Postgame Quotes - March 12, 2011

Detroit: John Kuester | Tayshaun Prince | Ben Gordon
Denver: George Karl | Chris Andersen | JR Smith

Pistons Head Coach John Kuester
(On 3 point barrage) "They shot lights out. You have to give Denver a lot of credit. We are coming off a back-to-back and they just ran us. The first half I thought we did a good job. It was 66-60, scoring 60 points is good, but giving up 66 points is way too many points for us to give away. They shot lights out."

(On being tied at 72 and then Denver went on big run) "It was a 21-2 run. It was 72-72 and I liked the pace of the game and all of a sudden we really did run out of gas."

(On line-up change) "It is like anything. You see the positives and the negatives. The positives were we were able to score a number of points. The negative is we gave up way too much. We have to be locked in defensively when you are playing a team that is playing with a purpose like Denver is playing right now."

(On disappointing part about tonight’s game) "The lack of communication. You have to communicate every time you are on the floor. We had talked about making adjustments and the adjustment was were going to switch one through four. There were a number of times when guys just didn’t communicate. That is where you are on the road, you in the last game of a road trip and you really have to lock in. That first half I thought we did do some decent things offensively, but you really have to get some stops especially against a team like this that is shooting so well.”

Pistons Forward Tayshaun Prince

“You can tell by the halftime score that we were playing their style. We are not the type of team to keep up scoring with teams like this. All season it seems like we try and play like this with those type of teams, outscore them, but that is not in our repertoire."

(On Pistons defense) "I think the things that killed us, especially in the first half, were on the screen and rolls with Nene. That brought the spread with his roll to the basket and that caused four perimeters out there and they keep the floor spread out. Then you got Nene diving to the basket, getting and-ones, dunks and stuff like that. That was big and that is how they got their momentum. Once that happened, they started knocking down threes. Whether it is three games in four days or whatever the case may be, with tired legs that is when you really have to communicate on defense. Obviously, there was a lack of communication on defense."

(On not going to play-offs) "It is about pride, but when you go out and play like that at the end of the game that is not pride at all. JR Smith is one of my good friends, but when a guy is on fire like that and you continue to let him shoot. One is enough, but our guys out there on the floor just continue to let him shoot. It was our fault because at the end of the third we didn’t finish that quarter off and put them in a bad position for the fourth. You go out there and play like that and let them just pretty much put the quotations around embarrassing. When are you going to step up and do something about it.”

Pistons Guard Ben Gordon

(On game) "They made a 21-2 run and that was pretty much all she wrote after that. They really broke the game open and JR got hot."

(On his performance) "I rebounded the ball a little bit more than I normally do. Obviously, losing by 30 that really wasn’t enough. It is hard to find something positive to feed off tonight. In the second half not to have any guys, JR got hot and it was a bad look for us.”

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Nuggets Head Coach George Karl
(On game) "The first half I was some what disappointed in our defensive performance. I thought we were trying to outshoot, outscore them. I thought everybody tuned in defensively. After halftime, everything was more focused then we had a great defensive quarter. The fourth quarter was an explosion of making threes and confidence. The defense motivated the offense. When we shoot the ball that well we are going to score a lot of points."

(On what would you change defensively) "I just want the shooters to play off the dribble a little bit more. I thought we were too soft on their catches. We wanted to force them into the paint, off the dribble of Hamilton and Gordon especially. I thought Kenyon did a good job on Prince. We wanted a little bit more pressure on the decisions and jumps and stuff. Just be a little more aggressive. It wasn’t a great defensive game. We did get 10 steals and scored a lot of points. We are getting a lot of points off their mistakes. As long as we do that, we will score enough points offensively and continue to get better defensively."

(On upcoming road trip) "You are playing four play-off teams. To transfer our confidence on to the road is always going to be a little bit more of a challenge. To transfer our success defensively on the road is a little more difficult.”

Nuggets Forward/Center Chris Andersen

(On importance of game) "At this point, every game is important. We are going to go out on the road and we have some good, tough games ahead of us. The way we are playing, and the style we are playing and the pace we are going with, is going to be hard for us to be beat."

(On balanced scoring) "I didn’t get to see the stat sheet all the way, but K Mart had six assists. Everyone is passing the rock including K Mart and we are all sharing the ball. It makes it fun and we are unstoppable when we pass like that."

(O locker room atmosphere) "We kind of have this rhythm. It is a togetherness."

(On upcoming road trip) "We are going to take care of one game at a time. We are going to go out there. We have New Orleans first and they are also competing for one of our spots because these last four spots are not guaranteed. We just have to take care of one game at a time. (Health) All the injuries I have been having are just disappearing. That thought in the back of you mind when ever you get injured from blocking shots, coming from the weak side trying to block shots, is gone now. I am coming over on the weak side and helping a lot more. I am able to jump higher because my back is healthy and it is getting stronger. Every thing is coming together."

Nuggets Guard JR Smith

(On upcoming road trip) "It is going to be a tough road trip. We are not a great road team as of late. We have to come out and play hard and play like we do at home. If we play like we do at home on the road, we will be a hard team to stop. We expect Miami to be ready no matter what. It is going to be tough. We are going to have to work through the challenge."

(On his 4th quarter performance) "It feels great. Everything was falling and I was catching it in rhythm. The guys are doing a great job of finding me on the court. Catching and shooting was my main focus and I accomplished it."

(On locker room atmosphere) "We have to stay focused and prepare the right way to play the good teams every night. It is going to be different because we have different faces and different imaginations in there. I think it is going to be good for us."

(On balanced scoring) "That is a benefit to us. You never know who is going to go for 30 or 25 (points) or whatever we need to win. It is always going to be a collective thing with seven or eight guys in double figures. I like our odds against any team."

(On winning focus) "Nobody in here is being a jerk to the next person or thought about themselves individually to be a selfish person. It is all love and everyone wants to see everyone succeed."

(On healthy competition) "It is definitely healthy competition. We don’t look at it as anything personal. Every day in practice we are trying to prove something to our coaches and to one another and to everybody else.”