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Orlando: Stan Van Gundy | Jameer Nelson | Dwight Howard | Maurice Evans
Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders
(On the game) “I think that so many times people talk about certain teams have players that carry them, but Joe (Dumars) built this team on the idea of a team effort. When one piece happens to go out, we continue to run as a unit and operate on all pistons, no pun intended. We did that tonight, there were different times in the game when different players carried us and guys all made great plays.”
(On Rodney Stuckey) “What can you really say about him, he is a rookie that has developed over the course of the year. I said that when Chauncey (Billups) got hurt that maybe all the time that he got over the course of the season would pay off. To have a rookie play two games and all of our point guards not have a turnover in the past two games, set a record for only three turnovers in a game, down five and he is in there and makes shots. Rip (Richard Hamilton) did what he does, Tay (Tayshaun Prince) does what he does and it was a heck of a team effort.”
Pistons Guard Rodney Stuckey
(On him coming out big in tonight's game) “Chauncey's (Billups) out so the bench had to step up and that's what I just did tonight.”
(On him maturing in this series and learning from Billups) “It’s awesome just being around this group of guys. They make you confident and I know I don't have to worry about anything because I know who I got behind my back so when I am out there I am always calm.”
(On amount of time played) “It’s the playoffs and this is my first time experiencing this but I am having fun and we are trying to bring the championship back.”
(On the shots he made tonight) “Well you know that is what I do, I am an aggressive player. I like to go to the basket and make contact and I was just doing that tonight”
Pistons Forward Antonio McDyess
(On playing together) “We were just trying to play together and help each other on defense. I think Rip (Richard Hamilton) got us going offensively so we just continued to play off him.”
(On getting some rest) “I think it will help a lot, just to get some rest, especially for Chauncey, you know to have him back in the line-up when we play in the third round. So I think it’s going to help us a lot. We just have to go out there and play like we did tonight.”
Pistons Guard Richard Hamilton
(On his sixth trip to the Conference Finals) “It's an awesome feeling for us to get the opportunity to play in the Eastern Conference Finals for six straight years, but it's one of those things that we feel as though we're supposed to. When the first round goes by we feel as though we're supposed to win. The second one we’re supposed to win. That's our confidence. We feel as though we have to make it there and we have to try to get back to the Finals. I thought the guys did an excellent job these first two rounds of playing hard and trying to get there.”
(On Rodney Stuckey) “Stuck (Rodney Stuckey) was awesome. The one thing I tell him is when we're all on the floor don't play passive to me, don't play passive to Tay (Tayshaun Prince), don't play passive to anybody out here. Your job is to get on the floor and be aggressive. We aren't going to look at you as a rookie but every time you get the ball you need to make an aggressive play. Don't try to look over your back and look for me, no, you play your game, and tonight was a great job of him showing it tonight in the fourth quarter.”
(On breaking the record) “It's a great honor. Isiah Thomas is Detroit basketball and to pass one of his records is crazy to me because I haven't been here that long. But if I don't get this, we don't win games. The great thing that I've been blessed with is having great teammates and we get the opportunity to make it to the Finals and hopefully we make it again. But when you win games you get things like that and I'm just blessed to be a part of it.”
Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy
(On turnovers and free throw shooting) “It was a disappointing way to go out. Nothing’s going to feel good if you lose but if you come in and you play great and they play great and you just can’t get it done that’s one thing. But 21 turnovers and 57 percent at the free throw line, it’s just very disappointing to come into an elimination game and play that poorly and make that many mistakes.”
(On the Pistons’ winning without Chauncey) “It speaks very well of them and its very disappointing to us, no question. I thought our guys played very hard. I thought they competed very hard. I thought we defended well, you know, I mean you look at their (the Pistons') shooting percentage and stuff. We put them on the line too many times and again going down the stretch we couldn’t keep them off the boards, particularly (Antonio) McDyess but other than that I thought we defended well.”
(On the game) “Other than us fouling at the end, the free throw attempts were about even most of the game, yet they made 12 more free throws. That’s hard to overcome. The fact that the game is close at the end when you look at the free throw and the turnover disparity it’s remarkable that the game was close. To that end I give our guys some credit because as bad as a day we had as poorly as we played we didn’t give up. We had one good quarter where we played our tempo and got the game moving up and down.”
Magic Center Dwight Howard
(On the season) “A little disappointed in today’s loss. Overall, I think we had a great season and each year we keeping getting better and better. I think this year we improved a lot from last season and hopefully we have a better season next year.”
(On game) “We didn’t play good the whole game but I don’t want to say it was the turnovers. It hurt a lot to lose. We did do a lot of things to put us in the position to where we are now but you live and you learn. We have to come in next year and try and focus on being a low-turnover team.”
Magic Guard Jameer Nelson
(On game) “It was a hard fought game by both teams and you have to give those guys credit because they have been closing the games when they needed to and we haven’t. I tip my hat to my team as well though because we fought hard and a couple baskets go in, a couple stops, a couple different plays and we win that game. However, you have to give the other team credit as well.”
(On turnovers) “Even with the turnovers and the offensive rebounds that they got we still had opportunities and were involved in the game. It came down to the wire and you just have to give those guys credit because they closed the game out, closed the series out and I just know that my team played hard.”
(On the offensive slump in the fourth quarter) “I don’t think that we were tight because we were winning (going into that fourth quarter). When you play basketball you are going to make shots and you are going to miss shots and I also think that we had a couple turnovers early on in the fourth that kind of hurt, but overall I tip my hat off to my guys and to the other team. Both teams played hard and it was an exciting series.”
