MAGIC: Quotes: 05/07/08 vs. Detroit

FINAL: Orlando Magic 111 - Detroit Pistons 86

May 7, 2008 - Amway Arena

	1	2	3	4	F
PISTONS	16	26	27	17	86
MAGIC	30	24	19	38	111

Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy:
On the importance of getting off to a good first quarter�
�I thought the first quarter, getting off to that kind of start obviously gave us a lot of confidence, got our crowd into the game and more importantly gave us the cushion that we needed in the next two quarters. It was obviously huge.�

On Rashard Lewis� performance�
�Just like we have some matchup problems with them, Rashard�s a tough guy to guard out on the perimeter, and he was knocking down shots. And then you get up on him and he gets a chance to drive the ball. He was terrific today and we needed every one of them.�

On Chauncey Billups� injury changing the game�
�The two biggest factors in the game were our start and Chauncey�s injury. You can�t negate that. He�s not only a great player, he�s their leader, he runs everything. I think Rodney Stuckey is a terrific young player and did a hell of a job today, but Chauncey Billups is their guy and it definitely had a huge affect on the game. There is absolutely no question. I think at the same time you saw the Pistons� heart and resolve to come back and to stay in that game even without him. This is a very, very tough team. No question that was a big factor. Still, I don�t think it had a lot to do with some of the things that happened in the game. I don�t think Chauncey Billups would have affected Rashard�s offensive game. I don�t think Chauncey Billups would have affected the rebounding. So we still did some very, very good things, but there�s no question the game would have been a lot different without him. And I�d be lying or an idiot to say otherwise.�

On Dwight�s defensive performance�
�I thought not only did he block shots, but I think guys started pulling up taking jumpers because they didn�t want to face him at the rim anymore. I thought his defense was a huge factor and him just working down low offensively, they are doing a great job of putting bodies on him. They�re knocking him around and picking up a lot of fouls in the process.�

On Magic�s state of mind after losing six straight to Detroit in post season and winning this game�
�I don�t know. There wasn�t a lot of talk about that. And obviously I wasn�t here last year. The big thing was we were down 2-0 in the series and you�re fighting to get back in. And I told them after the game to enjoy it for tonight, but by tomorrow to be back in the mindset that we�re down 2-1 in the series. We were on the other end of this, almost identical type of stuff in the last series. And if you think about it, we beat Toronto pretty good in Game 1, had a very close game in Game 2, then we got blown out in Game 3 and came back in Game 4 very, very angry and focused and intent. So we�re just on the other side right now of virtually an identical situation of where we were in Round 1. And Game 4 is obviously a very, very big game for us on Saturday.�

Orlando Magic ForwardHedo Turkoglu:
�It�s great. We�re here right now, at home. We had to do our part and take it back to Detroit, try to get back into the series. Neither team has played good on the road. First of all, we had to do our part tonight and hopefully Saturday too.�

�I think the only thing we changed, in the first two games we were hesitating or passing up shots. I think we were taking those shots tonight and kept being aggressive. Look at the situations, reading our defenders and just playing through like that. I think if we play like that, we�ll be all right because I think the first two games we were overaggressive, passing up the shots that we normally take. Tonight we took those shots and ended up with a �W�.�

�We had our fans tonight, it was really great. I�m looking forward to them going crazy on Saturday. Get a second win in and go to Detroit.�

(On Rashard Lewis) �Oh, he was outstanding. He is really playing good the whole series and tonight he stepped it up. Hopefully we can help him out, just do our best and get another �W� on Saturday.�

Orlando Magic GuardKeyon Dooling:
(On Rashard Lewis) �I think he�s been phenomenal for us all season. He�s a match-up problem and you got to take your hat to him a little bit for kind of changing his game to fit our style, to fit our team. We�re an inside-out team, and he knows you need to feed Dwight if we want to be successful. He didn�t come up here to put up numbers, he came here to win and that�s what we�re trying to do. He�s always capable of going crazy. I like to see him go crazy. It�s almost effortless when he�s got it going.�

�We�ve been getting open shots in the series. But you know at home, the basket is a little bit bigger.�

(On Detroit closing lead to 3 pts.) �You just play the game. You don�t get nervous, you don�t play the scoreboard, you�re just trying to play our game and we did a good job of that tonight.�

�Obviously when you lose your All-Star, it�s going to change up the game. I think Rodney (Stuckey) came in and did a great job, helped at both ends of the floor, ran the team well, he was able to score, he was able to distribute. He�s a good player. We got to be ready for him if Chauncey (Billups) can�t go.�

Detroit Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders:
On the loss:
�Like I told our guys, we gave ourselves chances. We made a lot of runs after we fell behind by 16. We had opportunities and when we got it to 67-64 we had a three-on-one and they steal it and (Rashard) Lewis came down and hit the three now it�s 70-64. We got to the point where we really couldn�t put enough pressure and basically we got in to the fourth quarter and missed some shots and just ran out of gas. Like I said, our guys gave it a good effort. I thought Lewis was great tonight. He caused us a lot of problems with regards to making three�s and timing the transition and being able to isolate to take us off the dribble.�

On Chanucey Billups�s condition:
�We�re shooting for him to play on Saturday to be honest. He�s sore right now but it�s one of these things where you can ask questions but we won�t know for the next 24 hours to see where he�s really at. But all indications are that we�re shooting for him to play on Saturday.�

On contrasting the current Magic team to last year�s Magic team:
�Well I think the biggest thing is that now they rely a lot on shooting three�s. When they�re making those three�s they�re extremely difficult to defend. Dwight (Howard) is still the same as far as inside. So what you have to be able to do, for us, is to be able to score out of our offense and not turn the ball over, which we didn�t do and make them take the ball out of the net. We didn�t make them do that enough.�

On not getting enough production from the Bigs tonight:
�It�s one of those things where we got off to a rocky start early and we had to play catch-up. We were trying to bleed the guy that had things going. We just couldn�t get things going. We were trying to ride Rip (Hamilton) and Tayshaun (Prince) a lot but that sucked some energy out of them. We didn�t even have enough. We weren�t right there as far as some of our coverages and we just weren�t as sharp.�

Detroit Pistons ForwardTayshaun Prince:
�I said it when we left the Palace that if we did not get off to a good start and let the crowd get into the game we were going to have to fight back. We did a good job of fighting back, but against a team that shoots threes very well you can�t dig yourself in that big of a hole and try and come back. One or two threes will push the lead back up. Obviously the first quarter was our downfall. More importantly our guys fought back. Our young guys came in gave us some help with Chauncey out. Going into next game we really have to get off to a good start.�

(on difficulty of losing Billups early in game) �Obviously it is difficult because I have to communicate with �Stuck� and tell him what to do here and there. With it being loud in there it is hard for him to receive the information from Flip. He did a tremendous job of getting us into our stuff. We just have to start the game off better and �Sheed getting into foul trouble didn�t help either. You have to bounce back for the next game.�

�We did so much to get back into the game even though they were up 12 at that time. It took a lot to get back into it. Every time we cut it to 6 or 8, they pushed it right back up to 13 or 14. We finally get it to four at the end of the quarter and Rashard Lewis hits a big three. We start the fourth and pretty much the big shot was Keyon Dooling�s three when he came into the game.�

Detroit Pistons GuardRodney Stuckey:
�They came out really aggressive in the fourth quarter and got the lead back up and kind of killed us from there. We just came out flat in the fourth quarter. We came back but we lost. We will be ready for Game 4.�

�I am not feeling nothing. I am good. I just have to be ready. I am ready to play. I am just going to go out and do what I did today in Game 4. Lindsey is always constantly telling me to be aggressive when I am out there. Tonight I was being aggressive getting to the basket, getting to the free throw line, and getting easy baskets.�

Detroit Pistons GuardRichard Hamilton:
�He (Lewis) hit shots. I thought that in Detroit he missed shots and tonight he made shots. He hit a couple of tough ones. He got a couple of wide open looks. We try and take away his wide open looks especially in transition. That is where he gets a lot threes. We have to do a better job of knowing where he is at.�

(whether there is concern over Billups� injury for rest of series) �Not at all. We have one of the best trainers in the world in Arnie Kander. Hopefully he will get him right. We don�t know what is going on yet. We look forward to him playing the next game. The guys did a great job tonight of playing hard, but we have to do a better job of executing our offense.�

POSTGAME NOTES

� The Orlando Magic defeated the Detroit Pistons 111-86 in front of a sold-out crowd at Amway Arena in Game 3 of the Semifinals of the 2008 NBA Playoffs. The Pistons lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 being played on Saturday, May 10 at Amway Arena.
� Rashard Lewis notched a career-playoff high with 33 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field, 5-of-6 from beyond the arc, as he led all scorers. Lewis� previous playoff high was 24 points against Sacramento on May 5, 2005, while he was with the Seattle Supersonics. This also marks a season-high for Lewis, surpassing his previous mark of 27 points, which he accomplished three times this season, most recently on the road against Utah on January 12, 2008.
� Of Lewis� 18 points heading into the half, 12 points came during the second quarter as the forward went a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, 2-of-2 from beyond the arc in just over eight minutes of action. Lewis also tallied two rebounds, one assist and one steal before retiring to the locker room.
� The Magic�s 11 three-pointers made ties the Pistons� record for most three-pointers allowed in a game by Detroit. The previous team to shoot 11 three-pointers against the Pistons, was the Magic in Game 2 (5/5/08) of this year�s Playoffs.
� The Magic�s 11 three-pointers made also marks the fourth time during the 2008 Playoffs that the Magic have tallied 10 or more threes. The Magic shot 13-of-29 from beyond the arc against the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of Round 1.
� The Magic�s lead of 25 points is the largest lead between both teams during this series. The Pistons had a 24-point lead during game one of this series.
� Dwight Howard finished the night with six blocks, five of which came during the first half. This is the second time during this year�s Playoffs that Howard has tallied five blocks during the first half.
� Howard also finished the night with 20 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the Playoffs, 222 of his career. Howard has now recorded a double-double in 10 of his 12 career postseason outings.
� Both Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson finished the night with 18 points a piece, while Keyon Dooling rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points. Turkoglu finished the night shooting 7-of-18 from the field, 3-of-5 from three-point land, while also dishing out a game-high six assists. Nelson finished 7-of-14 from the field, 3-of-3 from the free-throw line, while pulling down seven rebounds and four assists.
� Richard Hamilton led the Pistons with 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field, 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. Hamilton also finished the night with six rebounds, two steals and three assists.
� Tayshaun Prince finished with 22 points on 8-of-14 from the field, while staying a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Prince grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and three assists.
� Rodney Stuckey came off the bench to score 19 points on a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line, 5-of-13 from the field, while Rasheed Wallace rounded out the double-figure scoring for the Pistons with 11 points.