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(On the game) “Not only did we play zone (defense) but we played a lot of man. They play a lot of zone with man principles. I thought we were very aggressive tonight, contested a lot of shots and didn't give up a lot of penetration. After our crowd got in the game, when the crowd gets like that, you're scoring on the offensive end and defensively you were able to set up our zone which is a big key. We contested shots and we rebounded. Guys were all on a string and I thought that from a concentration standpoint, especially that second half, we had great concentration and great communication between players.”
(On Dwight Howard): “We did a couple things. One is we always try to change things up with how we guard him. He got off to a great start with five rebounds in the first quarter. You're not going to stop him. The big thing is we try to send a lot of bodies on him. We were trying to keep a fresh body on him at all times. I took Maxie (Jason Maxiell) out five to six minutes into the game and some of the guys on the bench were ‘saying why take him out?’ and I was telling them that I wanted to keep somebody fresh on him. Our guys have to know they don't have to play seven minutes. They can play six minutes and go as hard as they can. He's a young guy that's strong. He's the total package. That's why they call him Superman.”
Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups
(On halftime adjustments): “At halftime we had a chance to sit back and say that we were probably playing pretty good defense but we were rushing a little bit offensively. The coaches came in and told us a couple of things that probably should work with the way they (Orlando) were playing that’s tough to kind of catch on the fly. Some of the adjustments we made opened the game up.”
(On Orlando playing physical): “That team is a good physical team. They play really hard. I think every game will be like that. It’s going to be a physical series and that’s they kind of series we want to play anyways.”
Pistons Forward Jason Maxiell
(On his performance): “I try to bring the energy every night—it’s my job. I try to go down low and be dirty, be rough and get physical.”
Pistons Guard Richard Hamilton
(On third quarter): “I think in the third quarter zone (defense) was real big. We kind of matched up, you know, and tried to take away their three-point shots.”
(On Orlando playing physical): “Well you can’t rough up the game with us. We’ve been doing this for years and that’s the way we want to play. So they tried but we enjoyed it; we like it. So we just sort of keep on playing our game and really just keep running our offense, running sets and playing good defense.”
(On Jason Maxiell): “Max was awesome tonight. His energy was awesome from the start of the game. He was in every little confrontation out there. He made big plays, made big shots in the fourth quarter and was just aggressive. And that’s what we’re going to need from him.”
(On Detroit’s play on Dwight): “They play him the most physically of any team, it’s hard for him to get great position, he always has bodies on him, they are always pushing him and he has contact on every play which kind of takes him a little off balance. They did a very good job of this tonight, and I also think they do a pretty good job of keeping him off the glass particularly in the second half.”
(On Orlando’s offense): “I told my team, and it was an honest thing, that I have to take a lot of the blame offensively tonight. I just have to set up some stuff where we can get some better movement and a little bit more ball movement to create some additional opportunities. Tonight we were constantly battling with people on our bodies, and they are a lot stronger and physical and we have to try and get into some stuff where they can’t do that as much.”
Magic Forward Hedo Turkoglu
(On the game): “We just tried to play our game tonight and it didn’t work. They had more intensity then us, and we just need to go out there and give it our best. We had some turnovers, couldn’t make some shots and had some great opportunities, but they were able to open up the lead and it was tough after that. We just need to put this one behind us and work on our mistakes. (And) come in with a different mindset in Game 2 and steal one. We know how good we are and we know what we can do to beat this team. We need to go out there, play our game and fight until the last second and after that we will see what happens.”
Magic Center Dwight Howard
(On his injury) "It's fine. it's just a bruised thumb. I'll be all right."
(On the loss) "We got to put it behind us. It's very frustrating. We didn't play the way that we know how to play basketball. We got a little frustrated the whole night and we let that carry over into the game we had tonight. We have to come back in Game 2. We know that they're going to be physical, pushing and holding, and we have to expect that. Tonight we didn't play through the frustration like that."
(On looking tired) "I'm not tired. I got a lot of energy. The main thing is I got to play through it. I was expecting them to send four, five guys at me tonight and I just have to play through it. They're a very physical team and they're going to try to impose their will on us. We have to come back out Monday and the rest of the series with a better effort."
(On the Pistons dictating the flow of the game) "I think they did. We didn't force the effort tonight. We let them dictate how the game was going to be played on both ends and you can't do that."
