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Orlando: Stan Van Gundy | Jameer Nelson | Dwight Howard | Hedo Turkoglu | Keyon Dooling | Rashard Lewis
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 into 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 Chauncey 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 (Richard 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.”
Pistons Guard Richard 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.”
On 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.”
Pistons Guard Rodney 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.”
Pistons Forward Tayshaun 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.”
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.”
Magic Guard Jameer Nelson
“I think it’s good to get a win. We know we can beat these guys in the play-offs. In Game 2, we had opportunities; we let it slip through our hands. But we still got a positive vibe out of that game and we knew that they were definitely beatable. Even though they’re tough in the series, they are definitely beatable.”
(On Billup’s injury) “It’s an unfortunate situation. But Stuckey came in and did a good job for them. He had 19 points and he filled in well for Chauncey. But I think when your star goes down; it takes a little out of your team. Regardless, we had a good chance to win the ballgame. We were playing with a lot of intensity, a lot of focus, we were really aggressive. I’m quite sure he would have made a couple three’s if he was in the game but I think it still would have been up to us.”
Magic Center Dwight Howard
“It felt real good, finally got a chance to beat those guys. The main thing is that we played the way we knew how to play. Run and try to cut the turnovers down. And tonight was a great win for us.”
“Last game, there were a lot of times that I could have blocked shots and I just didn’t go get them. Pat (Ewing) said before the game that I have to be very active and on the defensive end and get our team going. I just tried to block as many shots as I could. Tonight I just tried to be aggressive.”
Magic Forward Hedo 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.”
Magic Guard Keyon 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.”
Magic Forward Rashard Lewis
“Obviously they’re a real big team, a real physical team and it’s tough to guard them in the post. At the same time, I know at the other end of the floor we have to make them work and attack them on the dribble instead of settling for jump shots, you got to attack them and try and get them in foul trouble or create open shots for your teammates.”
“It feels good, especially if you hit a couple three’s. I hadn’t been shooting the three-ball well ever since the play-offs started. It was able to fall tonight. At the same time, my shot’s been feeling good the whole time. Just hasn’t been going in. But shooters don’t quit shooting and I didn’t want to think twice about it. Coach said play free, be loose, don’t think too much and I think that’s what we did tonight. We were a little loose, we weren’t thinking about shooting the ball, we were driving and we’re making our mind that we would just play the game.”
