Cavaliers 108, Jazz 90
Game Quotes: Cavaliers at Utah Jazz - January 21, 2006
Head Coach Mike Brown
"LeBron James is amazing. After playing last night, banging up his knee, he was a game-time decision, and he came down with the flu . . . then he goes for 51 tonight . . .he is flat-out amazing!"
"He is a great player now and he’s going to be a better player in years to come and I’m just happy to be able to work with him."
"The offense took off (in the 4th quarter) but our defense did a really nice job getting some stops. When we get stops is usually fuels our running game, and we get out and run we are at our best, and we proved that tonight."
Cavs Forward LeBron James
"I came real close (to not playing). If it had been a one o’clock game I wouldn’t have made it. I got up this morning and the knee hurt badly but I did some treatment all day and the knee felt well tonight. I made the call, they left it up to me."
"My teammates did a great job picking me up and keeping focused tonight. I just wanted to showcase my talents to the crowd. It was awesome . . . having the opposing fans cheer for you. It gets no better than that . . . it was awesome."
"(In the 4th quarter) we wanted to get stops and get out and run. They kept dropping my pick and roll so I stepped behind and shot the three. I also was able to penetrate and get to the lane . . . that opened some things up for my teammates."
Cavs Forward Donyell Marshall
"It was a great performance (by James). People need to understand that he’s only 21 years old . . . leading this team, this franchise he’s great. The criticism he’s taking is unfair. We all need to take the blame (for the 6-game losing streak snapped tonight). To come in here tonight and win in the Delta Center is unbelievable. I played here and I know tough it is to play here . . . it was unbelievable."
"The fans started talking trash, things didn’t go well in free agency when I left and some people were talking . . . that got me geared me up. I hadn’t been playing well as of late and I needed a game like tonight."
Head Coach Jerry Sloan
"We had a difficult time obviously trying to guard LeBron James. He was sensational and got on a roll and couldn’t miss shots and got on top of the basket when he needed to. Then they (Cleveland) hit shots out of the corner; its just one of those days. We held in there a little bit, but the thing that got us in trouble in the first half is that when they put up a zone against us we couldn’t execute, and when we did we couldn’t make shots. We had a 10-point lead and that drifted away real quickly and found ourselves in trouble."
On LeBron
"He was terrific; he made his shots, and he’s just a wonderful player. I think we’re intimidated by him a great deal. You have to foul him and make him go to the free throw line, you can’t just let him stay in a rhythm. We kept getting off of him. Young players have to know that if you are going to play in this league you don’t want to be intimidated every time you step out. We’ve been intimidated two nights in a row. If you’re going to accept that, then it’s a tough road to come out of. That’s a huge concern that I’ve had with this team from the beginning. We make strides and then fall back."
Andrei Kirilenko
"He’s amazing and I think he’s the guy that won the game tonight. He just did everything he wants. He drives, he shoots, he scores, he goes to the line, he rebounds the ball. So, we just didn’t help on him. One guy couldn’t guard him one on one."
"LeBron, he’s an individual player. He’s not like anybody else like Michael Jordan, no they’re different. Like Kobe Bryant, they’re different. Everybody has different style of play and especially when he’s hot it’s hard to stop him."
Devin Brown
"One guy beating us isn’t going to happen all the time. We’re going to make adjustments and get ready for the guys like Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. Those are different style of players so we just got to focus in our defense and believe in it."
"Well you force him into the middle and then he’s able to jump over everybody. And then you go under screens and now he’s knocking down threes. And that screen up top, Ilgauskas is a pretty big guy so it’s hard to get over the top or go underneath. So, you know he’s coming off in rhythm getting those looks and he’ll probably knock them down ten out of ten times."