A look at the three keys elements of the Hawks’ 108-101 loss to the Wizards Saturday:
“I like the fight of our group. I like the character of our group. They are showing a will to find a way to stay in games. Obviously, we want to win them. I think there are things we need to clean up and things we need to work on and we’ll do that. But the character of our group is very high. I think you saw that again tonight. You give Washington credit. They are a good team. We just couldn’t get it done tonight.”
- Coach Mike Budenholzer’s opening statement
“Nope. That is a fact. I don’t like falling behind by 17 or 18.”
- Budenholzer on falling behind
“That is one of the things they are great at. You have to give them credit. They create those turnovers. I think we can do a better job of taking care of the ball. We can make quicker, better decisions – shoot it, pass it, drive it. But they’re a part of the reason we turned it over and we knew that coming into the game. I thought we have to finish better in the paint. We’ve got to make some open shots. They create turnovers. They’ve got great athletes. They do a lot defensively.”
- Budenholzer on Wizards’ ability to create turnovers
“We had opportunities where we could have maybe gone ahead. We didn’t take advantage of those opportunities. They would spread from us again. We need to find a way not to dig ourselves a hole.”
- Budenholzer on Wizards
“Our turnovers were a big part of it. It was 38-37 and John Wall hit a big 3 there in front of their bench on an out-of-bounds play. Then they were able to extend it going into halftime. We couldn’t take care of the ball for long enough and then when we did take care of it we had some shots we liked, they just didn’t go down.”
- Budenholzer on how Wizards took big lead
“I really don’t know Jeff’s status or how his rib is feeling. He is a tough kid and he played through it. He gave us everything he had. He is attacking the basket. He is getting to the paint. I’m hoping he’ll be fine.”
- Budenholzer on Jeff Teague’s rib injury
“They killed us shooting those corner 3’s. I think that was the biggest difference in the game.”
- Al Horford on Wizards’ offense
“It’s not a habit that we want to get in to as a team. It takes too much energy, too much effort. We did it (Friday). Yeah, it was great. But we want to be playing well and we want to be ahead in games and finish them out. So, we have to make sure getting better at that.”
- Horford on falling behind by large margins
“It’s one of those things that you almost have to play perfect basketball when you fall behind like that. Sometimes, it isn’t going to work. (Friday) we caught some breaks and we were able to pull the game out. Tonight, the effort was there but those little mistakes become big. We have to be better and not let them build big leads like that.”
- Horford on trying to come back from deficits
“It’s all right.”
- Teague on condition of rib contustion
“It hurts but I played. It didn’t affect me.”
- Teague on whether injury affect play
“We just missed shots. We hit those shots (Friday) down the stretch that we missed today. It wasn’t anything they were doing. We just missed shots and they just made their shots.”
- Teague on difference in game
“We play hard. It’s not because we don’t play hard. We are just not in a groove right now offensively. We are competing defensively. It’s not that at all. It’s just that we are missing shots. It happens when you go through those spells. At the beginning of the year we are scoring over 110 points back to back. We are just going through those times when it’s tough to score.”
- Teague on falling behind by large margins
“The effort was good. We came out with energy. We dug ourselves a hole one more time and just couldn’t get over that hump.”
- Paul Millsap on second half
“Absolutely. You exert so much energy coming back. When it gets down the stretch, your legs might give out or something might happen due to fatigue. We are not making excuses. That game was within reach. I feel like we should have had it.”
- Millsap on whether having to come back affects late-game execution
“We played terribly in the first quarter, the first half. But we feel confident if we stick to our stuff good things will happen.”
- Millsap on comeback
“We win Saturday against Atlanta; it gives you a two-week period of 6-2 (record). I tell them I’m proud of them. That’s what you have to do. It wasn’t the easiest schedule to start with 10 out of the first 16 on the road and you have some good competition, too. I said, ‘It will be positive in the long run.’”
- Wizards coach Randy Wittman
