Detroit: John Kuester | Austin Daye Bobcats: Paul Silas | Stephen Jackson | Kwame BrownPistons Head Coach John Kuester
On game: “I thought we were in striking distance that first half. Offensively we weren’t as efficient shooting only 38 percent and then we did take care of the basketball and you’re in a three-point game. I thought the start of the third quarter we did a great job. I was pleased with our energy and guys were doing a great job and then we got tired. And before you blink an eye, the end of that third going into the fourth when they stretched that lead we were fighting up hill the whole way.”
On team energy: “I thought a couple guys got tired and I liked Will’s (Bynum) energy in that fourth period. He did a nice job of getting some steals and getting to the basket and getting guys open. We had great looks not good looks where the ball just wouldn’t go down.”
On starting February with a loss: “It’s disappointing but we have to regroup. Bottom line is we have a lot of basketball left, we get to stay positive and continually work hard that’s the bottom line. We got a lot of basketball left this season and we have to continue to grind.”
On fourth quarter play: “They made shots, we had a couple good looks and when the basketball isn’t going in the hole for us it affects our defense bad and unfortunately we didn’t defend the way I know were capable of.”
On end of the third, start of the fourth: “Stephen Jackson got hot and he got on a roll. It's tough because we looked like we had control of the game a little bit, although we were down going into the fourth. That's been our Achilles heel, letting those big runs go.”
On starting home-stand with a loss: “It's tough especially because it's a team we were hunting for in the East. For us to drop a game like this the way we did, it hurts.”
On Stephen Jackson:“He's really hard to stop just because he's such a good guy with the ball and up-fakes and things like that. He's a big type of scorer in the league and he showed that tonight.”
On their road trip: (On their road trip) “Great road trip. I thought we had a good road trip already going three-for-three. This is a big, big win considering we're going back home for three tough games. We really needed this one. We talked about going six-out-of-10 (before this stretch).”
On Stephen Jackson: “Gosh he did everything tonight. Not only did he score but he played defense, rebounded and pushed the ball. He did everything we asked him to do. He just came through. I really love the fact he was taking open shots and his shooting percentage was way up tonight and that's what we need.”
On Kwame Brown: “Kwame really played well. We talked to him about it, that defensive rebounding should be his main goal as well as blocking shots. Whatever he gets on the offense is a plus for us. He did a little bit of it all tonight. I was just so impressed with everybody. Shaun Livingston came in and gave us a huge lift. All the guys. Boris (Diaw) did not score but got me nine assists. That's terrific.”
On DJ Augustin and Boris Diaw's scoring: “I would love for them to score more and they're going to have to score more when we play the types of teams who are coming up. Jack was on so much tonight that we didn't need their scoring so much per se. In the future we most certainly will.”
On winning the game: “We have to find a way to win. These games matter at the end of the season. We have to come out now and find a way to get the win. Detroit is playing well and this is the last game of the road trip. We just wanted to come out and be aggressive.”
On their fourth quarter play: “Defense. We got stops and got some easy baskets and were able to push the ball. They missed a couple of shots and we took advantage of them and got some easy baskets.”
On Detroit fans heckling him: “People don't understand that when you boo me I play better. It’s all fun. People still think about the incident that happened here and I hate that it happened but I'm just here playing basketball and having fun. I love hecklers.”
On Stephen Jackson: “It seems like any time fans boo him at a place he has a game like this. If I were the fans I wouldn't boo him because he steps out and plays nice. That's how he is. When there's pressure or people are booing him, that's when hes going to play to his best.”
On playing in Charlotte: “That's all this league is about is an opportunity. Its what you make of it. Here (In Detroit) I didn't get to play much, four-or-five minutes here and there, and that's hard for anybody to play. I'm just blessed to have a situation to play some positive minutes in the starting lineup and we're winning.”
On their road trip: “I think we grew up a little bit. We started feeling sorry for ourselves because we had so many games in a row. We lost the game in Utah that we shouldn't have lost. Everybody was feeling sorry for themselves because we were tired. You just can't take a game off. You have to come out and play hard every game.”