ROCKETS HEAD COACH JEFF VAN GUNDY
(on the team's play) "Against that team (Phoenix), we're at a quickness disadvantage, so it makes it look like an effort disadvantage, when it truly is a quickness thing. And we don't have the habit or discipline...we're shooting to overcome that. On defense we do maybe one thing, one-and-a-half things, but we can't help and recover and then guard the ball. They went by us the whole night, which puts you in disadvantages and it takes great discipline and habits to play well against them (Phoenix). You're going to have to shoot the ball, make some shots, which we don't. We're a bad shooting team."
(on the play of Shawn Marion) "He's pretty good. He's quicker than us, he rebounds the ball exceedingly well, he's a higher energy and effort player than anyone at his position in the league. He's disruptive defensively; he's pretty good."
(on what the Rockets need to do to improve their defense) "He (Steve Nash) went by Yao (Ming) in the pick and roll. It's a tough cover for Yao (Ming).
He was by Yao (Ming) every time which compacted our defense, then we're scrambling, then they're driving us the next time, (Shawn) Marion's cutting.
And again, you'd have to have unbelievable habits and unbelievable discipline to combat that. We're slow...we're a slow team comparatively in the NBA. As we go forward, we're going to try and get quicker and tougher, develop better habits, more discipline and, obviously, we need more guys who can dribble and penetrate like they do and who can shoot like they do."
YAO MING
(on the reasons for the Rockets' losing the lead in the 2nd quarter) "It was the energy. When we were missing shots, they were pushing the ball in transition. They weren't like other opponents who would slow the ball down.
Our energy went down and we lost our concentration on their transition game.
We didn't keep our bodies on their bodies to prevent them from getting open shots."
(on the effect of the Rockets' playing back-to-back games) "Every game for us is very important. When we step into the arena, we have to be ready to play, even if we played the day before. We played hard yesterday (against
Orlando) and we have to continue to play well, especially since we dug such a hole for ourselves earlier in the year."
(on the difficulties of the Rockets' trying to guard Shawn Marion) "He is a guy who you have to keep your eye on for 48 minutes, not 47 minutes and 59 seconds, but 48 minutes. He always can find our mistakes. If we didn't box out or if we didn't get the rebound, then he will cut to the basket and start getting the lay-ups."
DAVID WESLEY
(on the challenge of facing the Suns) "With this team (the Suns), you really have to stay true to your game plan for 48 minutes. In that 1st quarter we were pretty true to it; we got them to miss a couple of shots that they would normally knock down and it's almost like, maybe, we took a deep breath, like 'we're okay.' We were maybe feeling too good about ourselves and as soon as we took that deep breath, they made a run at us and our discipline to the game plan just wasn't there, our intensity wasn't there.
That team can score in bunches and once they get in rhythm, they're really tough to stop. Then you're one step behind and you're guessing and that's how they beat you."
(on the Rockets' inability to play effective defense throughout the game) "Jump-shooting teams can have bad nights. You've got to keep them having bad nights. When they're having a tough shooting quarter, you've got to find a way to make sure they keep shooting tough shots and you have to keep making them miss so you can rebound the ball. If you're going to give them open shots and then 2nd shots and then 3rd shots, then you're going to be giving them too many looks and they have too good of a shooting team with that many opportunities."
(on the uniqueness of Steve Nash) "Steve Nash is unique in that he's out there throwing left handed cross-court passes and jump passes, stuff you just wouldn't teach another basketball player. He also sees the ball really well."
JUWAN HOWARD
(on the success of the Suns tonight) "They came out and played tough basketball. They scored some buckets and I think that our defense had some defensive let-downs. We didn't show any flashes of greatness. They're a tough match-up for any team in the league, especially when you have 2 bigs.
They play with a lot of energy defensively and they play the passing lanes.
Yao (Ming) did a great job of finding the open man, but there were also times where we missed shots and we had trouble getting back. They had some runners by (Shawn) Marion and some open jumpers by (James) Jones and that gave them momentum."
(on the Rockets' inability to counter the run of the Suns in the 2nd
quarter) "We had a pretty good first quarter. Offensively, we ran our sets and we were able to get a lot of things around the basket, mainly with Yao
(Ming) posting up and him getting 2nd shot opportunities. When they started to sag on him, he was able to find me for some jumpers. We knew that we were not in the driver's seat and we knew that that team was going to make a run and, sure enough, they did, but we weren't able to have the poise under pressure. We missed shots and turned the ball over and we played into their hands."
(on the disappointment of tonight's loss) "It's very disappointing when you've had like 3 really good games and then, of course, you come home off of a back-to-back. It was a pretty average 1st half and then in the 2nd half we didn't play well at all. Especially at home, that's really disappointing, not matter if you lose to Phoenix or if you lose to a worse team."
LUTHER HEAD
(on the loss) "We don't look at it as if we can't beat them. You can say that they were the better team today, tomorrow could be a different story.
We could play them tomorrow and we could be the better team."
(on the Rockets' improved play since the beginning of the season) "We're playing with more intensity and we're playing harder. If we keep doing that, we're going to beat most teams. If Yao (Ming) plays the way he played today, and if we could get everyone to play with him to the best of their ability, then I think we could be a really good team."
PHOENIX SUNS HEAD COACH MIKE D'ANTONI
(on what turned the game around) "We started making our shots. At the start we weren't sharp and then we kept battling and then we started playing better. We're really playing well as a team and we are playing very hard."
(on defending Tracy McGrady) "We played very good team defense against him, but it was not one of his nights. We really run the legs off a lot of guys."
(on Shawn Marion's third straight 30+ game) "He's slacking off. He was only 30 (points) and 18 (rebounds). He has turned it up to a level that very few guys in this league have played like."
(on Boris Diaw's play) "Boris (Diaw) is really a very good player. He usually gets about 20 minutes a game at center for us, so this is not a different role for him. He is a basketball player and can guard big guys inside and smaller guys on the perimeter."
(on his team's play) "We are a confident team if we continue to play like this. We can hold on until our other guys come back."
STEVE NASH
(on Shawn Marion's play) "He is playing unbelievably well. He scores, rebounds and blocks shots and also does a great job defensively for us. He's amazing! He goes on runs for us all the time like that."
(on his team's play) "We didn't play particularly well at the start of the game. We were trying to get our rhythm but we kept our confidence and then we got things going. We started making our shots and our energy picked up.
Making our shots was a big part of the turnaround."
(on the problems the Suns present to the Rockets) "It's very difficult for them to adjust to our style of play. We try not to let them get the ball inside to Yao (Ming). Yao (Ming) is a huge disadvantage for us but also tend to wear him down with our style of play."
SHAWN MARION
(on his third straight 30-point game) "Okay, I'm fine with that. It seems that when I get things going early and I've been knocking down my shots the results have been big scoring games."
(Did he know that was the first time in his career?) "That's crazy but I thought I did that before. I missed a couple of easy ones and that is very frustrating. I am human, I was just a little tired."
(on the team's play) "We opened the gates, kicked our turbos in and we went on a full charge. After we closed the first half we got a feel for the game and attacked them and played our game in the second half. We stayed active and made them shoot jumpers and they were missing their shots."
BORIS DIAW
(on the game) "We expected from them (Rockets) a reaction to the last game we played and they came back strong on us because we missed a lot of early shots. We then seemed to wear them down in the second half."
(on playing center, forward and guard this season) "I'm willing to play wherever coach wants. I've played all three positions this year and with our style we rotate a lot. Tonight I got in early foul trouble and sometimes it tends to find me. It is tougher to play inside against the big guys but I try to wear them out."
) was that the Rockets were able to create defensive switches that put defending T-Mac. Not fair.
