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Postgame Quotes - December 19, 2014

DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY:  (On the loss): “Competitive first half. It’s the same group that gets us off to a good start in the first quarters. We’ve been starting games well. Starting the third quarters we’ve been awful and it’s the same guys so it’s hard to explain. The overall story of the game was not hard to explain. We had absolutely no defensive will or resolve what so ever. Sixty points in the paint means you’re not doing anything defensively when you give that up.”

 

(On offensive play): “We started off the second half turning the ball over. I thought in the first half we played pretty good. Our offense has gotten a little bit better, I think that’s clear. Our defense has clearly gotten worse. We’ve also played really good teams so we’ve been exposed. It’s accurate to say that our defensive weaknesses have been exposed.”

 

DETROIT PISTONS GUARD D.J. AUGUSTIN:  (On second half): “We couldn’t get any stops. They played great tonight. They’re a really good team.  We didn’t match their intensity on defense and we didn’t get any stops in the end.”

 

(On Raptors): “They have a good team. They have some shooters, some good guards that find people and they have really good big men. They played well tonight and we didn’t get any stops.”

 

(On second-half turnovers): “We can’t do that especially against a team like that. They take advantage of turnovers and we’ve got to take care of the ball better and play smarter.”

 

TORONTO RAPTORS HEAD COACH DWANE CASEY:  (On strong third quarter vs. Pistons): “We really did; give our bench a lot of credit they came and did their job.  Really, really excited with the way they’re coming in, establishing the style of play, establishing the identity that you need with your second unit.  We don’t know what Landry’s (Fields) condition is going to be so we have to be ready to step in and fill his shoes.”

 

(On the emotion in the building): “It was great.  I thought our fans, the buses that came up, our fans were unbelievable.  I thought that got us going.  Once we got our plays going, we got our energy going, our fans took over, and gave us a huge boost of energy to close out the start of the third quarter.  It was emotional.  They’re a very talented team.  They make you play a style that you better be ready and emotional and physical.  If you don’t they’re going to embarrass you.”

 

TORONTO RAPTORS FORWARD JAMES JOHNSON: (On incident with Pistons Center Andre Drummond): “That’s basketball.  We’re competitors out there.  I don’t expect anything less from anybody if you’re really trying to win.  Everybody really wants to win, frustration starts to set in, no hard feelings.”

 

(On incidents similar to tonight uniting teams): “It’s warfare.  Our team is built for that.  We’ve been brothers since the first day of the pre-season.  We go hard for each other.  I’d do that for anyone of them just like you saw Chuck (Hayes), Pat (Patrick Patterson), GV (Greivis Vasquez).  We’re all brothers, we love each other and that’s the big reason for our success.”

 

TORONTO RAPTORS GUARD KYLE LOWRY: (On third quarter):  “We understand that you get a reset.  You get a chance to kind of start the game over and put our effect on the game big time.  That’s just what we’ve been doing and coach has really made our adjustments at halftime and we’ve been going from there.”

 

(On James Johnson’s play tonight vs. Pistons): “Unbelievable.  His dunk was unbelievable but his defense and his overall game, not just his dunk.  Our second unit did an unbelievable job tonight- Pat (Patrick Patterson), Lou (Williams), G (Grievis Vasquez) came in and gave us great minutes.  It was a great group effort tonight.”