What they said after the Hawks’ 114-97 loss to the Wizards Wednesday night.
“It is a very fine margin of error for every team in the NBA. I think we had it two at the end of the third quarter and Martell Webster made a tough shot in the corner and I think we let our guard down a little bit and they made a shot from three-quarter court and it went from a two-point game to an eight-point game. That was a tough 10 second stretch after what our guys had done halfway through the first quarter into the second quarter and particularly in the third quarter. How they fought. They stuck together. They moved the ball and they shared it. They competed. They did everything that we asked them to do and we had it down to a two-point margin and they hit two 3’s on us. It was a tough stretch that we weren’t able to recover from. I think that stretch, and getting ourselves into that position, that hole, are areas where we need to improve. That will be our focus going forward. We have a group that will stick together.”
- Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer’s opening statement
“That is actually what they do. That was a big point of our emphasis going into the game. They really do a good job of finding 3-point shooters. They do a good job of spacing the court. That is one of (John) Wall’s strengths and really their bigs. I think they deserve a lot of credit for their execution, for their spacing, for the quick, direct pass to open shooters. Then you have to make them. That is something they do well and something we talked a lot about before the game. It is a credit to them that even though it was a point of emphasis for us they were still able to get off that many and at that percentage.”
- Budenholzer on Wizards’ 13 of 24 3-point shooting
“We talked a little bit about it before the game. Our group has a lot of character, a lot or pride. They are very professional. I think that gives us hope that we can keep the morale up and we don’t actually have to talk about it a ton. We don’t have to address it because we have a group who is competitive, who wants to come out and win, wants to improve, wants to get better. It’s not a lot of talking. I’m sure there are conversations happening in the locker room amongst them. There will be brief, direct conversations coaches to players. Ultimately, it is going to be our work on the court rather than our talking to keep our morale up and allow us to have success.”
- Budenholzer on keeping morale up in midst of seven-game losing streak
“They started off hot and they hit a bunch of 3’s early. Obviously, we don’t have a lot of size right now and I think we were focused on packing the paint. They hit some 3’s on the break. They made some good plays. They kind of got us on our heels there.”
- Kyle Korver on Wizards’ hot start
“We have to stay positive. We are going to have guys coming back in the next few days, hopefully the next week. We have to keep on building. Don’t let frustration kill our habits. Keep on trying to play basketball the right way.”
- Korver on keeping up morale
“I think so. Guys are stepping up. But we’ve lost starting center, after starting center, after starting center. We are not a real big team to begin with. To lose the size that we had has been hard.”
- Korver on injuries affecting play during slide
“We have to get that win. Get that monkey off your back. Find a way to win one. Hopefully (after) this trade deadline, we’ll know who is playing, who is going to be out there, and we can focus on winning these ball games.”
- Elton Brand on seven-game losing streak
“It seems like we are dealing with a myriad of injuries. We’ll find a way. I’m confident in our team. We definitely have enough players to win. We just have to find a way. We have enough talent on this team with the guys who are left to win some ball games.”
- Brand on mounting injuries
“At this point, you can’t really pinpoint one thing that has gone wrong. I think we are in a rut and we have to continue to fight to get out of it.”
- Lou Williams on Hawks’ recent problems
“It takes a toll. You build a team in training camp and you play with that team for a few months and you kind of get in a rhythm and you know where guys like to go. Guys start dropping because of injury and your rhythm starts to get thrown off a little bit. Some guys are in positions they are not used to being in. It takes a toll. But, with all that being said, we are still right there in the thick of things. With the past month that we’ve had, we are still very optimistic about turning the tide. We just have to do a little bit more of helping ourselves.”
- Williams on mounting injuries
“We are definitely frustrated. There are no moral victories in this thing. It’s definitely frustrating but at the same time we feel like we can win the next game every time. That is what we are hanging our hats on, taking the frustration and trying to turn it into a positive.”
- Williams on keeping up morale
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