Detroit: Lawrence Frank | Jonas Jerebko | Greg Monroe Indiana: Frank Vogel | David West | Paul George | Darren CollisonPistons Head Coach Lawrence Frank
“(On the game) The rebounding numbers are obviously why the score was lop-sided. They played smash-mouth basketball and they were the better team tonight.
(On David West) The guy is a two time all-star and he’s a super player.”
“The crashed the boards hard tonight. But we knew that from the beginning, we need to give a better effort than that, a lot better than what we showed today. There’s nothing we can do about it now except go on to the next one. We are so much better than this. But it is our first game and we have to learn from it. It doesn’t feel good when you don’t win.”
“As a whole, through the whole game I have to be better. As a group and a team, we have to be better. They (Pacers) were just ready. They came out with a little more intensity. They were the more physical team tonight. They were just better than us tonight. (On David West) He is going to help them out. He’s going to be another scorer in the post and a mid range guy who can make plays. He’s obviously a physical presence. (On the rebounding disparity) We just have to want it more—box out, get to bodies, limit them to one shot. It’s something we’ll get better at. Tonight was a bad night for us. We’re going to get better. (On the game in general) They beat us tonight. That was plain and simple from the start. There were zero lead changes. As soon as the ball was thrown up, they beat us. That’s the truth, and that’s something as a team we can’t let happen.”
“Good win for us, good way to open up the season. We’ve got a strong front court on this team, which I am very excited about. First impressions are we’ve got a really good front court and we’re solid at every position. We’re going to be a strong offensive rebounding team. We defended pretty well, but we can improve a lot on the defensive end. I think we can be great defensively. We’ve got good defensive personnel. We’re attacking the basket, getting to the line and sharing the basketball. (On David West) He was himself, banging and pounding it inside. He didn’t finish well around the basket but that will come.”
“We did a good job of sticking to our game plan and keeping them on their heels, keeping them where we wanted them. (On his physical play) I felt good. My timing is off and I’m a little rusty. But I am sure I will get it together. I love playing where I am and I feel it’s going to be a fun year with these guys.”
“This is a good group to play with. We played smash-mouth basketball. Competing on every aspect of the game, moving the ball but we did not set the tone the way we would want to in shooting the ball. It was another poor night of shooting the ball but we will get better.”
“We defended well. I think we distributed the ball pretty well, but we didn’t shoot that well. Shooting is timing and getting used to each other. And that is going to come and as it does we are going to be a good basketball team.”