Here is what they said after the Hawks’ 111-106 loss to the Knicks Saturday night:
“I think tonight was a night where the most aggressive team won. I think you give a lot of credit to the Knicks. Defensively, they were creating a lot of turnovers, creating a lot of problems for us. Offensively, Carmelo Anthony had a heck of a night. At times he hit tough shots but at times I think some of their players were getting to the basket and scoring easy. Just a night when the more aggressive team won.”
- Coach Mike Budenholzer’s opening statement
“I think it was both (Knicks aggressiveness and Hawks sloppy play). I think it’s important to give them a ton of credit for their aggressiveness. But our execution, our aggressiveness offensively to attack them was not what it needed to be.”
- Budenholzer on Hawks turnovers
“I though the third quarter was a pretty good quarter for us. We cut it to four. We had some opportunities coming out of the fourth quarter. We just couldn’t convert. We had sloppy turnovers, a couple of sloppy possessions and then they got away from us.”
- Budenholzer on fourth quarter
“Definitely. We spotted them a lot of fast-break points and a lot of opportunities that doomed us. Twenty-seven turnovers, that’s huge. You are not going to win basketball game at any level with 27 turnovers.”
- Lou Williams on Hawks turnovers being the difference
“A lot of them were unforced. I saw five where we just threw the ball out of bounds. Just not a good basketball game. We just didn’t put a good basketball game together.”
- Williams on turnovers
“I know for sure, the top of the fourth we had three turnovers in a row to start the fourth. Again 27 turnovers is a huge number. We try to average under 10 a game. That’s three times that amount. That’s not a good game.”
- Williams on fourth quarter
“It felt good to make shots and see the ball go in the hole. Hopefully this will steamroll.”
- Williams on his 27 points
“You have to give them credit. They were the more aggressive team. They set the tone from the beginning of the game. Give them credit.”
- Al Horford on difference in game
“They were being far more aggressive than we were. They wanted it more. That is a little disappointing when I look at it. We fought and we have chances and we didn’t capitalize on it. They took advantage of it.”
- Horford on turnovers
“We were creating turnovers but then we were turning the ball over. I think that deflated us as a team. After that, it was hard to play catch-up ball. They had confidence and they just kept it going.”\
- Horford on fourth quarter
“I thought we came out just going through the motions like we’d been in an overtime game last night. We’ve got to find some more toughness. It was a tough game last night. It was a late night (flying to New York). We’ve got to come out with better energy.
“You have to develop it. You have to talk about it as a team. You have to hold each other accountable.”
- Kyle Korver on difference in game
“In the fourth quarter they got in a good sweet zone, a good comfort zone, and made a bunch of shots. In the third quarter, we got some stops and were able to get out on the break. That is when we are at our best. When they are making shots it’s hard to get out and break. In the fourth quarter, they were a little too much for us.”
- Korver on fourth quarter
“We had that stretch of tough turnovers. We saw the game who was open but we tried to make the play before we caught it. That happens sometimes. We dug ourselves a pretty good hole and we were scrambling to get out of it. When you are playing hard, sometimes you make mistakes. Frustrating loss.”
- Korver on turnovers
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