Wednesday, May 9, 2012

May 8, 2012. Playoffs day 11: Quotes

Chicago Bulls 77, Philadelphia Sixers 69. 

"Definitely," Deng said. "We're in a situation where we know if we lose, we go home. After tonight's game, they're going to feel a little pressure and try to close it out."


"You can't let one game all of a sudden get you spinning in the wrong direction," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "We didn't expect to beat the Bulls four straight. This is a damn good team."


"They're going to treat the game in Philly like it's Game 7," Chicago's Richard Hamilton said. "They don't want to come back here. We've got to figure out a way to do the same thing we did tonight, and hopefully we'll get the win."


"It's a physical series," Hawes said. "If that's how it's going to go, we can play that brand of basketball."


"Got an elbow in the face," Brand said. "Can't allow that. But after the play was over, it's over."



"We feel like we can go to Philadelphia and get one great road win," Boozer said.


Denver Nuggets 102,  Los Angeles Lakers 99. 

"I've been blessed to win a few series, and it's the hardest thing in the world to win the fourth game," Karl said. "I don't care who you're playing, it's hard. ... His feeling on close-outs is a little different than mine."


"We still have to go take care of business at home," Miller said. "Nothing is a gimme against this team. If we can take care of home and force a Game 7, anything can happen."


"That's true, close-outs can be easy," Bryant said. "Tonight wasn't one of those nights. ... Did it pump them up? Probably. You never want to give anybody bulletin board material, but if you're going to be a champion, you've got to play through things like that."


"I wouldn't say the energy kicked in in the fourth quarter," Bryant said. "I almost bailed us out, is what happened. That's something you can't rely on if you're going to win a championship."


"It definitely means a lot, but we're still down, and we still have games to win -- in a row, at that," McGee said. "It's really hard to stop Kobe, but if we stop the bigs, then Kobe can do what he does, and we'll have a really good chance to win."


"They were daring us to take outside shots," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "We were getting shots we couldn't make. But to me, that's not the difference in the game. There were so many things we could have done to win this ballgame. ... I'm more disappointed in our defense and our lack of protecting the paint."

Indiana Pacers 105,  Orlando Magic 87.

"I'm just so happy for our fans," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "They've endured a lot those years when we struggled. To finally see us come back and have a winning team again and somebody that has a chance to do something special this year. That's what they deserve. Pacers basketball is back."


"It was electric," Granger said. "The crowd was crazy. They had a lot of momentum going. They pushed us in that fourth quarter."


"It's an unfamiliar situation for a lot of guys, but I just thought we stayed together," Indiana forward David West said. "They made some runs, made some shots. But ultimately, we stayed together as a team and won this game as a unit."


"Close out game, you obviously want to play your best at these moments," Granger said. "I pride myself on that. I had big night, but I'm just glad we got the win."


"That's a testament to the type of team we have," West said. "We're deep, man. We've got guys, that when their number's called, they're prepared. DC just had another gear that I don't think anybody else on the floor had."


"We don't think like that," Orlando forward Ryan Anderson said. "We know we can win and play hard. We proved in Game 1 we can come out and play hard and win."


"We gave a tremendous effort," Anderson said. "We really battled. We played hard. Nobody can say we didn't. It's just tough."


"Huge step for our franchise," Vogel said. "We're not happy with just getting that, though. We feel like this is just the beginning of a big run. We're excited about where we're at as a basketball team."

Atlanta Hawks 87,  Boston Celtics 86. 


"I wanted to bring that energy to the team," Horford said.
"I didn't expect to play that many at all," Horford said. "We had an arrangement. It was going to be between 15 and 25."
"I cornered myself," Rondo said. "Give Al credit."
"I feel awful the game ended the way it ended, because I thought Rondo willed us back into the game," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.
"We got everybody back at the right time," Atlanta star Joe Johnson said. "We have a chance to do something special."
"This is the team they thought they were going to start the season with," Rivers said. "They now have it, and we have to deal with it."
"To have a full deck, with everybody back," Johnson said, "it's a blessing."

All credit goes to ESPN
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

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