Detroit: Lawrence Frank | Andre Drummond | Brandon Knight
Cleveland: Byron Scott | Daniel Gibson
(On beating lower ranked teams): "I've never believed in the 'teams you should beat', because then what happens with the teams you're not supposed to beat? On any given night, anyone can beat anyone, that's why no one is going perfect at home this year. But for our confidence standpoint, I think just the way we win. There's obviously a lot of things to clean up, but just finding a way to win and winning on our terms. So tonight was a game where we won the game shooting in the low 40s (field goal percentage) so that's a good thing because we held them to 33 percent, we had good rim protection. But like I said, I've never bought into that 'teams you should beat'."
(On winning comfortably with a big lead): "We got off to a great early start. We kind of got away from some of the things we were doing in the first half that gave us the lead, but we got back to it in the second half and we ended up coming out with the win."
(On interior defense, especially blocks): "It all started with Jason Maxiell, really. He got the whole flow of the game going with the blocked shots he made and his strong presence around the rim. Watching him got me going as well too."
(On how Jason Maxiell swayed the momentum of the game): "Just watching him play like that gets everybody hyped and we all start playing in sync. You would never guess how tall Jason Maxiell is because of how hard he plays. He may be 6-5, 6-6, but he plays like he's 7-foot.”
(On protecting the rim): “Definitely it means a lot, just to know you can pressure the ball. You don’t want to rely on that, but just in case you do get beat, the bigs can step up and can have different consequences where they take a charge or block a shot. It definitely gives you a lot more confidence to try and pressure the ball.
(On success at home): “Letting teams know it’s going to be tough to get a win at The Palace. That’s a type of mentality we want to have, but we also want to take that mentality with us on the road as far as playing defense and just making it tough on whoever we’re playing.
(On difference between the team after the 0-8 start): “In my mind we’re not that much different. I think now we’re just executing a little bit better and I think we’re moving the ball, we always did that pretty well, but I think we’re definitely getting better defensively. I think that’s the biggest thing, defensively we’re getting better and we’re getting a lot more effort from different guys on our team.
(On game): "We played hard. We obviously could not score enough points but defensively I thought we did a heck of a job; especially in the first half but the second half not so much. In the second half we did not fold when we had a chance to. We kept fighting but we just did not have enough offensive fire power to get the job done tonight."
(On playing without starters): "To be honest I do not think you can make up for it."
(On lack of penetration): "Dribble penetration is always important. When you are playing against good teams that really pack the lane and pack the paint, you can get somebody that is a creator in there it is going to draw somebody so he is always kicking it to somebody who is open."
(On game): "I do not know why we do that to ourselves. Coach came in the locker room and gave us a few words. He told us we have to step up and play and that is the way you have to play for the entire 48. You cannot do that in spurts and expect to win at this level because it is not going to happen."
(On other playesr stepping up): "When a guy goes down it is a opportunity for another guy. The thing that I love about this team is the fact we are deep. A guy like CJ (Miles) who has not been able to play. He can really play and he got an opportunity tonight."
(On Dion Waiters absence): "There is definitely an assessment period that has go on when you insert a new guy into the starting lineup. I do not want to make any excuses. I just think we did not come out with the right focus and we did not play the way we needed to play in order to keep the game close and try to pull one out at the end."