Official postgame quotes and notes following the Jazz's 83-78 home victory against the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday.

Notes: The Jazz are now 9-5 all-time against Charlotte, and 5-2 at home ... Utah has won the last five games against the Bobcats, as well as the last five at home ... This is the Jazz’s second win in the last nine games (last one 1/28 vs. Minnesota) ... Utah won the first quarter tonight (24-18) and are now 10-2 when leading after the first quarter ... The Jazz won their 27th fourth quarter tonight (21-16) ... Andrei Kirilenko had his third double-double of the season (13 points and 11 rebounds).

Jerry Sloan – Head Coach (29-20 this season)
On the game
“Well, I thought our guys played hard. We played hard, after the game we had last night, it really felt good to watch them play a little harder than what we did. And when you play hard, you always have a chance to win. We made some mistakes, but I can live with that when you’re trying to play hard, trying to do some things worthwhile.”

On the effort tonight
“It was much better than what we had. I mean, last night’s game, I hate to bring that up, I’m sure they hate to hear it as well, but we just did some things that we can’t even begin to have a chance to win if we’re going to play like that. You have a chance when you’re playing, you’re executing, we got off to a decent start tonight because we executed, got the ball inside and scored, instead of kind of just walking through what we’re doing.”

Andrei Kirilenko – Forward (13 points, 11 rebounds)
On staying together
“Yeah that’s a great example of how to play as a team. You know we’ve been helping each other out. We have tough time getting defensively sometimes but we work through it. I am very happy to be part of this team cause the guys just play hard.”

On his game
“I’m feeling that I need to provide a little bit more cause we obviously in a tough situation right now and we need to produce more and more.”

Raja Bell
“That’s what you have to do during an NBA season. You’re going to miss guys and other guys have an opportunity to step up and help out. With a guy as good as Deron (out) we all have to kind of take a load on ourselves and I think we’ve done a good job of that. Last night was rough, but we’re 2-1 right now and we can’t wait to get him back.”

On the defense
“I though it was a great effort defensively. We were aggressive defensively and you wind up getting the benefit of some calls when you’re doing that and also you’re a better defensive team. I thought we helped each other out a lot better and rebounded well.”

Earl Watson – Guard (5 points, 6 assists)
On the game
“I just wanted to come out and be aggressive defensively. The team defense starts at the point. I just wanted to come out and try to get my team a win and get out in transition and get some steals.”

On the last couple of weeks
“We have to realize we went through a rough stretch. We have to understand we have to learn a lesson about those stretches and learn and improve and move on and all those things to become a better team each day.”

Notes: The Bobcats forced 14 first half turnovers ... The Bobcats started the game shooting 0-7 from the floor and were down 11-0 and then went on an 11-2 run ... The Bobcats were outscored 10-0 to start the fourth quarter...The Bobcats finished their five game Western Conference road trip with a 3-2 record ... The Bobcats have lost two straight road games after having tied a franchise record with four straight wins ... The Bobcats finish the year 0-2 against the Jazz ...The Bobcats lost for just the third time this season when holding an opponent under 90 points...The Bobcats lost for the first time this season when tied going into the fourth period...D.J. Augustin was three assists and two rebounds shy of a triple-double.

Paul Silas – Head Coach (20-27 this season)
On the execution of the game
“You know that was a part of it but it was the whole game that that was a problem. Every time we would make substitutions is where we would go down 11 or 12 points. Now we got to fight back, you know, to get back in the game. Execution could have been a lot better. Rebounding could have been a lot better. The two rebounds that they got at the end, we down by one point, and then the foul that we took, you know, with 31 seconds to go. We’re down by three and we fouled, that just doesn’t make sense. I’m about these guys thinking the game, learning how to think the game, and right now we’re in that process but we’re not there yet. If we do get there I think we’re gonna be okay.”

On whether the mental fortitude has improved
“Oh no doubt it has. But it’s still the little things. When we talk about defensive situations and we don’t do them. And all I ask the guys is just if you do them and it doesn’t work then it’s fine, it’s on me. But if you don’t do them, it’s on you. And to me that’s where we gotta to get out of it. And excuses, I don’t want excuses. You come back to the bench, ‘well this that and other happened’ I don’t want to hear it. Just admit ‘Hey I messed up coach’ and that’s it. I can accept that. But we still, as I’ve been saying, we have a long way to go, but we are getting there.”

D.J. Augustin – Guard (20 Points, 7 Assists)
On game management in late situations
“I think we’re out there thinking pretty well. We missed some key rebounds and I think that’s what changed the game and we’ve got to work on getting those rebounds at the end of the game.”

On what kept them in the game tonight
“I think it was our defense. We played great defense and were helping each other communicating and they were making tough shots but at the end of the game like I said we gotta rebound and finish the game.”
Stephen Jackson – Guard (24 Points, 8 Rebounds) ______ ___ _ ___
On the most disappointing part of not being able to pull off the win tonight
“Not being ready to play. We gotta come out and be ready to play. This team was without its All-Star and this is a game we should have had but we didn’t come with the effort. We didn’t come with the focus and when you’re going against a team that’s without their star and that’s been struggling, that’s the most dangerous teams and you gotta have more energy than them. But they played great, C.J. Miles came off the bench and played great and I think they just wanted the game more than we did.”
Additional quotes on back...
On what kept them in the game tonight
“You gotta keep playing, I mean that’s what Coach keeps telling us, we gotta keep playing regardless of what the score is and how much we’re down. We gotta keep playing and see what happens. We were able to come back on this road trip in past games and find a way to win and we just try to stay aggressive and try to find a way to win it but we just couldn’t pull it out.”

— Brian T. Smith

Twitter: tribjazz