Apr. 18 2003 Playoffs 2003 Quotes
Head Coach Doc Rivers“We’re in the playoffs playing a number #1 seed, and they have home-court advantage, but we’re going to show up, I can tell you that, and we’re going to play good basketball.”
“I don’t know what it takes to win a seven-game series. I think we’re going to have to rebound extremely well, I think defense is going to be key, and I think we just have to be who we are. We can’t try to change things, when you have a veteran team you have that luxury, you can put in three or four new plays, but we don’t have that luxury, we have a young team. If the Detroit Pistons are going to beat us, their going to beat us playing our basketball, we’re not changing for anybody.”
“I could care less about last year’s [playoffs], the past is not important, it’s the next day.”
“I don’t think you’re ever pleased playing a number #1 seed, I think that ludicrous to be honest. We made a choice with about four games left in the season, knowing we’re not going to get home-court advantage, we knew we had to get healthy, and our health was far more important. Unfortunately, Pat Garrity still isn’t healthy, he got through about a half-hour of practice today and had to leave, so I think our health was far more important.”
“We expect Ben to be 100%. When Ben walks out on that floor, he’s 100% as far as we’re concerned. We know Ben Wallace, he played three months with us with a boot on his foot after every game, so I expect him to be great, I expect him to be healthy, and we’re expecting them to play great. We have to just be better, somehow.”
“I think they’ll be huge, I think they have to be huge. I think DeClercq, Hunter, really we try to look at our bigs as a collection, and I think our collection of bigs have to out-do their bigs, have better overall numbers.”
“That’s probably true, I mean if we stop Rip Hamilton, we might have a chance at winning the series too. I mean when I was playing with the Knicks every year, we said if we stopped Michael, we’d win the series too. So that’s the obvious, but if it was that easy, he wouldn’t be Tracy McGrady.”
“I look at it as the Magic playing Detroit really. I think for us to win Tracy’s going to obviously be Tracy, and we’re going to need some other guys to step up and play good basketball. Other than that, it’s two teams playing two teams.”
“They are a deep basketball team, no doubt about it, and I think bench play is important. I don’t know if we’re going to out-score their bench, but I do know we have to have great bench play to win the series.”
Drew Gooden“Sitting out those four games to get ready for the playoffs gave me time to heal, and I thank coach for that. It gave me time to be ready for the playoffs.”
“I feel at that time my body was 100% healthy [when he first came to the Magic], and right now I feel like I’m at about 90%, last week 85%, so I feel like the heeling process is coming along, and I think I can go back and play the way I was when I first got here.”
“Now I’m in the big leagues, but I’ve played in those big atmospheres, I’ve played in the final four, I’ve played in the tournament, and the intensity picks up, just like it’s going to pick up in the NBA.”
General Manager John Gabriel“We just have to play loose, play confident, we’re not going to be happy with a quick exit to the post-season play. We put way too much time into basketball, we want to win, and win the series.”
“They’re just another opponent to us, an opponent that comes with a whole other set of circumstances, that is different than Milwaukee was, Charlotte was the year before, and that’s all that really matters. What advantages do we have in this series, what are the differences, and I think if we just stick and play our game the way we have the second part of this season, we’ll be just fine.”
Tracy McGrady“What’s it going to take? Hard work, focus, determination, and we have to go out and compete. Everything with Detroit is really predicated on how well they play defense, so we have to be in a good rhythm on the offensive end.”
“I don’t feel like an underdog at all. I feel as confident as I have been in a playoff series against a team. I feel although we’re the 8th spot, the 8th seed, I think we have a great chance at winning this series.”
“A lot of people feel that we don’t have a chance at all, they feel we’re too young to win, we don’t have what it takes, so yeah we have something to prove.”
“Nothing changes for me, I’m still going to go out and attack inside-out. I think what I’m really going to concentrate on is getting my other guys involved. This is going to be a time where everything can’t be on my shoulders, I’m going to have to get other guys confidence, because if the defense does stack up on me, then the other guys have to have confidence in themselves and make plays, so I’m going to definitely get those guys involved. But I’m going to get mine too.”
