Tuesday, January 3, 2006 at The Palace of Auburn Hills
Detroit Pistons 108, Orlando Magic 99
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Pistons 108, Orlando 99
Boxscore
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Recap
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January 3, 2006
The Palace of Auburn Hills, MI |
| Points: | (DET) C. Billups, 37
(ORL) D. Howard, 22 |
| Rebounds: | (DET) B. Wallace, 9
(ORL) D. Howard, 14 |
| Assists: | (DET) C. Billups, 9
(ORL) S. Francis, 5 |
| Blocks: | (DET) Two Tied, 2
(ORL) Five Tied, 1 |
| Player of the Game |
Chauncey Billups
Points: 37*
Assists: 9
FGM-A: 9-15
Minutes: 43
*Career high
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| POSTGAME QUOTES |
Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders
On keeping the team motivated mid-season:
“These are the dog days, because the season seems like its never going to end. You have to take every game one game at a time. When you’re on a big run and winning games, that’s the biggest challenge you have - can you withstand the pressure night in and night out of what teams throw at you?”
“I was disappointed in the defense the first half, and we did a better job as far as the second half. We had no steals the first half and ended up with seven in the second half. We just got more active.”
On Carlos Delfino’s rebounding:
“He’s got great hands. He’s got big mitts, great hands, has a nose for the ball and he doesn’t get knocked off the ball too much. He’s getting his minutes right now, which are heat of the battle minutes. Those are good minutes to get and he’s been productive in those minutes.”
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Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups
On the night:
“It was a good one. I was just feeling good. I was being aggressive, knowing I had a tough match-up with Steve Francis. It was just a good game. The guys were telling me to run the plays that we were running, and I just stayed aggressive.”
On his career-high in points:
“I didn’t really know. I just knew I kept getting to the free throw line. I was just mad that I missed two free throws. I just wanted to keep the pedal down, especially when they started to make a run against us, and I wanted to get back to the plays that were working for us. It just so happened that the ball kept getting in my hands and I just wanted to make a play.”
On the team’s record:
“It was important for us, today, to get back to playing the way that we play. We had a let down in Cleveland, and we wanted to get back off of that. We wanted to come back, have a good game, get back in the winning column and minimize the losing streak. We have done a good job of that all season, refocusing on the basics and starting another streak.”
On the MVP talk:
“I welcome it, I welcome it. I let everybody else talk, I’m not going to talk about it.”
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Pistons Forward Antonio McDyess
On the game:
“That has a lot to do with Chauncey; he took it to another level. He came out there making shots, playing good defense and got us going.”
On Chauncey’s game:
“He’s a lot more relaxed. He has no one breathing down his back, and he just goes out there and plays. I think that’s been the difference with Chauncey. Flip’s been giving him the freedom to make the plays.”
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Magic Head Coach Brian Hill
On the game:
“Chauncey had a huge night obviously. He had a career high and they got great play out of their backcourt. Sixty-two points combined out of their backcourt-that’s who they are. They’re one of the best, if not the best backcourt in the league. I thought our guys played hard, we played well, but when they stepped it up a notch in the fourth quarter we didn’t execute as well as we had been in that quarter (in past games). That’s what good teams do.”
On Dwight Howard:
“Dwight did a real good job. He had a couple of turnovers, but in all he performed well. He did that against one of the best defensive frontcourts in the league with Ben and Rasheed and McDyess. I was pleased with the way our guys played; we had a stretch in the first half where turnovers hurt us and a stretch in the second half (where we) lost our offensive execution when they turned up the pressure. Other than that, I feel our guys did a real good job.”
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Magic Guard Steve Francis
On the game:
“For me, I’m not going to take anything away from Detroit. They played tough and they got a lot of shots that weren’t contested and they made big shots when it counted. I thought we played hard. They made open shots when they had to.”
On his off night:
“You just have to continue to play tough. I didn’t really get enough shots. Myself and Deshaun, we didn’t put any pressure on Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups because we really play aggressive and make them work on defense so they would be tired on offense. Not to take anything away from them guys, they played good and made big shoots.”
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