Here is what they said after the Hawks 118-109 loss to the Mavericks in Wednesday night’s regular-season opener:
“We had a couple of turnovers in that stretch that kind of fueled them and we missed a shot or two and they got us in transition and got a couple of 3’s. That little moment is when the game changed. They had some guys step up and make plays in that period and we need the same from our group.”
- Mike Budenholzer on Mavs’ 17-2 third-quarter run
“I thought offensively we were OK. We got some good looks. But we have a lot of things to improve on.”
- Kyle Korver on Hawks 109-point effort
“I’m just playing. That is how I’m going to play this year. Coach wants me to be aggressive and attack. I think we are a better team like that. That’s my job.”
- Jeff Teague on his effort
“We are going to make mistakes. It’s the first game of the year. Our most important thing is to learn from them and continue to get better.”
- Paul Millsap on defensive lapses
“We did a lot of good things but they did a lot of good things for a longer period of time. We were up by three and we should have jumped on them then but we didn’t come out.”
- DeMarre Carroll on late failure
“I think that we can all agree that we played well in spurts. We weren’t consistent enough at times. We have to go back at the film and look at where we need to improve.”
- Al Horford on inconsistent play
“Decent, I would say but not one of my best nights I feel. I definitely can shoot the ball better but I tried to pick it up on the defensive end and play every aspects of the game besides scoring. The shots didn’t fall exactly the way I wanted them to. I know that’s one I can do. I’m confident I can make shots. It will come.”
- Cartier Martin on 17-point performance
“We were really moving the ball and finding the open guy. Monta (Ellis) is sensational in those pick-and-rolls coming off looking aggressive to score or if he doesn’t have it, he’s finding the open shooters and that was fantastic. The only downer was I don’t think we were great defensively tonight and gave up 109 points on our home court.”
- Dirk Nowitzki on Mavs’ performance
“The way he played in the second half was fantastic. There were some miscues in the first half and we had a spell where we were all throwing the ball away. But, the second half he really did a great job of distributing, scoring, attacking and made big free throws at critical points in the game. He played a terrific game.”
- Mavs coach Rick Carlisle on Monta Ellis’ 32-point game
