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New Orleans — Official postgame quotes following the Jazz's 96-85 loss to the Hornets on Friday.Jazz Head Coach Tyrone Corbin:(On the game) It's a tough loss. We had opportunities to win the ball game and get out of here. We told them at halftime that you can't let this team hang around. They get close to the end and they have guys that are capable of making shots, and that's what happened. (Eric) Gordon took over and made three big plays in a row. You have to give them credit. They played hard, which we thought they would, and we just didn't respond."(On the play of Eric Gordon) It was just one on one. He made big shots. He is what he is. He is a good one on one player. We tried to trap him early on, but they did a good job of coming back to him. He held the ball in his hands when we tried to throw him off a little bit by attacking him. He made some plays for them, and we just didn't respond." Jazz Guard Gordon Hayward:(On Trying to stop Eric Gordon) We couldn't stop Eric tonight, he's a very talented player and he made some plays. He did a good job of attacking the basket and we made him take some difficult shots and he was able to knock them down. He's a tough player to guard, I've played him in high school and in the summer; he's just tough to guard. It was just a difficult night overall. We battled and played hard, we just didn't have enough down the stretch. We had a great win last night, but a tough loss tonight." Jazz Forward Paul Millsap:(On Tonight's Loss)This is a big loss for us tonight. This was a game we needed and one we were suppose to win. Eric played real well tonight; he had an awesome game. He set the tone for them and we just couldn't stop him. They hit some big shots down the stretch and we didn't. We have to put this game behind us and get ready for Memphis tomorrow night."Hornets Head Coach Monty Williams: (On the win): "I think we had nine turnovers in the first half and only five in the second half, which is pretty good for us for a half. I thought our defense, we held them to 19 in the second quarter and 15 in the fourth and that just spoke to our effort that our guys can give on any given night. The execution wasn't always great, but I thought our guys fought. Even when I thought we were getting a bit of a bad whistle for a minute, in my opinion, but Eric, from the fourth, I don't know if he went for eight or 10 (points) straight, but it was eight or 10 big points. Then, I thought he got a little tired. He turned the one ball over with Paul Millsap all over him, but our guys keep fighting. We're getting contributions from everybody. I thought Chris Kaman was efficient tonight. Jason (Smith) was his normal self. Greivis (Vasquez) is getting better at running the team, and Marco's (Belinelli) selfless play really helps us. He plays the one, the two and the three, but overall I thought it was a great team win."(On the team's confidence level with its recent run of success this month): "What goes into winning an NBA game, people will never know. You guys see what we go through every day, and to come out with a win, it has to build confidence. At the same time, you look at the overall record, and it keeps me up at night. I know it does the same for our players, but as for this month, we just want to keep it going. We just want to continue to compete and play the game the right way. We want to give our fans something to be excited about going into the summer."Hornets Guard Eric Gordon(On his scoring spurt down the stretch): "I love those situations. That's what I'm here for, to help the team win, and that's what I try to do. I'm looking forward to the rest of these games this season and see what can happen for me being here in the future." (On the Hornets' defense in the second half): "We stayed in control. The only problem we were having was rebounding. Scoring, we have the individual guys who can do that, so as long as I score in the fourth quarter and try to help the team out because our team played well offensively and defensively."Hornets Center Chris Kaman (On the win): "It feels good to keep winning. We have two more home games to finish the season strong. That's what we are looking forward to right now and that's our goal, before we go on the road."(On the second half finish): "Eric Gordon is what it is. Seriously, Eric played a heck of a game tonight. Especially in the fourth quarter, he really put on a show for the fans and really hustled for that win. It's a team effort. He does his part. We do our part rebounding and blocking shots. I thought we did a good job getting defensive stops."(On the play of Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson): "They're both great players in this league. Al Jefferson has been having a good year and Millsap is exceptional. The hard part was they played him at the three spot. We'd put a smaller guy on him and they really did a good job of posting him up. They'd post him up against a guard and that made it tough."
The Salt Lake Tribune
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