May 1 Playoffs Quotes

Tracy McGrady
"We’re still up 3-to-2. The fans were really heckling us the whole night. When we came out on the court, they were giving us words. But little did they know that they were down two games. They were down three to one. Now we’re back home, and we’ve got a chance to close this thing out."

On whether the energy in the TD Waterhouse Centre will help the Magic: "Absolutely. It’s just been great. The atmosphere here is great. I can’t wait until tomorrow. "

On the importance of not falling behind in the first quarter: "I didn’t know that until Doc just told us that in the locker room. The first quarter tomorrow is going to be a very key time."

"We did nothing. We turned the ball over. Didn’t share the ball. Took bad shots. Didn’t defend well. Everything went wrong last night."

On his off-night: "To be honest with you, I really didn’t feel well. Both of my knees were aching last night. Today they feel better. I’ve iced them down, and will ice them down all night, and they’ll be alright tomorrow."

On Thursday’s film session: “There were a lot of bad plays on that tape. We want to play a better game.”

On Mehmet Okur’s actions at the end of the game: “I don’t mind him doing what he has to do. That was a lack of defense on our part, letting him do that. But when we were walking off the court, I looked at him and he looked at me with a cocky attitude, 'Like, this is what’s going to go on the next game.'"

Doc Rivers
On what went wrong in Game 5: “Not much, except, well, everything. We just didn’t play well. We didn’t play hard. I thought they took it to us. I thought they were more physical. I thought they were more engaged. I thought they played with more sense of urgency, and we didn’t, and you wish you could get that back, but you can’t. There’s nothing you can do about that, except for do it tomorrow. The good part about that is, that there aren’t many adjustments. The Pistons made very few as a matter of fact, except for changing some guys who played. Tayshaun Prince played more than Corliss Williamson. Rebraca or Okur played more. And other than that, they just took it to us. And that cant happen tomorrow. If it does, then there will be a Game 7. If we take it to them, then hopefully we can move on."

On Tracy’s knees: "Well that’s always a huge concern, any part of his body. Head, mind, soul, whatever, it’s a concern when it affects your best player. But usually those type of guys find a way of rising, and I would say T-Mac will have that type of night tomorrow."

On first quarter woes, and possible changes: "No, it’s a concern though I will say that. We turned the ball over. Our turnovers in the first quarter are so much higher than the rest of the three quarters. We’ve gotten in foul trouble with 8 minutes, 9 minutes in the quarter, in the first quarter. So really, watching the film, they come out ready, and our guys come out to get in the game. You have to start a playoff game in full throttle, and I don’t think we’ve figured that one out yet as a team."

On getting Jacque Vaughn going: "Oh, not much, except he has to be more aggressive. And that doesn’t mean more aggressive shooting the ball. That means more aggressive as far as attacking the basket, pushing the ball up the floor. That’s who he is, I mean Jacque’s not going to be a guy that scores 20 points for you, but he is a guy who can be just a little bit more aggressive than he has been. We seem like we’ve got Gordie off for the most part, I think he’s been up and down, and Hammer has gotten in foul trouble. You look at the games we’ve lost, and both games Drew Gooden was in foul trouble most of the game."