Detroit: Lawrence Frank | Ben Gordon Chicago: Tom Thibodeau | Richard HamiltonPistons Head Coach Lawrence Frank
(On Chicago) "I think all four quarters you have to give the credit to them. They are an outstanding team; well oiled. Obviously, we wished we would have played a whole lot better, but they had a lot to do with that, so we'll just go back and get back to work."
(On Pistons effort): "I am not questioning effort. I was just disappointed in our execution on both ends. You look at it and they had 27 points in transition, they had 27 off the pick and roll, 18 points on the side, they had 15 points off catch and shoot situations, so to me our effort was there we just got to get better with our execution. Right now they played better than us tonight, obviously it is a group of guys that have experience with each other and it just shows you the amount of time we have to put in to it. So, it is a good opportunity for us to say, alright this is where we’re at right now, they are one of the top teams in the league and we have a lot of work to do."
(On Defense): " I don't like to compare it to other teams. They are an outstanding defensive team, no doubt about it. They were one of the top defensive teams last year and they will be this year. For us, not to use Chicago as a comparison but we understand that defensively that is what can keep you in games. I think the Chicago/Atlanta game was great example of it last night. I think Chicago at the end of the third had 50-something points, nothing was going right, but they were within earshot because they defended at a pretty high level and then they were able to turn it on. Same thing for us, it’s a great example of defending multiple mistakes, multiple missed shots, I mean we had shots at the rim, shots in the paint that we could not convert and unfortunately those turned in to their transition opportunities. Defensively, rebounding wise those are the areas that its an everyday commitment to."
(On Chicago Bulls defense): “I thought we played terribly. You have to give them a little bit of credit, but I thought we just had a horrible effort overall. No disrespect to their defense, but I thought we could’ve done a lot better job.”
(On what went wrong): “Pretty much everything, we didn’t play well on either side of the floor. This is a team that played last night, we’re supposed to have fresh legs, but it looked like we played last night.”
(On how Chicago played defense on him): “Pretty much played me the same way every other team has played me this year. Different defensive strategies really weren’t anything I could sit and tell you that they were doing anything differently. I thought our overall execution on both ends of the floor was poor.”
(On being a surprise after last two games): “It’s not surprising. We started off the season a little inconsistent; it’s still a work in progress. Even though we played well the past two games, I wouldn’t say that we have arrived, but it is a little disappointing to see a fall off after the previous two games. Nobody was happy with our performance.
(On offensive balance):“It was a lot better. We got the ball moved, extra pass. I thought our station was a lot better. I thought we ran the floor harder as a group. I liked the offense a lot.”
(On Richard Hamilton): “I thought he handled the whole situation really well. He got himself ready to play, he was focused and to start the game he came out playmaking. He wasn’t trying to do too much and I think that speaks to his experience. He plays to win and I thought he was terrific.”
(On gameplay): “We’re still not a 48-minute team. I like the way were moving. I think we responded well to our performance yesterday but concentration was really good today. I want us to move in the right direction. This was a good day but in this league once you start feeling good about yourself, you get knocked on your butt so we have to be ready. We’re going down to Orlando, they’re really good.”
(On game): “It was fun man. I couldn’t wait for the ball to be thrown up. A lot of emotion early in the game being on the visitor’s side. I’m not accustomed to it in this building so it was difficult. I was like ‘man please don’t start crying or anything’ but hurry up and let the ball get thrown up so I can get out there and play.”
(On the fans):“It was great. The fans appreciate what I did here and they always have been supportive of me even when stuff wasn’t going so good; they always chant my name and stuff like that. I got a lot of love for them; they’ve been by my side since I got here.”
(On his sore groin):“The first quarter was good. I think just adrenaline. Second quarter I think I felt a little pull but there was no way I was getting off the court. I got to ice it down and get treatment.”