Here is what they said after the Hawks defeated the Raptors 102-95 in Friday night’s home opener:
“We obviously made an emphasis of it the last couple of days. I think there was an attention to getting back and making sure we were showing a crowd. That is where defense starts and we have to make that a priority and be really good there.”
- Mike Budenholzer on Hawks’ transition defense
“There is no doubt it’s a good feeling. I mostly feel good for our group for how hard they’ve worked for the entire coaching staff, including myself. Just the energy and the focus and the intensity that they bring every day it gives me a good feeling and to go out and get the win is the icing on the cake. It’s important to us. It’s important to me that we win and compete. It’s a good feeling.”
- Budenholzer on first win as head coach
“They obviously congratulated me on my first win. I was thinking they really made me sweat it there at the end. From the first day that I arrived and all the communication throughout camp, it’s been a great feeling from our players and I appreciate their effort and their work. I think they were happy for me. I’m sure tomorrow it will be over and we’ll move on.”
- More Budenholzer on first win
“Al’s entire game he was pretty amazing. He was a man tonight. He kind of put us on his shoulders. I think he was more assertive, more decisive in making his moves. He got shots in different spots and he also played well in the post. He scored a lot of different ways.”
- Budenholzer on Al Horford’s 22-point, 16-rebound performance
“Him getting into the paint and us spacing the court and him understanding where his shooters are and where his bigs are rolling, I think all that is going to come in time. Some of the turnovers the other night, I’m OK. If he is being aggressive and he is pushing, he’s in attack mode, right now early there may be some turnovers but my priority with Jeff and the whole group is to get them to be in attack mode, to play aggressive. I’m going to have to live with a few miscues early.”
- Budenholzer on Jeff Teague’s 17-point, 12-assist, 1-turnover performance
“We played great. The whole team. We played defense. We made it tough on Rudy Gay tonight. DeMar DeRozan had a good night but if we stop everybody else and he scores a lot of points I think we’ll be successful.”
- Jeff Teague
“I think offensively, from the beginning of the game, I made an effort to be more aggressive. I think the first game against Dallas, I started out well but I was trying to feel everything out and see how the offense was going. I got to a point where I realized I have to be more aggressive and set the tone.”
- Al Horford
“It was definitely a much better effort. Guys were more in tune. We feel like game to game we got better. The point of emphasis was to get back in transition. We feel like we did that.”
- Paul Millsap
“It’s always good to get a win, especially at home. We lost a lot in preseason so it feels good to get that first win. Now, we just have to keep building on it.”
- DeMarre Carroll
“There was a stretch right before halftime when (the Hawks) hit a few 3’s and that really opened it up. I applaud our guys for scratching and clawing back, but again, it’s about attention to detail.”
- Raptors coach Dwane Casey
About the Author
