Postgame Quotes, May 4
Pistons Head Coach Rick Carlisle
"A week ago today, we knew we were going to make history one way or the other. It was either going to be the third number one seed in history to lose to an eight or we were going to be the seventh team in history to come back three-one. We talked about it as a team. What the guys decided was that it was an opportunity to make perhaps our greatest adversity into our greatest opportunity and they responded. . . I’d also like to congratulate Doc Rivers and the Magic on a great series. I thought he coached a great series and got every last ounce he could from that team. It took us a while to figure out how to play these guys but once we did, we were obviously in better shape. Doc’s one of the best coaches in this league and he proved it over the last two weeks."
"Tayshaun was also a big factor in game two. Game three he struggled a little bit so we went back to our rotation that we were using during the year and it was time for him to get an opportunity. In two years, we’ve given two game balls. One was early last year for a situation I’m not going to talk about. Chucky Atkins kept the ball after the game and the team presented it to Tayshaun because what he did for us in game seven. It was a big-time performance by a terrific young player and a true professional with unusual maturity."
On the home crowd:
"The Pistons have led the league in attendance this year. Our building is one of the loudest ones, today it was louder than any building I’ve ever been in and I really felt it was a key factor for us. . . I’m really happy for our fans too, not just Pistons fans, but Detroit fans. With the Red Wings being unable to advance, we really wanted to keep this thing going for our city."
On criticism after getting down 3-1:
"This is about winning. When you lose the first game at home, you put yourself in a hole. I came under attack to a certain degree, but that’s part of the game. If you want the opportunity to sit in this chair, you’re going to have to deal with certain things . . .Joe Dumars came into my office the next morning and said, “hey, don’t pay attention to any of that stuff.”
"I’m really proud of our players, to crawl out of a three-one hole and to make history is a great tribute to the fact that we are a true team."
Pistons Guard Jon Barry
"I said before game five that we just needed something good to happen. We needed to make it happen ourselves, and we did. In game five, we kind of reinforced to everybody that we are very good and these last three games; if we put four together against Philadelphia just like this, we’ll have a good chance to win the series. That was focused, intense basketball that we played and I just think that if we play like that, we will have a great chance to advance."
Pistons Forward Tayshaun Prince
"Today we took advantage when Orlando went small and put (Tracy) McGrady at the four. It was an opportunity to put the ball in the basket inside. When they came out in a zone at the beginning, we kind of struggled a little bit and they went back to man and then back to zone again. When our second group got out there, it was just a matter of trying to get the ball inside and that wasn’t happening, so I got some wide open looks and knocked some shots down and kind of got the rhythm going. I think that it knocked them out of their zone defense. We know (Philadelphia) is a hard, aggressive team that rebounds and plays hard, so we need to continue to be aggressive and play Detroit Piston basketball because we know they are looking for us."
Pistons Forward Mehmet Okur
“We beat (Orlando) and now we have to play Philadelphia; we have home court advantage and we don’t want to lose to them in here (at The Palace). We want to beat them twice in a row, so we just need to keep it up. I think now it will be much easier for us. (Tayshaun Prince) feels more confident now. He did a great job this series and I think he is going to be a good player in this league. He believes that and we believe that. We are in the playoffs and everybody on this team is ready. It is going to be easier for us because everybody plays on this team."
Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups
"Home court advantage is very important and in game one (against Phily), we have to play with a lot of heart and a lot of emotion. No matter if the series is 0-0 or 2-0, we have to play with the same hunger, aggression and intensity that we have had in the last two home games. We are going from (Tracy) McGrady to (Allen) Iverson, who is another very, very explosive scorer. He is one of the faster guys in the league and he is going to cause some problems for us. Everybody is helping everybody else out there, so whoever is guarding him; it won’t be the matching for the whole game. We will be trapping and rotating and helping one another out. Phily is a very explosive team, I feel, that is why they are so good. It will be a very exciting series. I’m so happy for Tayshaun (Prince); time and time again throughout the season, when he has been called upon, he has stepped in and guarded other team’s best players: Kobe (Bryant), (Tracy) McGrady and even (Allen) Iverson one time. So many times I would tell him, don’t come in and just think (all you do) is play defense, play the game. He is a player who is a rookie but doesn’t play like one; he is very poised out there."
Magic Head Coach Doc Rivers
"Wow, not a lot to say. I thought the Pistons came to play. I thought we came to play also. I didn’t think we played well, I thought we played hard. At the beginning of the third quarter, they completely took us out of the game. . . It just felt like the longer the series went on the more their other guys showed their hands. They seemed like they had so many guys. To try to put this series on T-Mac would be wrong. I thought he did as much as a great player could do.
I thought our two youngest guys on the floor came to play tonight. Drew Gooden and Gordon Giricek, for a game seven, those two guys showed up and played the game."
"I told them to remember how tough this was, with a minute and a half left. I told them to look around, to look at this crowd, to look at the other bench, look at their celebrating. We have a future, for the first time I’ve been here as a coach, it’s the first time I can say, without praying that Grant Hill’s healthy, that things set up well for us. I also know that we’re still going to be all right in the future."
"They didn’t know what the hell they got themselves into when this series started. When they got up 3-1, they really didn’t know what they a got themselves into. Once we got up three-one, the expectations rose, and I don't know if our guys were prepared for that."
Magic Guard Tracy McGrady
“This was a tough loss. You go up 3-1 and get too comfortable and these guys (Detroit) came back out and gained confidence. This game seven was great for the game and the better team won. (In game six) I think our team had the confidence, but I don’t think we played smart. We are a young basketball team and we made a lot of mental mistakes in crucial situations and we need to understand to take each possession for what it’s worth. After playing a team for six games, you kind of find out their tendencies and I give Detroit credit; they did a great job of finding out what I like to do and going out and executing. They did a great job of taking us out of our offense and helping out on defense. In game seven, we got down by so much and then we just tried to force a lot of things and try to make something happen.”
Magic Forward Pat Garrity
"I saw a Detroit team that came out with a big push like we knew they would. We came back, but we weren’t able to keep it at that 4 or 5 point level that we fought back to and kept getting up to double figures. We would have to fight back, so when you do that, you have to make a lot of changes and play in kind of a frantic pace."
On the Disadvantage with home crowd:
"As professional, that’s something you don’t even take into consideration. It’s a factor for one of the two teams in every game you play. They had a tremendous crowd tonight, but I don’t think that is a factor for us. (Playoff inexperience) I think there is no substitute for experience as far as executing down the stretch and keeping a mind set, so it’s possible (that was a factor). (Losing 3-1 series lead) It is very frustrating, especially having a chance to close them out once back here when they were really down and once at home when we had a great crowd. (With Tracy McGrady struggling) Everyone else has to step up. It’s hard for guys to step out of their roles to do things. You have to still stay in your role. The key is he brought us here. We played a certain way. We are not going to change it for Game 7 of the Playoffs. He is going to keep pressing, keep trying to make shots, and everyone else has to play around him."
"Drew (Gooden) was great. He came to this team and gave us an immediate lift. Then, suffered a toe injury that kept him out. He got a little bit down on himself, but the way he responded in the Playoffs was great for a young player like him. Because he, not a lot of people know, went through a tough time when he had that toe injury. He had to sit out some games. He missed a lot of the practice time. The way he came back was really tremendous. We changed up a couple things. Detroit made shots and was able to counter the changes we made."
On Darrell Armstrong:
"He is a guy who had been here the longest out of anyone. His career is not over next year, but he has only got so many. When you get to that point, you only have a certain number of opportunities to do this. This was an opportunity for this team and for him. Anyone would be upset. You are not a competitor if you are not upset."
Magic Guard Gordan Giricek
"I’m not a guy who would point fingers. I think everybody must go in front of the mirror and be honest with themselves and say “we didn’t play hard enough.” (On Tracy McGrady) We played seven games and he is always the main guy on the team. Through the six games, Pistons had double (teamed) and triple (teamed) him. It’s really hard not to be fatigued. I’m sure he was a little bit tired in this game. No, but we can’t say, “That’s great. Let’s forget it.” He was the main guy and he was the major reason why we had a chance to lead 3-1 in the series. (Losing 3-1 series lead) We cannot think about it right now. Every guy needs to do something during the summer time to prepare for next season."
Magic Guard Jacque Vaughn
"Give a lot of credit to Detroit. They (Pistons) came out and played very aggressive. They realized that it was one game and done. They took that approach and you have to give them a lot of credit tonight. (Losing 3-1 series lead) That’s why the series is 7. We can learn a lot from the approach we had. The fact that we were up 3-1, we should not looking at it as a one out of three, but instead, try to just get one. This game teaches you lesson everyday. There should be a lot of lessons learned in this locker room. It should be one of the lessons we should take from this locker room today when we were up 3-1. It wasn’t a best of 3 series. It should have been a best one game, each game that we approach. That’s the way Detroit really approached it. That’s one of the reason why they came out on top. (Last game of the year) It’s tough to swallow. I have been in a locker room before being one step away whether it was in college or professional basketball. It hurts today. Unfortunately, it will hurt even more a couple days from now when you are watching television and you are watching guys you have just played against."
"A week ago today, we knew we were going to make history one way or the other. It was either going to be the third number one seed in history to lose to an eight or we were going to be the seventh team in history to come back three-one. We talked about it as a team. What the guys decided was that it was an opportunity to make perhaps our greatest adversity into our greatest opportunity and they responded. . . I’d also like to congratulate Doc Rivers and the Magic on a great series. I thought he coached a great series and got every last ounce he could from that team. It took us a while to figure out how to play these guys but once we did, we were obviously in better shape. Doc’s one of the best coaches in this league and he proved it over the last two weeks."
"Tayshaun was also a big factor in game two. Game three he struggled a little bit so we went back to our rotation that we were using during the year and it was time for him to get an opportunity. In two years, we’ve given two game balls. One was early last year for a situation I’m not going to talk about. Chucky Atkins kept the ball after the game and the team presented it to Tayshaun because what he did for us in game seven. It was a big-time performance by a terrific young player and a true professional with unusual maturity."
On the home crowd:
"The Pistons have led the league in attendance this year. Our building is one of the loudest ones, today it was louder than any building I’ve ever been in and I really felt it was a key factor for us. . . I’m really happy for our fans too, not just Pistons fans, but Detroit fans. With the Red Wings being unable to advance, we really wanted to keep this thing going for our city."
On criticism after getting down 3-1:
"This is about winning. When you lose the first game at home, you put yourself in a hole. I came under attack to a certain degree, but that’s part of the game. If you want the opportunity to sit in this chair, you’re going to have to deal with certain things . . .Joe Dumars came into my office the next morning and said, “hey, don’t pay attention to any of that stuff.”
"I’m really proud of our players, to crawl out of a three-one hole and to make history is a great tribute to the fact that we are a true team."
Pistons Guard Jon Barry
"I said before game five that we just needed something good to happen. We needed to make it happen ourselves, and we did. In game five, we kind of reinforced to everybody that we are very good and these last three games; if we put four together against Philadelphia just like this, we’ll have a good chance to win the series. That was focused, intense basketball that we played and I just think that if we play like that, we will have a great chance to advance."
Pistons Forward Tayshaun Prince
"Today we took advantage when Orlando went small and put (Tracy) McGrady at the four. It was an opportunity to put the ball in the basket inside. When they came out in a zone at the beginning, we kind of struggled a little bit and they went back to man and then back to zone again. When our second group got out there, it was just a matter of trying to get the ball inside and that wasn’t happening, so I got some wide open looks and knocked some shots down and kind of got the rhythm going. I think that it knocked them out of their zone defense. We know (Philadelphia) is a hard, aggressive team that rebounds and plays hard, so we need to continue to be aggressive and play Detroit Piston basketball because we know they are looking for us."
Pistons Forward Mehmet Okur
“We beat (Orlando) and now we have to play Philadelphia; we have home court advantage and we don’t want to lose to them in here (at The Palace). We want to beat them twice in a row, so we just need to keep it up. I think now it will be much easier for us. (Tayshaun Prince) feels more confident now. He did a great job this series and I think he is going to be a good player in this league. He believes that and we believe that. We are in the playoffs and everybody on this team is ready. It is going to be easier for us because everybody plays on this team."
Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups
"Home court advantage is very important and in game one (against Phily), we have to play with a lot of heart and a lot of emotion. No matter if the series is 0-0 or 2-0, we have to play with the same hunger, aggression and intensity that we have had in the last two home games. We are going from (Tracy) McGrady to (Allen) Iverson, who is another very, very explosive scorer. He is one of the faster guys in the league and he is going to cause some problems for us. Everybody is helping everybody else out there, so whoever is guarding him; it won’t be the matching for the whole game. We will be trapping and rotating and helping one another out. Phily is a very explosive team, I feel, that is why they are so good. It will be a very exciting series. I’m so happy for Tayshaun (Prince); time and time again throughout the season, when he has been called upon, he has stepped in and guarded other team’s best players: Kobe (Bryant), (Tracy) McGrady and even (Allen) Iverson one time. So many times I would tell him, don’t come in and just think (all you do) is play defense, play the game. He is a player who is a rookie but doesn’t play like one; he is very poised out there."
Magic Head Coach Doc Rivers
"Wow, not a lot to say. I thought the Pistons came to play. I thought we came to play also. I didn’t think we played well, I thought we played hard. At the beginning of the third quarter, they completely took us out of the game. . . It just felt like the longer the series went on the more their other guys showed their hands. They seemed like they had so many guys. To try to put this series on T-Mac would be wrong. I thought he did as much as a great player could do.
I thought our two youngest guys on the floor came to play tonight. Drew Gooden and Gordon Giricek, for a game seven, those two guys showed up and played the game."
"I told them to remember how tough this was, with a minute and a half left. I told them to look around, to look at this crowd, to look at the other bench, look at their celebrating. We have a future, for the first time I’ve been here as a coach, it’s the first time I can say, without praying that Grant Hill’s healthy, that things set up well for us. I also know that we’re still going to be all right in the future."
"They didn’t know what the hell they got themselves into when this series started. When they got up 3-1, they really didn’t know what they a got themselves into. Once we got up three-one, the expectations rose, and I don't know if our guys were prepared for that."
Magic Guard Tracy McGrady
“This was a tough loss. You go up 3-1 and get too comfortable and these guys (Detroit) came back out and gained confidence. This game seven was great for the game and the better team won. (In game six) I think our team had the confidence, but I don’t think we played smart. We are a young basketball team and we made a lot of mental mistakes in crucial situations and we need to understand to take each possession for what it’s worth. After playing a team for six games, you kind of find out their tendencies and I give Detroit credit; they did a great job of finding out what I like to do and going out and executing. They did a great job of taking us out of our offense and helping out on defense. In game seven, we got down by so much and then we just tried to force a lot of things and try to make something happen.”
Magic Forward Pat Garrity
"I saw a Detroit team that came out with a big push like we knew they would. We came back, but we weren’t able to keep it at that 4 or 5 point level that we fought back to and kept getting up to double figures. We would have to fight back, so when you do that, you have to make a lot of changes and play in kind of a frantic pace."
On the Disadvantage with home crowd:
"As professional, that’s something you don’t even take into consideration. It’s a factor for one of the two teams in every game you play. They had a tremendous crowd tonight, but I don’t think that is a factor for us. (Playoff inexperience) I think there is no substitute for experience as far as executing down the stretch and keeping a mind set, so it’s possible (that was a factor). (Losing 3-1 series lead) It is very frustrating, especially having a chance to close them out once back here when they were really down and once at home when we had a great crowd. (With Tracy McGrady struggling) Everyone else has to step up. It’s hard for guys to step out of their roles to do things. You have to still stay in your role. The key is he brought us here. We played a certain way. We are not going to change it for Game 7 of the Playoffs. He is going to keep pressing, keep trying to make shots, and everyone else has to play around him."
"Drew (Gooden) was great. He came to this team and gave us an immediate lift. Then, suffered a toe injury that kept him out. He got a little bit down on himself, but the way he responded in the Playoffs was great for a young player like him. Because he, not a lot of people know, went through a tough time when he had that toe injury. He had to sit out some games. He missed a lot of the practice time. The way he came back was really tremendous. We changed up a couple things. Detroit made shots and was able to counter the changes we made."
On Darrell Armstrong:
"He is a guy who had been here the longest out of anyone. His career is not over next year, but he has only got so many. When you get to that point, you only have a certain number of opportunities to do this. This was an opportunity for this team and for him. Anyone would be upset. You are not a competitor if you are not upset."
Magic Guard Gordan Giricek
"I’m not a guy who would point fingers. I think everybody must go in front of the mirror and be honest with themselves and say “we didn’t play hard enough.” (On Tracy McGrady) We played seven games and he is always the main guy on the team. Through the six games, Pistons had double (teamed) and triple (teamed) him. It’s really hard not to be fatigued. I’m sure he was a little bit tired in this game. No, but we can’t say, “That’s great. Let’s forget it.” He was the main guy and he was the major reason why we had a chance to lead 3-1 in the series. (Losing 3-1 series lead) We cannot think about it right now. Every guy needs to do something during the summer time to prepare for next season."
Magic Guard Jacque Vaughn
"Give a lot of credit to Detroit. They (Pistons) came out and played very aggressive. They realized that it was one game and done. They took that approach and you have to give them a lot of credit tonight. (Losing 3-1 series lead) That’s why the series is 7. We can learn a lot from the approach we had. The fact that we were up 3-1, we should not looking at it as a one out of three, but instead, try to just get one. This game teaches you lesson everyday. There should be a lot of lessons learned in this locker room. It should be one of the lessons we should take from this locker room today when we were up 3-1. It wasn’t a best of 3 series. It should have been a best one game, each game that we approach. That’s the way Detroit really approached it. That’s one of the reason why they came out on top. (Last game of the year) It’s tough to swallow. I have been in a locker room before being one step away whether it was in college or professional basketball. It hurts today. Unfortunately, it will hurt even more a couple days from now when you are watching television and you are watching guys you have just played against."
