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Postgame Quotes - December 10, 2009
Detroit: John Kuester | Chucky Atkins | Charlie Villanueva
Denver: George Karl | Chauncey Billups
Pistons Head Coach John Kuester
(On the game)
“We talk to the team a lot about the elements of the NBA and what I mean by that is we play an emotional game the night before, you travel, don’t get back until 2:00 or 2:30 AM and get to bed. A lot of times, a young team can say, ‘Hey, the elements aren’t with us.’ This group here - how much courage did they have today? They were phenomenal. There were a couple of areas that we had to be efficient in. One of them was winning the free throw game and the other was the rebounding game. I think it was a great victory for our guys, especially with everything that was going on. The one thing that I told the team afterwards was, ‘What a gutsy win, everybody contributed and I was so proud of them. You just beat one of the premiere teams in the NBA.’ (Denver) is very talented, they have an excellent team and it was a very exciting team.”
(On the last play)
“We knew the ball was either going to Chauncey (Billups) - which Stuckey did a great job switching off to him - or Carmelo. Those were the two main threats and fortunately for us, Chauncey took a tough shot and wasn’t able to get it. That’s what we were thinking. We were hoping to get the offensive rebound when they hit Chauncey on the head but that didn’t happen.”
(On all of the injuries)
“I’ll tell you this and I’ve said this from day one: You’ll probably think I’m kidding but I trust every guy on this team and I believe in them. This is an unfortunate thing for a number of our players, getting hurt, but it’s fortunate for the guys who get an opportunity. They stuck with the game plan, stuck with what we want to accomplish. Stuckey is emerging as a leader of this team. Ben Wallace - great steal, great rebound on the end getting us the second possession and putting (Denver)> in a situation where they have to foul us. (Good) execution on the B.O.B. (ball out of bounds) at the end - probably the best one we’ve ever had in that situation. I was very proud of that how we shared the ball, making them have to foul us. Am I surprised? I’m just glad. I’m happy that we’re weathering some of these storms.”
Pistons Guard Chucky Atkins
(On the game)
“What you see is a aggressive group of young guys. All our rookies are stepping up and making big plays, our veterans are stepping up and doing things. We refuse to die. I think what we doing is only going make us better down the stretch. We are actually deeper now because our younger guys are getting some minutes, steeping up and making plays for us. So, we are comfortable with having them. That confidence is growing with every game. Tonight was a good with for us.”
(On the last play of the game)
“I think he was going to torch the three. I know he was trying to do something to get a foul or get a bucket. I think we sort of tricked him a little bit, cause I think he was expecting me to come out there on him. I toed up on him by using a huddle to guard Chauncey (Billups) because I felt like he is a bigger body. I figured it was going either to Chauncey or go to Melo (Carmelo Anthony). We played well, got good contest from Ben Wallace. We came out with a gutsy win tonight. Everybody contributed and it was a great win for our ball club.”
Pistons Forward Charlie Villanueva
“We have played with a lot of energy. We knew that they were playing their last game on their road trip; they might be little tired, and might take us a little bit lightly. We believed in ourselves that we could win this game. And that’s exactly what we did.”
(On Ben Wallace)
“I am so glad that he is a part of this team. He is just amazing. He got a big bucket for us down the stretch and a big steal. He is fantastic and I am glad he is here with us.”
Nuggets Head Coach George Karl
(On Carmelo Anthony)
“He was good tonight; he was very, very good tonight. He’s amazing when he gets in an offense mode and tonight he was, but we didn’t have enough guys that came with him.”
(On the game)
“I think a lot of times consistency is our issue. Some of our losses is that we give a team that is young, struggling a little bit and doesn’t have a great record and we give them hope and confidence by not really going after them at the beginning of the game. Tonight we were great defensively down the stretch, but we had five possessions where we don’t rebound four of them and then we do rebound it and give it back to them. It’s tough to win a game when they have five possessions, you give them 10 possessions and you get maybe two possessions.”
Nuggets Guard Chauncey Billups
(On being back)
“It is like coming home when I come here. This is always my home away and it is always fun to come home and play at the Palace.”
(On the game)
“It’s never good when you lose. The Pistons fought tonight and they were shorthanded. You have to give them credit because they took us out of a lot of stuff that we like to do. They didn’t let us run-and-gun and play the way that we like to play, you have to give them credit, they played hard.”
(On this Pistons team)
“They are going to be dangerous. I definitely wouldn’t want to face them in the first round of a playoff series because they have so many weapons. The bigs know who they are, they rebound, they play big and they really don’t want the ball. When you have guys that know who they are and really embrace that and you have weapons offensively, then you are dangerous.”
Denver: George Karl | Chauncey Billups
Pistons Head Coach John Kuester
(On the game)“We talk to the team a lot about the elements of the NBA and what I mean by that is we play an emotional game the night before, you travel, don’t get back until 2:00 or 2:30 AM and get to bed. A lot of times, a young team can say, ‘Hey, the elements aren’t with us.’ This group here - how much courage did they have today? They were phenomenal. There were a couple of areas that we had to be efficient in. One of them was winning the free throw game and the other was the rebounding game. I think it was a great victory for our guys, especially with everything that was going on. The one thing that I told the team afterwards was, ‘What a gutsy win, everybody contributed and I was so proud of them. You just beat one of the premiere teams in the NBA.’ (Denver) is very talented, they have an excellent team and it was a very exciting team.”
(On the last play)
“We knew the ball was either going to Chauncey (Billups) - which Stuckey did a great job switching off to him - or Carmelo. Those were the two main threats and fortunately for us, Chauncey took a tough shot and wasn’t able to get it. That’s what we were thinking. We were hoping to get the offensive rebound when they hit Chauncey on the head but that didn’t happen.”
(On all of the injuries)
“I’ll tell you this and I’ve said this from day one: You’ll probably think I’m kidding but I trust every guy on this team and I believe in them. This is an unfortunate thing for a number of our players, getting hurt, but it’s fortunate for the guys who get an opportunity. They stuck with the game plan, stuck with what we want to accomplish. Stuckey is emerging as a leader of this team. Ben Wallace - great steal, great rebound on the end getting us the second possession and putting (Denver)> in a situation where they have to foul us. (Good) execution on the B.O.B. (ball out of bounds) at the end - probably the best one we’ve ever had in that situation. I was very proud of that how we shared the ball, making them have to foul us. Am I surprised? I’m just glad. I’m happy that we’re weathering some of these storms.”
Pistons Guard Chucky Atkins
(On the game)“What you see is a aggressive group of young guys. All our rookies are stepping up and making big plays, our veterans are stepping up and doing things. We refuse to die. I think what we doing is only going make us better down the stretch. We are actually deeper now because our younger guys are getting some minutes, steeping up and making plays for us. So, we are comfortable with having them. That confidence is growing with every game. Tonight was a good with for us.”
(On the last play of the game)
“I think he was going to torch the three. I know he was trying to do something to get a foul or get a bucket. I think we sort of tricked him a little bit, cause I think he was expecting me to come out there on him. I toed up on him by using a huddle to guard Chauncey (Billups) because I felt like he is a bigger body. I figured it was going either to Chauncey or go to Melo (Carmelo Anthony). We played well, got good contest from Ben Wallace. We came out with a gutsy win tonight. Everybody contributed and it was a great win for our ball club.”
Pistons Forward Charlie Villanueva
“We have played with a lot of energy. We knew that they were playing their last game on their road trip; they might be little tired, and might take us a little bit lightly. We believed in ourselves that we could win this game. And that’s exactly what we did.”
(On Ben Wallace)
“I am so glad that he is a part of this team. He is just amazing. He got a big bucket for us down the stretch and a big steal. He is fantastic and I am glad he is here with us.”
Nuggets Head Coach George Karl
(On Carmelo Anthony)“He was good tonight; he was very, very good tonight. He’s amazing when he gets in an offense mode and tonight he was, but we didn’t have enough guys that came with him.”
(On the game)
“I think a lot of times consistency is our issue. Some of our losses is that we give a team that is young, struggling a little bit and doesn’t have a great record and we give them hope and confidence by not really going after them at the beginning of the game. Tonight we were great defensively down the stretch, but we had five possessions where we don’t rebound four of them and then we do rebound it and give it back to them. It’s tough to win a game when they have five possessions, you give them 10 possessions and you get maybe two possessions.”
Nuggets Guard Chauncey Billups
(On being back)“It is like coming home when I come here. This is always my home away and it is always fun to come home and play at the Palace.”
(On the game)
“It’s never good when you lose. The Pistons fought tonight and they were shorthanded. You have to give them credit because they took us out of a lot of stuff that we like to do. They didn’t let us run-and-gun and play the way that we like to play, you have to give them credit, they played hard.”
(On this Pistons team)
“They are going to be dangerous. I definitely wouldn’t want to face them in the first round of a playoff series because they have so many weapons. The bigs know who they are, they rebound, they play big and they really don’t want the ball. When you have guys that know who they are and really embrace that and you have weapons offensively, then you are dangerous.”
