Detroit: Lawrence Frank | Rodney Stuckey Los Angeles Lakers: Mike Brown | Andrew BynumPistons Head Coach Lawrence Frank
(On Rodney Stuckey leading the team in the fourth quarter and overtime): “Obviously, (Rodney) Stuckey did an unbelievable job of attacking the paint. To me, this was a quality game because when you look at it we did not even shoot 40% in the game. We scored nine points in the third quarter; we went six and a half minutes without scoring. We did actually have some great shots; we just did not make them. I thought the second unit changed the game in the second quarter; we really thrived off their energy. I thought we had great minutes from those guys and then we made some big plays. Just defensively, even when we could not make shots, you hold a quality team like the Lakers to 42% and get the key stops down low and obviously Kobe (Bryant) made a great shot to put the game into overtime and yet our guys kept the resolve. The last offensive play did not work out the way we wanted it to, but we got the stop, we executed what we did, a foul to give, contested the three and got the rebound. I was just proud of the resolve that our guys showed dealing with the different turbulence throughout the game.”
(On whether the last foul was planned or not): “Oh yes, without a doubt. We had a foul to give and then fouled again. However, now the smart thing and the tough thing Kobe is a smart guy so he knows (what the plan is). And you know Tay (Tayshaun Prince) is obviously very bright, so the timing of when you can foul is by if the guys back is to you, if the guy is in dribble motion, but Kobe obviously knows this because he has been through this drill before. But the key was doing our work when he was pinned against the sideline just to make it a tougher show. I thought Tay did a tremendous job blocking him.”
(On slow start in the first quarter): “I got in foul trouble early. I knew I was going to come into the second quarter and I knew I was going to be going against their second unit, so I was just trying to be aggressive against them. I knew I could get a few easy baskets with Steve Blake and (Andrew Goudelock), but from there I just got going. I was aggressive and just taking what the defense gives me.”
(On playing aggressive): “Absolutely, that’s my game; I’ve been doing that since high school. Just being aggressive taking the ball to the basket, that’s pretty much my game.”
(On the game slowing down when he is aggressive): “Yea, I’m just playing out there. I’m pretty much just reading what the defense gives me. I know when I get the ball off a miss; my mindset is to push it as fast as I can while the defense is not set. That allows me to get to the basket, get a foul; something like that. I’m pretty much reading what the defense gives me.”
(On game): “Obviously throughout the course of the game we didn’t play the game the right way offensively. I thought the ball stayed on the strong side of the floor too much, too often. We did a better job with it the second half, but the first half we were real stagnant. To shoot 42% and score 85 points was a part of that. Obviously we had to take a couple threes at the end of the game, but we didn’t shoot the three-ball very well.”
(On Rodney Stuckey): “It was very disappointing. Not just him, our team defense because we couldn’t stop him. We blitzed him, we played our regular defense, and all he did was just drive the ball every time and he got to the rim and got lay-up, after lay-up, after lay-up.”
(On difference in first and second half): “Just watching the body language of our guys, it wasn’t good. I thought we were kind of just going through the motions. I don’t know if we thought it was going to be easy coming in here because of their record or whatever. You hear talk about before this road trip that we’re going to go 3-0 or sweep this road trip because of these guys’ record. We’re playing NBA teams and it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. You got to come out and be focused for 48 minutes.”
(on game): “We always give up leads; I think I said that after the Sacramento game. When we give up leads, we can’t do it on the road, we did it on the road and we lost.”
(On personal performance): “We can play together. We knew we didn’t pass the ball, we didn’t move bodies, we get stagnant and it cost us every night. We move the ball to the open man and everything will work itself out.”
(On losing): “It just hurts because we were in a prime position to win these three games and move up in the standings. It might be three now, it might be four now but we have to chase San Antonio.”