Pistons Head Coach Stan Van Gundy:
Any indication from this morning’s practice that the guys would come out and perform the way they did?
“Actually to be honest, from this morning’s walkthrough, I would have expected us to play like we did in the first half. But somehow, just like in the Cleveland game, we turned it around and our bench turned it around in the second quarter. I thought our starters did a better job in the third. Jodie (Meeks) carried us through the second, and to me the guy who really opened the game up was Joel Anthony. With his defense, I mean four blocks in a quarter, really changed the whole thing. We got good performances from a lot of guys and a good last three quarters.”
Were you able to wear Orlando down?
“They looked a little tired, yeah absolutely.”
On Andre Drummond:
“He is such a quick jumper. He gets back up very very quickly. To have 22 rebounds and only play thirty minutes and not play the fourth is incredible. I thought he did a great job.”
On Jodie Meeks’ game:
“Come on now, nobody is going to play like that very often. That second quarter was incredible. But Jodie can score; there is no question about it. But he is not going to do that very often.”
On giving Jodie Meeks the ball:
“Everybody wanted to give him the ball, absolutely no question about that. We are playing better as a team. Offensively we’ve gotten a lot better, still wasn’t happy with our defense in the first half and again like he said they (Orlando Magic) got a little bit tired which helped us defensively in the second half. But I will tell you I’m not going to feel sorry for anybody because we play more back-to-backs than anybody in the league, us and Charlotte. So we get caught in it, we will be that team with four and five; it’s the schedule; it’s the way it plays. Certainly was a factor tonight but I don’t know if it was a 25-point factor.”
Comparing the Pistons to the first team he has ever coached:
“I don’t know, we’ve got so far to go. But look, we have played three really good games. Our spirit in there is outstanding. The test of that will be, you are going to go through hard times with this group. Right now it’s all been, they have had three days of practice right before Christmas, did a great job, they were all excited, they have had three good games and everyone is excited but we’ll see how we respond when we get knocked in the mouth again because it will happen.”
JODIE MEEKS: “I think I am just getting my legs back. As a team we are playing with a lot better ball movement. Everybody is excited. The bench is excited for one another so I think that is the biggest difference. Winning is definitely fun. We are having a good time.”
“I think when I hit one, I feel like I am hot. Nah, I think I hit a couple shots that I knocked down, tried to hit another one and it went in…We did a good job of moving the ball. Everybody shot a pretty good percentage tonight so I just took what was open. Tonight it was me, but the next night it could be Jonas or Pope or Brandon or whoever. You just try to go by committee.”
(on strong performance by Joel Anthony after multiple DNP-CD’s) “That is hard to do. He is a true professional. He always says he is ready…he lifts everyday…works hard. So we appreciate he professionalism. He comes in and helps us whenever his number is called.”
(on whether he was aware he was one 3FGM short of tying team record) “I wasn’t, but I wish I would have knocked it down now. It was a good game and I felt pretty good out there so I have to keep it rolling.”
(on bench production tonight) “We are playing well. We just have to go into the New Year with the same attitude and that is doing it by committee and sharing the ball. I think not only the bench, but our whole team doesn’t really carry scorers we just try to feed the open man and play the right way.”
(on why ball movement has been better during to recent 3 game winning streak) “It is a lot of things. Maybe roles were expanded? Maybe we just finally clicked? This is how the offense is supposed to be run. Maybe we had success one game and now we want to do it. We are playing well right now and that is all I care about.”
“I just try to bring some energy regardless if I am scoring or playing well that particular night. I try to liven the bench up and cheer for my teammates and do the little things. Whether that helps or not, I don’t know but we are winning games now so that is all I care about.”
“Well we don’t feel like an 8-23 team that is for sure. We just have to keep working day by day. We are still in the hole. We play some pretty good teams coming up but play the right way and see what happens.”
“It is one of those days. As a shooter you love for that to happen. I wish I would have been 11 for 11but it is pretty close to it. It was a fun night…not only for myself, but for the whole team.”
GREG MONROE: “We are just trying to support our teammates just like they support us. Everybody is in this together. Everybody is happy right now because we are winning. We are just trying to have fun but stay focused at the same time.”
“We just need to continue to do what we are doing…coming in everyday, working hard in practice, and carrying it over into games. Just continue to rely on our defense and move the ball on offense.”
“He (Joel Anthony) is definitely somebody who comes in everyday and prepares himself. Nobody is surprised what he is doing. We see him on a daily basis putting in the work so when he comes into the games, he is ready because of his preparation.”
Magic Head Coach Jacque Vaughn:
How much of this loss do you pin on fatigue playing four games in five nights and how much do you pin on the Pistons just out-hustling?: “I’m not sure. I give them credit for making shots and playing hard and being ready to play tonight. I think overall four in five nights was tough on our guys tonight. I’ve said it before, we need production from our guys every single night to give ourselves a chance to win.”
You know against that front line you’ve got to be tough, keep them off the boards, but was it disappointing in the third quarter when they got 18 of the first 22 rebounds?: “Like I said you give them a tremendous amount of credit for coming into the game and trying to establish themselves at the rim and by doing that that provided opportunities to shoot the three ball.”
The play of your guards, the turnovers, is it disrupting the offensive flow, taking some of the spirit out of that?: “I think we showed some fight. I think we cut it to ten and had a possession to get a rebound and didn’t get a rebound. I’m not sure if our spirit is zapped, I’m not going that far, but I will say they made shots and there’s a maturity level that we’re going to get to, and being able to produce four out of five nights and being able to be called upon and have whatever energy it takes you have to muster. We’ll get there. We’ll learn how to do it.”
Talking about maturity level, you would think that means a team plays better at home than on the road, but with you all (the Magic) it’s just the opposite. Do you have any explanation for that?: “I guess we could come up with a bunch of hypothesis but I don’t have any concrete evidence of why we’re playing better on the road. Same guys are playing and we’ll figure it out.”
What are your initial thoughts on why Jodie Meeks got as open as he did?: “He made shots, give him credit for that. Their ability for Drummond to roll and put pressure on the rim, pretty simple, easy play the entire league runs. He made shots.”
You played four games in five nights, that’s about as hard as it gets in the league. How do you learn to play through that? Is it just a mind over matter type of thing?: “No, it’s a little bit more than that, it’s also what can you do to ask your body to produce. Ask the guys to examine what they did after the game last night, their preparation today. All that goes into being better next time we have four in five.”
Tobias Harris
On Detroit’s rebounding:
“Yeah, they had a more tougher game than us. They got on the boards early. They just didn’t stop and we didn’t respond to them and their physicality.”
On the Magic playing four games in five nights affecting their performance:
“None of it. None of it, it’s not an excuse. When you get out there and you play a game, no matter how many games you play, you’re out there on the floor. They’re on the road, they traveled to the game. There’s not an excuse.”
On Detroit’s three-point shooting:
“They shot what, thirty something points tonight? They shot the lights out tonight and it makes them even harder to guard. When those guards are rolling to the basket and we’re trying to stop them and he’s (Jodie Meeks) making three’s, it’s tough.”
On the maturity or growth needed after a strong performance:
“Yeah, you’ve got to be consistent; everybody on the team has to be consistent. Just because you win two on the road doesn’t mean a team is going to bow down at home. They guarded tonight and you’ve got to give them credit. They ran their stuff and whatever worked for them, they kept going to it. They kept getting the guys who were hot the ball; they got Jodie Meeks the ball over and over again, and they didn’t stop going to it. There were guys on the team tonight that made a lot of good plays tonight and you’ve got to give them credit.”
On the Magic playing six games in nine nights:
“I’m not somebody to make excuses. The way that I look at it is the next game we’ve got, that’s the team we’re playing. We’ve got to go into it. You just said it, six (games) in nine (nights), I didn’t even know that’s what we’ve been playing, but it’s definitely a hard stretch for this team. Tonight was a win-able game for us, but they just had more effort and they wanted it more tonight.”
Victor Oladipo
On the Magic playing four games in five nights:
“We’ve just got to learn to play those games; four games in five nights, five games in six nights. Whatever that may be, we’ve got to find a way to win. They came out scorching, they finished scorching, and Jodie Meeks is probably still scorching right now. Credit them. They played well.”
On Jodie Meeks:
“They were doing a great job of setting screens and Andre (Drummond) was doing a great job of rolling. He was doing a great job of snapping, and their guards were doing a great job of finding him. Guys like that, when he hits one, two, three, four, he’s liable to hit five more (shots). Like I said, credit them. They’re playing well right now.”