Here is what they said after the Hawks’ 118-85 victory over the Jazz Friday night:
“I like the mentality and the focus that our group came out with tonight. They were able to maintain it. That has been one of our talking points, things we have wanted to improve. I think it was one of those nights where they just couldn’t make a shot and we were fortunate in that sense. I do like the mentality that our group came out with tonight.”
- Mike Budenholzer’s opening statement
“You don’t know coaches. The assistants are telling me to relax sometimes. … We’ll look at it and find the positives and we’ll find a few things that we can improve on. I know I saw 17 offensive rebounds on the stat sheet. That’s an area that we’ve been talking about where we want to be good and we’ve had a little slippage lately.”
- Budenholzer on finding fault in the win
“No so much putting them away, but continue to play the way we’ve been playing – and continue to play with pace and continue to guard and continue to rebound. Just do all the things that we did to establish the lead. That was something that we needed to improve on and tonight was a step forward in that direction.”
- Budenholzer on learning to put teams away
“We got a lot of stops and rebounds and for the most part that is what fuels your break. We can’t be a team that gets fast-break points or plays with pace if we are taking the ball out of the basket. I was pleased with the defense effort and the attention to detail and it did lead to some transition baskets.”
- Budenholzer on Hawks’ 28 fast-break points
“It’s always good to see Lou (score). He’s a shot-maker. That is why he has had a heck of a career and he’s got a lot more to give us. I think he still has even more. I think when he gets more comfortable, more confident going to the basket and finishing, we are going to get more. It’s good for him to see the ball go through. See him get his confidence and get in his rhythm.”
- Budenholzer on Lou Williams
“Just good shots. I missed a few that I felt I should have made, a couple jump shots. That’s just me being the perfectionist that I am. Just a good night. … Guys were finding me in different areas and I was just finishing.”
- Al Horford on his 23 points
“Paul was very collective. You would have never guessed that he played there. He looked normal, like it was just another game for him. … He’s one of those guys who you can never tell because he has the same face and the same focus.”
- Horford on Millsap facing Jazz
“I just felt like we kept pushing the pace. I was pretty tired out there but we kept pushing it. Guys just kept stepping up. It helps when you have a guy like Lou Williams firing away. It takes a lot of pressure off everybody.”
- Horford on putting Jazz away
“I just made shots - talking myself into making shots and playing with a lot more confidence. After having two points the other night, I got some extra shooting in. I was just concentrating on having a good game for the next one. I was glad that it was able to pay off.”
- Lou Williams on his 25 points
“I thought we played extremely well on both ends. I think we defended very well, we played the game plan very well and we were able to make shots. It was one of those nights where we had everything clicking on all cylinders.”
- Williams on Hawks’ overall effort
“It gives us an opportunity to win games, especially in a high-scoring league. For us to have 110-plus for three games straight, we gave ourselves an opportunity to win.”
- Williams on Hawks scoring 114 or more in three straight games
“Just a conscious effort to do just that. We had a big lead at halftime and we wanted to keep it. Just continue to play. Don’t beg. Don’t ask. Don’t expect. That’s exactly what (Budenholzer)said.”
- Williams on halftime speech to put Jazz away
“I have the ability to keep things in and not show any expressions. I was a little nervous at first. After I got the jitters off, I kept calm and just started playing basketball.”
- Paul Millsap on keeping emotions in check
“We were able to get up, build a lead early by getting out in transition, getting rebounds and getting out running. It made it a little easier. We were able to push the pace. Our defense played well. We had guys clogging up the lane. They like to attack the basket. We were able to keep them out of the lane.”
- Millsap on Hawks’ success
“I want to say that we are learning, learning from our mistakes, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. I feel like we are learning from our mistakes the last few games. We’ve had big leads and teams were able to come back on us and make a game of it. Hopefully we are learning.”
- Millsap on Hawks learning to put teams away
“That is what we need to keep doing, pass the basketball, share the basketball. It’s sad to say that our offense dictates our defense. Which it shouldn’t be. Once our offense is clicking it helps our defense out a lot.”
- Millsap on Hawks’ 32 assists
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