wins two or three in a row and somebody has a tough schedule, has a tough back-to-back. There are still quite a few games. We have to keep pressing forward." – Budenholzer on rise in standings
"They had that bad stretch between the first and second quarter. We were up 16 with the starters and we just gave it right back. When you go a minus-16 in that period, it's hard to make that up. I think the rest of the night the bench was pretty good. They just had that one stretch. I don't know who was out there but that stretch was the glaring point as far as where we want to improve and eliminate." – Budenholzer on disparity between starters and bench plus/minus
"Just trusting the system. It's always next man up. I think our team is deep when we are in a situation like this. I just went out there and competed." – Tim Hardaway Jr. on his game
"It was good, picking and choosing your spots when to shoot the ball and when to pass it, when to push the ball on the break when we get the rebound and kicking it ahead. We want to play a faster pace and that's what we are doing." – Hardaway on all-around game
"I think it helps but everybody had it going to day. Thabo (Sefolosha) had to go in. Jeff (Teague) was knocking down shots. Kyle (Korver) was big tonight as well. It's just great when you have guys knocking down shot all over the place. It makes your life a lot easier." - Hardaway on adding dimension to offense
"It feels good. It's fun playing right now. I feel like we are putting it together as a group." – Al Horford on win
"On offense there is still some work there that needs to be done but I'm very happy that we've been playing with much better pace on the offensive end." – Horford on offense
"He was great. He stepped up to the call. Obviously with (Kent) Bazemore being out, his energy. I know he scored a lot of points but defensively was the key. If he can play defense at that level it just makes us a much better team." – Horford on Hardaway
"It's very different having him and Kyle on the floor like that. It's another option that the team has. I'm just happy to see him. He's come a long way since the beginning of the year. Him being able to get more minutes and make the most of them, it's good to see." – Horford on added dimension Hardaway brings
"I like guys who can shoot the ball and like to run the floor. He does that really well. He gets out and runs and tries to gets easy baskets. He's a confident shooter and he makes my job a lot easier." – Jeff Teague on Hardaway
"We are figuring things out. We are communicating on the defensive end. That makes it a lot easier to play with the pace we want. That is key for us." – Thabo Sefolosha on team's improved play
"We feel that way (like we are rolling). It's great to come out every night knowing that we have a legit shot at winning every game. We want to keep it this way and win as many as we can." – Sefolosha on Hawks' roll
"We've been waiting on this moment all year. I think we've been trying to find a way to get to this place where we are right now. We are here now. We want to continue to build off everything we've got right now." – Paul Millsap on Hawks' roll
"He said we were horrible. That's how he feels right now. We came out pretty early, and we really didn't have a chance to bounce back. It's partly true. We let (the Hawks) get too many points fresh off the first quarter so we have to do a better job with that." – Nuggets' Emmanuel Mudiay on coach Mike Malone's postgame message.
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