Postgame Quotes - February 14, 2011

Detroit: John Kuester | Charlie Villanueva
Hawks: Larry Drew | Josh Smith | Mike Bibby

Pistons Head Coach John Kuester
(On the game) “I thought the first half we did a real nice job especially that second group in the beginning of the second quarter. We didn’t close the second quarter the way we wanted too and the energy went down and it seemed like the energy kept staying down in the third period. I give them credit they played hard. They made shots and we struggled defending them.”

(On loss of energy) “I can’t really pin point it. But I thought we had spurts but it seemed like we were getting so far in the shot clock almost every possession in that third period and that’s what hurt us.”

(On first half) “We were making shots and we were in a nice rhythm. Charlie (Villanueva) had it going and we had a number of people going. The flow of the game was great for us but we couldn’t sustain it and that’s disappointing.”

(On second half) “It seemed like every time offensively the shot clock got down especially with that first group it seemed like every shot itself. We were struggling to get offense going. The second group had some energy for a while and just didn’t sustain it.”

“I thought Will (Bynum) was great in the first half distributing the basketball and we probably didn’t distribute it the way we did in the second half. We had 14 assists at the half and only ended with 20. That’s a traumatic difference.”

Pistons Forward Charlie Villanueva

(On losing a big lead) “We made a run and let our guard down and we got a little too comfortable with the lead and they took advantage of this one.”

(On energy) “I think we started of strong, but every team in the league makes a run and once they made that run, it seemed like we didn’t have an answer for them. They got into a comfortable stop and it seemed like they were making everything. They shot 67 percent in the first half, even though we started off strong they were still making the shots.”

(On leads slipping away) “You just have to worry about the game. You cant worry about what happened be for. This was a game we could’ve one easily, and I think we shot ourselves in the foot in this one.”

(On February) “Obviously it hasn’t been going the way we wanted it, but we’ll worry about the next one.”

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Hawks Head Coach Larry Drew
(On the game) “I thought we did a great job. We went through a bad stretch in that first quarter and into the second quarter but we regained our composure and that's a sign of a good team, especially on the road. I don’t know how big, I believe it was 16 or 17 at one point, but our guys game back and fought back and actually took the lead going into halftime. I really felt good at that point that we were going to be around at least until the end but in the second half defensively, we turned it up. We gave up 17 points in the third quarter and held them to 11 points in the fourth quarter. It was a good win for us and was a total team effort.”

(On team motivation) “He (Marvin Williams) does, the one thing, coming in as a reserve he's getting a bit more time to observe and sit there and get a real feel for the game and just watching the rhythm. I thought tonight he did a really good job playing within himself he took a couple of the other guy's shots but he's a guy that can make shots, but I think he did a phenomenal job. I thought Josh Smith just played big on both ends, he was huge. Mike (Bibby) seem to be in a little bit of a rhythm early and I wanted to keep him on the floor any time I could any time I sat Joe (Johnson) out as much as I could, I just think he played a phenomenal game.”

Hawks Forward Josh Smith

(On game) “It was really big to win this game, coming into this game we were 0-5 in this building and we have really been struggling against this team in this building. So, it feels that much better to come in here and get that win.”

(On stepping up game in second quarter) “We started helping each other out and before that they were making shots in that first half. I think that they were 8-10 from threes at the beginning of that game and then we did a good job of contesting that three and limiting them to one shot and we were able to knock out the coverages and help each other out. I think that if we help each other out every night we will be a hell of a defense team.”

(On offensive balance) “That is how it is with this team, we have so many weapons that anyone can score at any time. And we are a very unselfish team and when we have that many assists we are a tough team to beat.”

Hawks Guard Mike Bibby

(On strong defense in second half) “We are one of the top team’s in the league when we are helping each other defensively and every one was rotating and helping each other getting out on the brakes. When we play like that we are a tough team to stop.”

(On the game) “They kind of broke out on us to a big lead tonight, but we didn’t let down. At the beginning they were 6-6 from 3’s and we just wanted to make the shots tougher for them. We made a conscious effort to help each other more and not be hesitant to our helps. We just to be sure that we were double teaming and make our rotation quick and make it tough on them. We didn’t want to let them have any looks.”