AL HORFORD
On pulling away in the third quarter:
“It was an emphasis of ours to come out aggressive in the third and I felt that we responded to coach’s call. We did a great job defensively and we got hot scoring.”
On hearing references to “big Al” (Jefferson) from the PA announcers:
"He's the big Al. Nobody calls me Big Al. (laughs) Obviously he's tough. He's a great player. It was his first game back. It's going to take him a couple games to really get himself going and he'll be fine."
On defense late in the game:
“It was great. I felt like our guys did what we do best and that’s scramble and fly around and help each other and we did a good job of that. We’re not doing it the whole game but we did enough today to get the win.”
On the biggest difference between the first and second half:
“Energy, by far. I think the energy was a big difference, especially on the defensive end and we stopped fouling so much. At the beginning of the game we were really getting some cheap fouls. We did a better job defending.”
On Bud’s message at halftime:
“Nothing. We’ve got to stop fouling and got to be better on defense and just keep playing offense. That’s what we did and we were able to pull away.”
JEFF TEAGUE
On keeping his head in the game after two fouls in first 90 seconds:
“Coach pulled me to the side and was just like ‘Just keep playing.’ I’m all about winning. It was frustrating. I want to be out there helping my team but guys played great – Dennis (Shroder) and Shelvin (Mack) both played well.”
On if wanted to get Horford involved in third quarter:
“Definitely. He’s playing well, him and Paul (Millsap) playing well, we play well. Try to get those guys going it’s a bonus for us.”
On defense in the third quarter:
“We just took pride in it. We knew someone was going to have to make a defensive stop and get some runs going and a stretch of defensive stops and we did that. It helped us get a win.”
On averaging more than 24 assists a game, his 12 assists tonight:
“Unselfish group. We see a good shot, we want a better shot. Guys are doing that? It’s fun to play. I think everybody enjoys playing with one another.”
On if that’s the system Bud is talking about:
“Yeah, he’s going to have some shots that I took tonight on film telling me somebody was open. Once you’re getting drilled with that every day, it becomes habit.”
On the defensive job vs. Kidd-Gilchrist in second half:
“DeMarre came out and took the challenge. We switched up the match-up and DeMarre came out and did a great job on him.”
CARTIER MARTIN
On his contributions in the third quarter run:
“My job is to come in and shoot the ball whenever I’m open, play hard on defense and do the little things. Just try to help us win.”
On the job his teammates did finding him:
“I felt like my teammates have confidence in me. They know I can shoot the ball. If I’m open, they look for me, and it’s my job to shoot it.”
On adjustments in third quarter:
“We foul too much. That’s one of the things they rely on to win games. They shoot a high percentage of free throws. They try to get to the free throw line. We had to continue to slay disciplined and play Atlanta Hawks basketball and execute on the offensive end, play together as a team and we came out with the win.”
On showing what he can do:
“Yeah I’m confident in myself. I know I can play this game. The thing is, stay confident when I’m out there, play relaxed, go out and play as hard as I can and try to get the wins.”
MIKE BUDENHOLZER
On the game:
“It was a good win on the road. I think another step forward for our defense. I think a great job by our bench to come in and give us a boost. We had some foul trouble early and I think some guys that got picked up tonight by their teammates, by their bench. Shelvin Mack’s minutes in the first quarter were huge. I think the third quarter keeping them off the free throw line was a big point of emphasis and that two free throws and 16 points in the third quarter, that’s probably where we got our separation. I think our focus is to get better defensively and tonight for more stretches we were better.”
On what he said at halftime, down by 8, to outscore them by 18 in third quarter:
“Really one of the things was what we just talked about was free throws. Coming into the game that was a point of emphasis for us. In the five or six games they’ve played, they’ve done a great job getting to the free throw line and we wanted to show our hands. We wanted to be physical but without fouling. I’m sure there were a couple of other things I said but I don’t remember it all.”
On if shutting out Kidd-Gilchrist in second half had to do with Carroll getting on him or everybody being more alert:
“Probably a little bit of both. I think the team defense just in general picked up in the second half. Then obviously putting DeMarre (Carroll) onto him I think was something that helped our group. DeMarre is a great defender and we feel fortunate to have him. MKG had a great first half and we feel fortunate the second half we held him a little bit.”
On the defense to hold off late runs:
“I think our pick-and-roll defense and our post defense both were good. They like to go to Al Jefferson in the post. He’s a load down there. We were trying to make the catches tough there and then our pick-and-roll defense, our activity and everything, we were trying to make them take tough shots. And I think we were probably fortunate the ball just didn’t go in more than anything. Hopefully there was some good defensive activity during that stretch.”
On Martin’s contributions in the third:
“Cartier’s 3s there in the third quarter really helped us and I think when you have good defense followed up by offensive execution and some shot-making, that’s the sport. Sometimes shots go in and Cartier had a great second half and got going there a little bit. It really helped up.”
On Brand’s minutes helping rest Horford for stretch:
“Yeah I think Elton, his defensive ability on some of the bigger guys in the league is something that is a nice tool for us to use. I think he really made life difficult for their big guys inside and obviously that gives Al a good rest so he’s fresh for the end of the game.”
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