MAGIC: Quotes: 05/10/08 vs. Detroit

FINAL: Detroit Pistons 90 - Orlando Magic 89

May 10, 2008 - Amway Arena

	1	2	3	4	F
PISTONS	21	23	26	20	90
MAGIC	27	28	15	19	89

Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy:
On last play with Hedo Turkoglu�
�It was getting him the ball up high, that�s all. It was his play one-on-one. I don�t know why he held the ball as long as he did, but it was his play. From a coaching standpoint, we�ve had three end of the game possessions in this series. Game 2, down two 48.9 (seconds), down two 17.8 and today down one 8.9 (seconds), and we haven�t gotten a very good shot on any possessions. You�ve got to lay that on me.�

On second chance points�
�It killed us. The difference in the game overall, they had 18 second chance points, and on top of that they shot over 50-percent in the second half. And the ones they did miss we weren�t rebounding, so it also became an offensive problem because we didn�t get opportunities to get out and run, which is when we�ve been the most successful. It became their game. It became a grinded out half court game, and they played that game a lot better than we did. Our inability to get stops and rebounds when we did get stopped kept us from getting out in transition. It was the key thing of the day, our defensive rebounding.�

On Dwight�s performance�
�If you look, he got shots today. Our shots were pretty balanced across the board. He got a dozen shots, he just couldn�t get them in the basket. They were very physical with him, and how the game is called is a huge thing.�

On his frustration with losing 15-point lead�
�That kind of stuff happens. We had it happen the other night and we came back and had a big fourth quarter. It�s frustrating to some degree, but it�s also sort of the natural order of things in the NBA. It happens all the time. It�s not a strange thing at all. They had a huge double figure lead on us in Game 2, we came back and were right there in that game and had the lead at times. That stuff happens. My frustration was that we couldn�t get stops and rebounds and get out in transition. And then from my standpoint that I wasn�t able to find us stuff other than one stretch late in the game, that I wasn�t able to find us stuff in the half court that would get us shots. I thought we were attacking the basket very well, but we were driving the ball and a lot of times, Jameer (Nelson) had a couple, in coming away with nothing, no hoop, no foul. I thought we forced some plays in that stretch. I just wasn�t finding us a way to get shots and we were in that same as we were in Game 1. In that grinded out, body on body game, and they D�d us. I couldn�t get us anything else. And then at the end to have for the third time in the series a play where we don�t get a great shot at the end of the game, those are my frustrations with myself as a coach.�

Orlando Magic CenterDwight Howard:
�You know it�s tough. We had a lot of chances to win the game. We just didn�t come up with stops at the end of the game to win it.�

�I missed a lot of shots. Just had a little frustration tonight, there wasn�t a thing I could do about it. Just come back next game a give a better effort.�

(On last play) �There�s contact the whole game. But I can�t control that. The only thing I can do is get back on the next possession and try and get the ball.�

(On Piston�s 3rd qtr. run) �I think we just didn�t get good looks at the basket. We stopped running like we did the first half. We didn�t play our brand of basketball in the second half like we did the in the first half. We gave up a big lead but still, we have to play our game.�

(On McDyess starting) �McDyess and (Jason) Maxiell sort of play the same role on the team. I think McDyess is a better shooter, that�s why they had him starting tonight.�

�We just got to play our game. That�s the only way to beat these guys. We can�t get stuck into playing the way they play basketball; we have to play our game. The main thing is not to get frustrated. I got a little frustrated tonight. And if we want to win, we go to be able play our game.�

Orlando Magic GuardJameer Nelson:
�They made a lot of shots and they rebounded the ball. When they did miss, we didn�t rebound the ball and we gave them second and third shots. And when you give a good team that many opportunities, it�s a good chance they�ll make one of them.�

�You know what, we�re going to make some adjustments and we�re going to go there and win this game. I�m not trying to be arrogant or cocky or anything like that. But tonight, we let it slip out of our hands, Game Two we let slip our of our hands. And we�re going to win this game in Detroit.�

Orlando Magic GuardMaurice Evans:
�We got to go up there and win. I mean, that�s what you got to do, you got to win. You got to win three games in a row. And that�s all there is to it. You lose a game and you�re out. You just go up there and win, play hard.�

Detroit Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders:
On coming back after being down by 15 points in the third quarter:
�I think a couple things. One, there were a lot of times in that game, considering the circumstances, we could�ve said that it�s not going to be our night and just wait until we get home. But our guys grinded it out that�s part of what we do as far as grinding it out as a team. We got the ball to Rasheed (Wallace) some. Rasheed made some big shots. In some of the series we�ve gone away from (Dwight) Howard a lot and we decided to not go away from him as much. If he�s going to match up on Rasheed then put Rasheed down there in the block and let him guard him down there. I just think more than anything else we got aggressive defensively, we changed some of our pick-and-roll defenses at times and got very aggressive and changed some of our weak side rotations to try and help out on the pick-and-rolls. It was definitely keyed by what we did defensively. Offensively, Rip (Hamilton) and Tayshaun (Prince) were great. Rasheed was great. I thought (Antonio) McDyess had great energy for us on the glass. Everyone, Lindsey (Hunter) did a great job for us not only trying to get us into the offense but also putting pressure on defensively.�

On Lindsey Hunter�s contributions:
�I think that for one, a veteran player that knows the importance of knowing what your roll is and always being ready. He hadn�t played a lot down the stretch here, but he�s worked to always be ready and the big thing he did is he gave us great defensive pressure. He got us into sets when they doubled a couple times and he made the one three so it made them be a little more honest on him and not put themselves in a situation where they can just run away from him. And he gave us some leadership and gave us some toughness. Our whole team played tough. I thought (Rodney) Stuckey, for a rookie, did a nice job. He got in some foul trouble and that�s why we went to guys on the active (roster) in case we picked up too many fouls. When Lindsey came in, the only thing we told our players is that everyone had to give up their ice bags because he needed them all to try and ice down.�

On shutting down Dwight Howard:
�Well I think number one, we tried to play him head up as much as possible. We tried to put some pressure out on the floor a little bit more and then every time he got it, our guys were very active when he put it on the floor. We tried not to give him anything easy. Our bigs did a nice job. I thought we tried to meet him a little bit earlier and not let him get as good a post position as he did in a couple of the other games.�

Detroit Pistons ForwardTayshaun Prince:
�It was huge. We talked about it before the game that this was going to be a collective effort. We told Stuckey not to worry about nothing and just go out and play basketball. We know it is a tough situation for him. He got into foul trouble early and Lindsey came in and pretty much was the savior tonight. He hit big shots, played good solid defense. Everybody chipped in. �Dyess got a huge offensive rebound late in the game. We swung the ball on that last play and got a pick-and-roll and I was able to get a floater over Dwight Howard. At halftime we talked about really what happened in Game 4 in Philly and being down 10. We had to jump out of the gate really early which we really didn�t do, but we got some good defensive stops and once we started making some shots then things started to go into our favor.�

�It was tough guarding Hedo during the fast break when he gets a rebound or he is pushing the ball up the court. I knew Dwight was going to set a pick so I have to kind of read which way he is coming. Hedo saw me looking for the pick and I turned my head and there he goes to the basket. Then he hit a couple of threes and really took over the game. We figured that Hedo or Rashard would be the key factor for them to kind of make plays �

�Experience meant a lot for us. We had Lindsey was in there with us late. With Stuckey we kind of have to talk to him more about what we are going to do and things like that especially with the atmosphere being so loud. With Lindsey, he knows what to do. He got us into our offense and making plays for us. On the defensive end we have to communicate with ourselves a little bit more. When Hedo did the isolation at the end of the game, everybody was talking that no pick was coming and we could play him straight up.�

Detroit Pistons CenterRasheed Wallace:
�We just played �D�, that is what we do. It was a physical game on both sides of the ball. That is our style. We like being physical. We just wish we could do that more often. That (defense) is something that we hang our hats on, from the first man to the twelfth man. Tay did a good job on Turkoglu on the last nine seconds. That is what we do. We have done it before and been there before. We know what it takes to win ball games down the stretch. They are still a young ball club and if they stay together over the next few years then they will be in our shoes a couple years down the line.�

(on whether Howard was frustrated offensively) �He couldn�t get in there and get the easy buckets that he wanted. We definitely saw that (frustration). That is what we want. We want a physical game. That is right up our alley.�

Detroit Pistons ForwardAntonio McDyess:
�It was a grind out game. We knew it was going to be tough coming in. In that first half, they jumped on us quick. We came in at halftime and just said to keep it close and to jump on them in third quarter and we will be okay. We came out and executed our offense and played great defense and got the win.�

POSTGAME NOTES

� The Orlando Magic fell to the Detroit Pistons 90-89 in front of a sold-out crowd at Amway Arena in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2008 NBA Playoffs. The win gives the Pistons a 3-1 lead in the series, heading back to Detroit. The Magic are 5-4 in post-season play, while the Pistons are now 7-3.
� Hedo Turkoglu led the Magic with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 from 3-point land and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. The forward also dished out four assists and two steals. This is the third time that Turkoglu has led the Magic in scoring during this post-season.
� Rashard Lewis (6-of-13), Maurice Evans (6-of-11) and Jameer Nelson (6-of-14) rounded out the double-figure scoring for the Magic, scoring 15 points a piece. Evans� 15 points marks a post-season career high for the guard. His previous high of 14 points came against Toronto on April 20.
� Center Dwight Howard finished the night with 12 rebounds and eight points, making it only the second time during this series that he has not finished with a double-double. During the post-season, Howard has notched eight double-digit rebound games.
� Sub Marcin Gortat tallied a post-season high four points on 2-of-2 shooting from the floor in just over three minutes of action. Gortat also notched a rebound and block for the Magic.
� The Pistons were led by guard Richard Hamilton�s 32-point performance as he finished 12-of-24 from the field and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. Hamilton also grabbed six boards and dished out three assists for the night. His 32 points marks a post-season high for the guard. His previous high of 24 points came against the Magic on May 7.
� Tayshaun Prince finished the night with 17 points on 7-of-14 from the field, while staying a perfect 2-for-2 from the foul line.
� Rasheed Wallace rounded out the double-digit scoring for the Pistons as he finished with 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor.
� Antonio McDyess grabbed a post-season high 14 total rebounds for the Pistons, while also contributing eight points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor. His previous high of 12 total rebounds came against the Philadelphia 76ers on April 23. McDyess� 11 defensive rebounds also marks a post-season high for the forward. His previous high of seven defensive rebounds also came against Philly on April 23.