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Postgame Quotes - February 23, 2017

DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY:  (On perspective on game): “You just put it in the win column, go to our break, relax a little bit and move on.”

 

(On first half): “I thought we really defended and I thought we did a good job moving the ball. We didn’t shoot it great, but I thought we played well in the first half.”

 

(On Reggie Jackson): “I thought he played well tonight and we needed it.”

 

DETROIT PISTONS FORWARD TOBIAS HARRIS:  (On going into the break with a win):  “It’s a big importance for us just to have that momentum going into the break, finish off on pretty much a good note, and take that enthusiasm of winning when we come back.  We’ll get some good rest and recovery; come back ready to roll and make a huge push.  That’s what it’s all about.”

 

(On Reggie Jackson):  “He was really aggressive and got to the basket.  He was the guy who set the tone for us from the beginning of the game and got us that big lead out there.  He looked really good tonight.  It’s good to see especially when he hasn’t been playing his best, but that was a really good game for him; probably a good confidence booster also.”

 

DETROIT PISTONS GUARD REGGIE JACKSON:  (On highest scoring game in the month of February): “Shots just went in and coach kept calling my number.  They (Dallas Mavericks) just kept having coverages where they didn’t really come off our wings nor did they want to leave Andre (Drummond).  I was just a recipient of the coverage that they played tonight.”

 

(On playing on both ends):  “That’s what we have to be.  That’s what we have to be all the time.  I don’t know if we can get that many stops consistently each and every night, but we the effort that we came out with, just an effort to get stops collectively and be together and try to get out and run and make plays for each other and that’s just how we have to play every night.”

DALLAS MAVERICKS HEAD COACH RICK CARLISLE:  (On first half struggles): “We burned the first half at halftime. We got rid of it, so it’s gone. The second half has got to be the norm for us. The first half was an embarrassment and we all know it and we all own it. It cost us the game, it’s pretty clear.”

(On putting up a fight): “That’s what we’ve been doing for the last seven weeks. We just picked a bad time to let up in the first half. It’s not us. At halftime we talked about it; came out and gave it a real good run and if we had made a few more shots it would’ve been different. We had put ourselves up against it too much at that point. You can’t just rely on shot making even though we were getting stops in the second half. We’ve got to do better for the whole 48 minutes.”

 

DALLAS MAVERICKS FORWARD DIRK NOWITZKI: (On what happened the first half): “Everything happened. Nothing happened outside, everything was too easy, we settled for some tough shots. Obviously, they’re a big physical team. They didn’t really let us do what we want. We just had no energy, no bounce about ourselves, on either end they got what they want; they got in our paint, had layups in between shots. On the offensive end we couldn’t get anything going. It was just one of the worst halves we’ve played all season and you could tell in the second that we had a lot more bounce and step coming right out at the half. We forced them to call the first timeout and we almost made a game; nine, eight there, we had two or three looks, if we knocked them down we really make it a game but obviously we lost the game the first half.”

 

(On professional pride): “Coach obviously is like, ‘we’ve got to compete, we’ve got to compete, everything is too easy’ and we did. We got up a little more, we made them uncomfortable a little more, we made them play up the bounce a little more, rotated a little better for each other. It was really not about X’s and O’s, it was about our attitude and getting up in them and making things a little tougher and that’s what we did. You’ve got to almost play a perfect game to come down from 30 down; it was just not perfect enough.”