Here is what they said after the Hawks’ 125-99 victory over the 76ers Friday night:
“It think it was a good effort by our group tonight. We talked about the discipline that it takes when you are playing this team. They are very well coached. They have a lot of things that they do in the flow of the game, coming out of timeouts, and it takes a real discipline when you play them. The presses, all the different things that Philadelphia does. It feels good that our group was able to execute and find a way to get a win on the road.”
- Coach Mike Budenholzer’s opening statement
“We were happy with Jeff. I think he set a tone pretty early. He was attacking the basket. A couple of times he didn’t get rewarded but anytime we see Jeff get into the paint, collapsing the defense, creating a shot for his teammates or himself, that is always a good sign, especially coming off the injury.”
- Budenholzer on return of Jeff Teague
“Paul is someone who we’ve leaned on heavily this year. Paul and I actually think he could do a few things better tonight – be stronger with the ball, attack even harder. At the end of the day he is a heck of a player and he made some good plays.”
- Budenholzer on Paul Millsap
“Mike does a lot of the things that we are emphasizing. He gets out and runs the court. He usually gets a couple of easy baskets just by running the court. Obviously, he can spread the floor and make shots. We are pleased with how much he has improved as a passer. We are encouraging him to get better on the boards and rebounding and defensively. He has a knack for scoring and he can score a lot of different ways. Really good scorers, that is what they do.”
- Budenholzer on Mike Scott
“I thought Elton really helped us tonight. In some situations in the first half it was going back and forth. We couldn’t maintain our lead. We could keep that cushion. He hit big buckets. He came in and just had such a presence. Even late, there was a timeout in the fourth quarter where you could say (the momentum) was changing and Elton came out and hit a bucket, made a great screen, made a couple of great plays. Everything stayed where we wanted it to. He has been an amazing leader for us. His game has grown over the last two, three weeks.”
- Budenholzer on Elton Brand
“He is really starting to make his shot. That is probably the biggest thing. His little 15-footer, we’ve all seen him make it his whole career. Early in the year, it just wasn’t going down the way we are all used to seeing it go down.”
- Budenholzer on Brands’ improved game
“We were all really nervous about it. You go three or four days without a game and you worry about them getting out of rhythm. We have a back-to-back so we didn’t want to practice too hard (Friday). I’m sure we had a little extra energy, a little extra legs, just because we hadn’t played for two or three days.”
- Budenholzer on playing after weather-related layoff
“Seeing some of the fans, that was a special feeling, but the most important thing is we had to get a win. We had a close one with OKC the other day and I didn’t really help the team like I wanted to help. So, I wanted to come out tonight, whoever we were playing, and help out and get a win.”
- Elton Brand on return to Philadelphia
“Just playing hard, having energy, running, being active. I didn’t try to do anything different.”
- Mike Scott on second quarter
“I just go with it. Whatever happens, happens. If I’m in at the end of the game, I do my best. If I’m not, I cheer my teammates one. I don’t think I would have been in at the end of the game last year. It’s the maturity and hard work.”
- Scott on getting more playing time in key situations
“We were able to get out and get some steals, get out in transition, and we were able to finish our defensive rebounding. They crash the boards but we got some key rebounds to get out and run.”
- Paul Millsap on key to Hawks’ second and third quarters
“Just being active. Just trying to cause havoc.”
- Millsap on season-high six steals
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