PISTONS: Postgame Quotes - November 4, 2009
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Pistons at Raptors
Postgame Quotes - November 4, 2009
Regular Season Game #5

Detroit: John Kuester | Charlie Villanueva | Ben Gordon
Toronto: Jay Triano | Antoine Wright | Amir Johnson | Chris Bosh

Pistons Head Coach John Kuester
On the Raptors getting to the free-throw line a lot…
We have got to get people off of the foul line. We did a good job of holding them to 43 per cent (from the field) after the way they started shooting the basketball. We’ll improve in that area and another situation where we just can’t dig ourselves a hole and have to fight so hard, and exert so much energy to get out of it.

On how to coach the stretches where the other team makes the big run…
You get into an environment where you want to call your timeouts and make sure you settle your guys down. Some of those come into play and some of them go into the game itself. They are a high powered basketball team offensively. We faced two teams in a row, Orlando and also Toronto, that are outstanding offensive teams. Our guys really fought back and that’s the thing I’m most proud about. Our guys really did a good job, they worked hard to get back into that game.

Pistons Forward Charlie Villanueva
The comeback in the fourth fell just short…
It just seemed like we ran out of gas. We dug ourselves into a hole down 17 or something like that but we got out of it. It is situations like that when we take the lead that we have to be poised and do what we were doing that got us that lead. We just ran out of gas. It is tough to sustain that same energy when you are down 17. We showed a lot of effort and hopefully we learn from this.

Pistons Guard Ben Gordon
Thoughts on the second quarter…
They had I think 44 second quarter points and needless to say, if anyone in this league scores that many points it is going to be tough to kind of counter that. We did a good job of rallying back in the third and had a lead for a short period of time but we could never really hold them off. We have to do a better job in the second quarter of not letting them obviously score that many points.

Thoughts on the game…
Every possession they got a good shot or they got to the free throw line. It is tough to win like that when you are not really stopping them at all as they are either going to get a good look or get free throws.

Thoughts on your start to the season…
I think my play, I judge myself by how many games you win and I’m not really looking at the numbers. I might have scored to help this team but I had to do other things out there to try and get us a win.



Raptors Head Coach Jay Triano
Thoughts on winning tonight’s game before the road trip…
To be honest, I haven’t even thought of the road trip. I’m going to play games one game at a time and it’s the same thing on this road trip. I’m not going to look at a back-to-back and think of the second game, I’m going to play them one at a time and do whatever we can to try and win games, and sweep them all.

On having Bosh (Chris), Bargnani (Andrea) and Hedo (Turkoglu) all going at the same time in the fourth quarter…
Late in the game I like to have the three ball handlers on the floor. That’s one thing after four games that we’ve been able to see is that if we have Jarrett (Jack) and Jose (Calderon), they can’t really pick you up with one strong point guard, and Hedo can handle the ball so well. So I like to have all three of them on the floor and then when we swing the ball and go side-to-side, not only are you dealing with three guys that can make plays, they can handle the ball and they can make free throws. I think that’s why late in the game I like that, the fact that they share the basketball, they know how to spread the floor.

Thoughts on the second unit in the second quarter…
I commended our bench for the way that they played in the first half. Our bench was outstanding. I thought that they came in, they gave us energy, they ran up and down the floor, they got us stops and deflections. That was some of the best basketball that group has played and they earned themselves minutes in the second half because of that.

Raptors Guard Antoine Wright
Thoughts on bench...
A lot of times you can pretty much dictate or see what is going on in the game from the bench. You get a better look at it. I am talking to (Jarrett) Jack the whole time during the game. We knew we were going to have to come in against a team like Detroit and have that energy and keep guys out of the paint.

Thoughts on sacrificing minutes…
I want to win. My whole career I have been on winning teams and I know what it takes. I have been on teams with guys who have given themselves up. When you have a unit like (Jarrett) Jack and Jose (Calderon) who are rolling I told Coach to keep them out there. They are doing everything they need to do. Keep them out there and keep the momentum.

Raptors Forward Amir Johnson
Thoughts on second unit…
We brought energy. That is our job. When our name is called and we come off the bench our job is to bring energy, try not to make mistakes and just play hard.

Thoughts on beating former team…
It is always fun to play against your former team and like I said, beat them. I talked to a couple team mates during the game and told them I was really going to go at them. Not in that language, but I told them I was really going to play hard against them and go at them and that is what I did.

Raptors Forward Chris Bosh
Thoughts on play of bench…
I don’t think the starters did a good job starting out playing defence. Ben Gordon got going, but our bench came through and that is what a team is about. They held us down and I think they did a good job of establishing the tempo.

Thoughts on the play of Jose Calderon…
He is only human. We are all going to go through slumps whether it is now, at the beginning or at the end of the season. It is going to happen, he just has to keep his head up and make sure he practices and keeps working to get out of it. It happens. I know he wants to play well every game, but it is not going to happen every game. Once he is out of it I think we are going to play a lot better as a team.

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