Orlando Magic 109, Chicago Bulls 94Orlando Magic Head Coach Brian Hill:
“This is obviously a really good way for us to start the season against what I think is an excellent basketball team. I was just really proud of the way the guys played tonight. I thought we came out with really good focus, really good energy and a high concentration level with our offensive execution and our defense playing people off the dribble. It’s a tough team to defend, especially when they put three or four small guys out there at a time. (I am) just extremely happy with the performance of everybody.”
On Dwight being inside…
“That’s going to be our team every night. We want to play inside-out and we want to try to establish Dwight’s presence at the post and see how the teams are going to try to defend him, whether they are going to double team him, whatever the case may be. That was our game plan tonight, trying play inside-out as much as possible.”
On the difference in how Dwight has played…
“I thought our guys did a fantastic job of finding him all night and finding him deep in the paint or at the rim in transition. When you do that, it makes it especially hard to double team him. When you get him the ball deep in the paint or right at the front of the rim it’s almost impossible to double team him and there are just not a lot of guys who can take him one-on-one in that situation. He made good, quick moves and really asserted himself right from the beginning.”
On the Magic’s Defense…
“I was very pleased with our defense. With the Bulls, it’s all about playing people off the dribble and keeping the ball out of the middle of the floor. I’ll be honest with you, I watched them play last night and I didn’t know how we could win the game watching them play Miami They just drove the ball wherever they wanted to go against Miami last night. Our whole objective was trying to keep the ball out of middle of the floor as much as possible and not let their guys get off. Obviously they have some really good guards in Gordon and Hinrich in particular who put a (lot) of pressure on you, but all in all I think we did a good job.”
On the team’s chemistry last season to this season…
“I won’t lie to you, I sensed it after the game began but I didn’t know going in to the game. I told you guys the last couple days the first game you never know what you’re going to get, how your guys are going to react to the first game of the year. A lot of times the things (you) fear the most work out well and the things you think are going to go great fall apart on you in the first game of the year. Tonight I thought we were pretty well rounded – we were pretty good in most areas of the game other than our turnovers.”
Orlando Magic Forward/Center Dwight Howard:
“I was just trying to have fun.”
(On Grant Hill) “It makes us feel great. That’s what we need out of him. I was just glad he was out on the floor with us. Grant came out on fire. I think he always starts the game like that since last year. It was great to have him on the floor. I just love playing with Grant.”
“We’ve been really bonding with each other during the off-season, and also every day in practice. The more we gel as team, the better we’re going to be on the floor.”
Orlando Magic Guard Jameer Nelson:
“We had something to prove, it wasn’t just making shots, we had something to prove on the defensive end. You know teams hear that we’re suspect on the defensive end, but you see, we have three shot blockers, you know. And that allows the guards to pressure up and we actually did a better job tonight of taking their transition, it’s what Chicago likes to do.”
“This is just the first game. We have a lot to accomplish for ourselves; we have a lot of practice to do things we have to work on. There were a lot of mistakes out there.”
Orlando Magic Guard Carlos Arroyo:
“They had their run during the game. We stayed positive, we stayed poised, we stayed under control which is the main thing when a team makes a run like that. They did and we made our run too so we kept battling and a great thing happened.”
“Dwight is going out of his way of his way to help the guards and blocking shots like that, it’s going to make you think you know when you’ve got guys that are committed to helping each other, great things are going ton happen.”
