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Official postgame quotes and notes following the Jazz's 95-86 road victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.
Jerry Sloan(On adjustments made for tonight's game after a strong offensive start for the Bucks…)"We had some shots, but we weren't getting over screens very well. We weren't getting open shots. Thought they did a good job of screening us. Finally we kept working at it and did a better job."(On Andrew Bogut's play …)"We had trouble with Bogut inside. He's so big and long. Those are some baskets we wanted to have back, but fortunately we won the game."(On improved play over last night's loss…)"Everything was much better. Didn't turn the ball over as much. We got killed on the offensive boards last night. Most important thing is that we won today. As a coach you're always concerned with how you're going to come back."Center Al Jefferson(On if winning close games is building team's confidence …)"Tonight we knew we had to bounce back, take control of the game. We played defense the way we did tonight, you know, we are a great team. We are hard to beat. That's the way we have to play every night"(On the pressure of knowing you need to perform…)"I take it personally going out and playing hard every night. That's something Coach Sloan would demand. We are playing hard and getting it on the defensive end. That's when we are a great team. It's a lot of pressure when we don't do that. Go out and play hard like we did tonight. When we lose it sticks with me. That's the pressure."(On Bogut…)"He's a beast ever since he came into the league, when I was in Boston we played him a few times. He's the type of guy that could use both hands. He's smart. Never gives up. He's going to play hard. He's got a bright future if he's able to stay up."Guard Deron Williams(On rebounding…)"We did a good job of boxing out. Was definitely an emphasis coming into the game, keeping them out of the boards. We were able to get some offensive rebounds that actually won the game for us."(On the improvement over last night …)"We just played defense I thought. We talked about it before the game that we can't let our offense and how we shoot the ball dictate our defense."(On how the team bounced back…)"It just shows a lot of character. Shows we don't have a lot of quit in us. We're a resilient team. We took last night personal. It was an embarrassing loss to get beat by 30 and we wanted to put forth a better effort tonight."Scott Skiles(On rebounding …)"The game at Utah (and tonight's game), both games were pretty similar. They had more assists, they had more steals, they had fewer turnovers, they shot the three better, got to the line more. An awful lot of that revolved around just the offense glass. We did a decent job getting the first stop but we just had a hard time reacting to the ball."(On the turning point in the game …)"They had sort of an often occurrence at the beginning of the game in a back-to-back for them, they were a little slow foot. About the five and half minute mark in the second quarter you could see some things changing and they started to get after it a little more." (On tonight's game…)"They took a little bit of momentum into the half and we came out in the second half and didn't have much. We got it close and we got some stops, we just couldn't finish it off with clean rebounds." Andrew Bogut(On tonight's game…)"We had our chances early on in the game. We know that they're going to make a run in the fourth quarter, they're probably one of the best fourth quarter finishing teams in the league. Once they start getting momentum in their favor they are very tough to beat." (On tonight's struggles…)"I think offensive rebounds was a huge part of it. Obviously there were a lot of bounces that were going their way too but you get those when you're crashing the boards and we weren't crashing the boards with effort. It wasn't just those things, it was the loose balls they were getting, they were forcing turnovers at crucial times of the game and getting lay-ups. They just really turned it up and we didn't respond."Guard Chris Douglas-Roberts(On Deron Williams…)"His handle lets him get wherever he wants on the floor and he just knows the system like the back of his hand. That's what makes him so tough to check."(On tonight's game …)"They outrebounded us, that was pretty much about it. That was the deciding factor in this game was they outrebounded us. That and second chance points, that was it." Milwaukee started the game on a 16-4 run, thanks to over 50 percent shooting, two steals (Bogut and Jennings) and one blocked shot (Chris Douglas-Roberts).
Utah whittled down the Bucks' lead during the second quarter, keyed by a 6-0 run to close out the half and bring the score to 46-43. The Jazz took the lead at the 10:51 mark in the third quarter and battled closely with the Bucks – including four ties – for much of the remainder of the game, until pulling away late.
Keyon Dooling was three for four from three, and timed them right. His first extended the Bucks lead to seven points after a CJ Miles jump shot closed the gap; his second came 33 second after he entered the game at 3:11 in the third to cut the Utah lead to three and helped key a comeback run. Dooling's third tre tied the game at 66 a short three minutes later.
The fourth quarter did not lack drama. Midway through the fourth, a flagrant foul was called on Drew Gooden (Kirilenko made both shots). A mere six seconds later, Deron Williams was tagged with a technical foul (Dooling made the free throw to tie the game at 75). On the Bucks next possession, John Salmons hit a three to give the Bucks the lead at 78-75.
Utah gets an "A" for assists tonight, accumulating 25 total dishes, exceeding the team's season average of 23.7 per game, which was good for fourth in the league coming into the game. Utah guard Deron Williams was ranked fourth in the league in assists per game coming into tonight's contest (9.7) and tallied 11 during the game.
Deron Williams put up 22 points, dished out 11 assists and added two rebounds for the Jazz.Rebounds were the story of the game. Milwaukee came into tonight's game ranked fourth in the NBA in rebounds per game (43.04), but was held to only 31 boards tonight. Meanwhile, Utah grabbed 46 total rebounds, after being ranked 29th in the league coming into tonight's game, averaging 38.85 per game. The Bucks had been holding their opponents to a league-low 8.46 offensive rebounds per game, but the Jazz pulled down 14 offensive boards tonight. Milwaukee is now 2-7 when they are out-rebounded.
The Bucks are now 1-10 when they score 89 points or less.
Milwaukee had been 4-1 when shooting better than its opponent and 5-1 when they shoot between 45 and 49.9 percent. The team drops to 4-2 and 5-2, respectively in those categories, having shot 45.1 percent versus Utah's 42.2 percent.
— Brian T. Smith
Twitter: tribjazz