Here is what they said after the Hawks’ 108-89 victory over the Cavaliers Friday night:
“It was a good effort by our guys tonight. We’ve been talking about playing better for longer stretches, making our good play last and extend those stretches. This was one of the better nights of doing that – on both ends of the court. I think our defensive effort and activity was good. The purpose and the pace of which we played for offensively was good. I like the way our group started tonight in all those areas. More important than that was the great night for Kyle Korver. His teammates are very, very happy for him. And the coaching staff. Mostly because he is a great teammate. He is a person we all enjoy competing with and being around every day. He is a heck of a competitor. He’s a heck of a basketball player. He’s a heck of a shooter. For him to do what he did over the course of 90 games, it’s a heck of an effort. We are really pleased for Kyle. We all feel fortunate to be a part of Kyle’s night tonight.”
- Coach Mike Budenholzer’s opening statement
“We’ve really tried not to talk about it. Maybe the players talk about it more than I know. I think we have tried to go about our business and play our game and what we are doing and not make an emphasis or priority to get Kyle an early 3 or a shot.”
- Budenholzer on whether team was trying to get Korver record early
“It’s hard to say that. I think the way we started was really something and positive. Hopefully we can build on it. There was a stretch where they went on an 8-0 run and we stemmed the tide a little bit. Then they went on another one and cut it to 12. It’s a credit to them. They are a competitive group. They are young and they are scrappy. I think we are pleased with a lot of the game but I don’t know if it’s our most complete. We are just trying to get better.”
- Budenholzer on whether game was Hawks’ most complete
“It’s always good when guys are making shots. Some of them were open and clean looks. I think we made a couple tough shots too. You feel like ‘Wow, this is your night when guys are making tough ones.’ I guess you could classify (50) feet as tough. But I think the offense is playing with pace and better purpose. One of the areas we probably slid a little as the game went on was ball movement, the sharing. The second half we weren’t as sharp and as crisp as we were the first half.”
- Budenholzer on Hawks’ first-quarter success
“It feels good. I’m glad it’s done. My naps the last couple of games haven’t been very solid. I try not to think about getting this close and not getting it. That would not have been fun. I’m proud of it for sure.”
- Kyle Korver on 3-point streak
“I just said thank you. I’ve told you a few times, I’m not out there creating the shots. I’m a product of good team basketball, of setting screens and good passes and floor spacing. This wouldn’t have happened without them. A lot of these guys have been here for the whole streak. There are a lot of thanks to go around, players who aren’t here this year, coaches who aren’t here this year and this group in here. I just said thank you.”
- Korver on postgame speech to team
“Yeah, they came for my daughter’s birthday, not for me. She turned one yesterday and they happened to be in town and got to enjoy it. They had some good seats too so that was good.”
- Korver on having family in town
“Everyone would say little things here or there but everybody knows you are not supposed to talk about that type of stuff until it’s done. I’m sure we’ll talk about it tonight.”
- Korver on whether family talked about streak
“Hopefully, we’ll keep it going. It’s never been about a streak. It’s about making the shots you get. I don’t want to be a high-volume shooter. I try to be efficient. You get a shot and you try to make it. I didn’t even know this streak existed until halfway through last year when people started talking about it. It’s a cool thing. It was never the focus.”
- Korver on continuing streak
“We have to keep playing good basketball. We have a real opportunity here. We have a good stretch at home. The way the conference is, if you can put together a streak of wins you can really do something. A lot of teams in the beginning of the year are really struggling. Eventually, we are going to start to play each other and somebody is going to have to win. We have to try to make up some ground here. Hopefully, these are habits we can really start building on.”
- Korver on Hawks’ recent play
“Fun shot. We practice those every day. I lose every time. I won today. It’s fun to get the ball up to the basket and see what happens.”
- Paul Millsap on 50-foot buzzer beater
“Just keep pushing. Continue to do what we do. Continue to execute. Continue to get better. I felt like we did that.”
- Millsap on plan coming out of halftime
“That’s great. I’m in awe. Teams focus on keeping him off the 3-point line and for him to do that for so long, it’s an amazing accomplishment.”
- Millsap on Korver streak
“We played really well. Guys came out and played hard. We played on the defensive end. They are a really big team. They got on the glass and it was tough for us. We played with a lot of pace, we got out and ran, guys made shots. Kyle finally broke the record. That’s a lot of pressure on him.”
- Jeff Teague on victory
“He’s not really too emotional. When we got in the locker room after the game he told everyone how appreciative he was for us going out there and playing hard.”
- Teague on Korver streak
“I wish I would have had the assist. I wanted to go down in history too. No, I think it was a relief for the whole team. I think you can see at the beginning of the game we were trying to force it to get the ball to him. I think DeMarre passed up a wide-open shot trying to get it to him in the corner. I did the same thing in transition. We were excited for him to do it. It’s a great record.”
- Teague on Korver streak
“We were getting out and running. We were making open shots. Guys were being unselfish and making the extra pass.”
- Teague on Hawks’ first-quarter success
“I think it was our practice before (the San Antonio game). Coach really preached for us to go out and be competitive and play hard. We knew going back to San Antonio was going to be a special game for him. We wanted to give our best effort. Ever since then I think we’ve been going game to game.”
- Teague on Hawks’ recent play
