Postgame Quotes - January 20, 2012

Detroit: Lawrence Frank | Ben Gordon
MeMphis: Lionel Hollins | Marc Gasol | Tony Allen

Pistons Head Coach Lawrence Frank
(On the 3rd quarter) – “Their pressures, their steals, trips and playing the passing lanes defensively up to that last possession we played a good defensive quarter. We had 19 points but made the mistake of giving up the three to go, but we let their defense frustrate us and that turned us over. You saw a difference in that third quarter in terms of competing and that is how we need to start the game. You can’t wait and then attack. I thought Brandon Knight was a bright spot, he ignited us in the first half with energy and full of energy in the second half, then everyone came along. But when you put yourself in that situation you have to play perfect ball. We have to give Memphis credit.”

(On turnover points) – “(Definite problem) especially early on you see 11 turnovers for 18 points, only a third of their points were off turnovers. They had 32 points off of our 25 turnovers, those are back breaking because that’s the first pass of their fast break, those are really crippling.”

“(On the team giving into the pressure) – “No I wouldn’t say that, I would just say that you look at Memphis and they are very good at doing what they do. They over play passing lanes, they shoot gaps on screens, they’re very aggressive, they’re high-level defenders and I think it took us in terms of our ability with all that pressure. Instead of fighting it you need to counter it. Screening bodies, getting into the paint, bending their defense opposed to playing around it, we’re still trying to connect the dots but at least we were better in the third quarter with it.”

(On losing) – “Of course (it’s still hard), losing sucks. You know, it’s misery, to me it’s how you win and how you lose. So the way we played the first half that’s not who we are going to be. When we came out in the third quarter that is the how we have to play, with relentless energy, attacking and (with that) you could live with the mistakes that you had in the third quarter because they were aggressive attacks and play-hard mistakes.”

Pistons Guard Ben Gordon

(On end of fourth) “We just didn’t do a good job of building off the momentum that we created for ourselves and we kind of got back in a rut. I think the way we played in the third quarter, we need to have that same intensity the entire game. We just can’t afford to pick our spots; we’re just not that good of a team yet. We just got to do a better job of playing a complete game with the same intensity level. We know we’re going to make mistakes, but the key thing is playing with a maximum level of effort and energy at all times.”

(On effort) “I feel our effort was spotty. We came out and made a concerted effort in the third to step up our intensity level, be more aggressive and that’s something we didn’t do consistently throughout the game. I thought that was pretty much the key to the game.”

(On record representing team) “I wouldn’t say talent-wise, but we are what we are. We can’t just change our record because we think we’re better than we are. We’re a 3-13 and until we prove otherwise, we just need to continue each and every night to find a way to muster the effort it takes to win a NBA game.”

(On turnovers) “I think it’s just concentration. There’s no excuse to throw the ball away and be as careless as we are at times. I don’t think it’s an offensive team, I think it’s a matter of us focusing and concentrating.”

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Grizzlies Head Coach Lionel Hollins
(On the game): "We had stretch there in third quarter where we quit guarding. We gave up 35 points in the third quarter. The start of the fourth quarter we came back out and started guarding and I think we gave up 16 points in the fourth quarter and got our lead back. We had to work hard. I wished we could have maintained that 20-point lead so that we could have rested some guys for tomorrow night. We got to do whatever it takes to get a win; we did and we'll worry about tomorrow night when it gets here."

(on finishing the game):"We came out and executed. We really executed down the stretch. We got five or six shots in a row. They took one of their bigs out and I was able to play Rudy (Gay) at the four. We had Marc (Gasol), Rudy, and then I had Tony who could guard Brandon Knight. He did a great job on him and got three or four deflections and a couple steals. After starting the game we had our scorers on the court but we also had our defensive players on the court at the same time."

(On Mike Conley): "Mike has been superb for us this year. He has been the director and he got us into stuff. He made a couple of nice passes; he got to the basket and made some layups. We're playing really well as a group. We’re starting to find who we are and what our identity is.

Grizzlies Center Marc Gasol

(On the game) “We played better. We still can get a lot better. To get those minutes longer and we all feel that way. So we just try to get better every game."

(On jumping on team early): "We've been doing that but we always give up the lead at the beginning of the third quarter and all the teams come back and cut it to single digits. So we got to do better than that. We know tough teams; we can't allow them to do that."

(On closing strong): "That shows some metal toughness. If we didn’t have that problem to begin with we would be okay. We’re getting better and that’s one thing we do a lot better is playing defense right now."

(On playing one game at a time) “That’s been our mentality for the past three-and-a-half years and that’s going to be for however long it goes."

Grizzlies Guard Tony Allen

(On O.J. Mayo) " He obviously know his role. He comes in; he has to be the microwave. He has to be that guy that comes in and gives us energy offensively. He knows me and him are tied together and as long we as we’re on the same page we have that great team spirit. I think he's a great piece. Its funny that sometimes during practice he says I'm putting so much focus on my defense I'm missing my shots. As soon as he thinks about offense and try to put it together and let the game come to him, he'll blossom."