Pistons 103, Bobcats 78
Boxscore
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Recap
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December 17, 2005
Charlotte Bobcats Arena, Charlotte, NC |
| Points: | (DET) C. Billups, 21
(CHA) P. Brezec, 17 |
| Rebounds: | (DET) B. Wallace, 13
(CHA) E. Okafor, 13 |
| Assists: | (DET) C. Billups, 12
(CHA) B. Knight, 8 |
| Blocks: | (DET) B. Wallace, 4
(CHA) Two Tied, 1 |
| Player of the Game |
Chauncey Billups
Points: 21
Assists: 12
FGM-A: 8-12
Minutes: 36
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Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders
On his team’s play:
“I thought we came out with a good focus. We were more bright-eyed. It didn’t seem like a back-to-back, probably because guys got a lot of rest last night. We came out methodically offensively, ran our stuff, and did what we wanted to do. Defensively, we went into our swarm type defense and controlled things.”
On Brevin Knight:
“Brevin’s been their guy. He’s played at a really high level. Last three games, five games, he’s averaging sixteen points, double digits in assists, high steals.”
On Chauncey Billups:
“Chauncey did a great job. I said the same thing last game, two games ago, and I’ll reiterate it. When you look at the four things that are involved in a point guard, controlling the tempo of the game, making big shots, setting people up and playing defense, I don’t know if there’s anybody in the league that does all four of those in a combination as good as he does.”
On the defense:
“We have a lot of confidence in our defense and when you’re scoring offensively you can set your defense up.”
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Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups
On tonight’s game:
“This game was fun. It’s always fun when you win. We were a well-oiled machine tonight. It was good that our bench got a lot of minutes tonight. That gives them a lot of confidence.”
On this year’s team compared to last year’s team:
“This year we are having a lot more fun offensively. Coach gives us more freedom on the offensive end. Last year, our offense was a little too predictable but this year, the offense is more free-flowing.”
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Pistons Forward Rasheed Wallace
On tonight’s game:
“We didn’t take Charlotte lightly. That’s the wrong attitude to have when you take a team lightly. Going into the game, if we had the attitude that we were going to steamroll this team, that’s how you end up losing. We never underestimated Charlotte just because they have a losing record.”
On this year’s team compared to last year’s team:
“I think we are more determined this year. This year, we really have the drive to get back to the Finals since we were there last year but failed to win it all. Our overall goal is to get another Championship.”
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Bobcats Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff
“The effort early in that basketball game, particularly in that first quarter, was probably the worst I’ve ever seen from a Bobcats team. It appeared that we were in awe. As I watched it as we came out in the second half, there was more energy and we played well, but by that time Detroit answered everything. We’d go down and score and they would come back and score. (Maurice) Evans would make a basket, (Chauncey) Billups would make a basket. That basketball team (Detroit) is really too good for you to have that type of deficit. It’s a veteran team that knows how when they get you down to step on you and not allow you to rise. My disappointment is I just didn’t like the way we came out to compete. Other than that I don’t suppose there’s a 25-point play anywhere that we could come up with.”
On Detroit:
“They’re good. I’m not angry because Detroit beat us. We could have played perfect and the results would have been the same. I’m disappointed that we didn’t come out and compete against them. I’m not worried about the shots that we missed, we just didn’t compete. They’re awfully good. When you can go to the bench and bring in a (Antonio) McDyess. Joe Dumars has done a great job in the fit of that basketball team. They’re really, really good. They’re veterans, they play well together. I don’t really see any weaknesses in their basketball team.”
On the effort level:
“We had some points last year that I said the same thing. I don’t think it’s anything habitual. I’m just telling you tonight that I’m disappointed that we didn’t. Sometimes, I’ve been around long enough, what veteran teams do to young teams, they take you hard. I remember being involved with good team and when the young teams would come you would really have to grab them by the throat and step on them. That was the message they wanted to send to us tonight. My problem was the first quarter. We couldn’t get a second wind.”
“I think basically what we said in our game plan, we didn’t do a thing tonight in our game plan defensively. All the stuff we went over the last two days, we didn’t get much right. The one things on Primoz (Brezec) that you can count on is if you give him an assignment he’ll play the way you told him to play.”
“Most teams will allow you to get back into the basketball game but there’s no way. That team remained focused and continued to play basketball. They just put their foot on us and it was that simple.
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Bobcats Center Primoz Brezec
On losing to the Pistons:
“The fans came out to watch us, they sold out the place, and we didn’t put up a fight. It’s just embarrassing. They’re a good team, and we didn’t do the things the coaches talked about offensively from the start. It’s tough when you don’t put up a fight, and get beat like that.”
On the Bobcats defense:
“We didn’t do the stuff the coaches told us to do in shootaround today. Just defensively, we were flat and had no energy. We have practice tomorrow, and we just have to get better defensively.”
On their level of energy:
“We had a great practice yesterday, we concentrated on all of their offensive sets today in shootaround. We just didn’t execute the game plan that the coaches gave to us. That’s what going to happen in this league. You’re going to get killed.”
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Bobcats Guard Brevin Knight
On playing with passion:
“If we don’t come out and play at a certain level, night in and night out, we don’t have a chance of winning. We came out tonight, and they were sharp. If you come out against the best teams in the league, and think you can just lolly-gag or walk your way through it, you’re going to get murdered. That’s what happened to us tonight. We didn’t play with enough passion. We didn’t play with enough urgency in order to even stay close to them.”
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