Hawks-Wizards postgame quotes

Here is what they said after the Hawks’ 101-99 overtime win over the Wizards Friday night:

“It was good for our group to win a close game. We’ve lost a couple early it seems like and I’m sure we won one or two that I don’t remember. Two huge free throws by Al Horford to send the game into overtime. Then a big basket to win it. Defensively, the whole group, there was a commitment to really take away the 3-point line and take away transition. (Trevor) Booker got away from us a little bit because of that. At the end of the regulation it was a pretty good defensive effort and in overtime we were able to get enough stops. A heck of a game by Al Horford. Some big baskets by Jeff Teague down the stretch. And then DeMarre Carroll’s defense at the end of regulation and a couple of other situations on John Wall was something that was great to have DeMarre there to use in defensive situations.”

- Coach Mike Budenholzer’s opening statement

“Just like always at ends of games we have multiple options, Al around the basket was one of them. It’s always a difficult job the job of the pass and I think Pero Antic deserves a lot of credit for making a good pass. It was one of those things where it happened to work out.”

- Budenholzer on final play

“I think Wall got away from us a little bit in transition. Wall got aggressive in some pick-and-rolls. Wall hit a 3-pointer. It seemed like John Wall really picked his game up. Sometimes it was just him makings some plays. Then there were a couple defensive breakdowns. Offensively, I think we got stagnant. I didn’t think the ball moved and we didn’t execute and they made a heck of a run at us.”

- Budenholzer on Wizards’ 19-2 fourth-quarter run

“Let’s go out and win this game. The fact that Al hit the two free throws to send it to overtime was (big). Losing the lead is never easy and those games are tough to win. You are down a little bit. Al making the two free throws made it feel a little different going into overtime. We felt like we had an opportunity to go win a game.”

- Budenholzer on thoughts going into overtime

“It’s a play that we’ve worked on and we have three options – to me, Paul or Kyle. I think they overplayed the other guys. Pero saw me and gave me a great pass. It was supposed to be a lob for a dunk but Booker did a good job of pushing be away (from the basket). As soon as I caught it, I shot it. Since we’ve worked on it before, I was comfortable taking that shot.”

- Al Horford on final play

“I took it. It was great. It took like 10 seconds to go in, in my mind, it took a long time.”

- Horford on final shot

“Really, my teammates were setting me up for easy baskets. All night I was getting layups around the rim and they were giving me good passes. I just stuck to the game plan.”

- Horford on 34-point, 15-rebound performance

“We gave them life. They are a resilient team and they kept fighting and pushing through. We didn’t freak out. We just knew we needed to make plays to get back in the game and send it into overtime. Once we did that our focus was to take it home and not extend it to another overtime.”

- Horford on Wizards’ comeback

“My whole mentality was to take my time. I wanted to take them one at a time and just knock them down. They felt pretty good. I understood how important they were. I knew I had to make them.”

- Horford on game-tying free throws

“We practice this situation. Coach always puts me in and believes in me. I just tried to find the best option. I knew because they had a lot of big guys on Kyle, I knew they would be concentrating on Kyle. I tried to find the best pass. I believed in it.”

- Pero Antic on game-winning assist

“I have the corner, the 45 and I have the lob. I have to decide in a split-second. It was nice because we deserve this win. There were minutes where we fell down but for the fans, for Atlanta, we wanted to win here at home.”\

- Antic on final options

“I would like to say it’s not (hard). There is always pressure. I’m old enough, experienced enough, to try to concentrate and find the best solution at that moment.

“The pass is easier than the shot.”

- Antic on pressure on final play

“It was a tough win for us. Through it all we stayed with it and found a way to win. Great shot by Al at the end of the quarter. He did a great job for us.”

- Paul Millsap on game

“That’s why Pero is in the game. He made a great pass. You can’t have a conscious making that pass so he’s the perfect pick for that.”

- Millsap on final play

“That is what they brought me in to do, play defense first and offense second. He called on me and I tried to go out there and do what he wanted me to do and take the game into overtime. I live for those types of moments.”

- DeMarre Carroll on guarding John Wall late