Postgame Quotes - December 4, 2013

(On the back to back wins on the road…) “It feels really good. I think we are playing good basketball. We are getting a lot of good performance out of a lot of people. The first half was a little sluggish. Actually it seemed like both teams were a bit sluggish and a little slow from the travel and the whole day. The second half we picked up and got our defense going. We got out on the court and made plays.”

(On going on a 16-0 run in the third quarter…) “Number one, we were defending and rebounding. I think that was the key coming out at halftime. We talked about getting multiple stops, and once we got multiple stops we could push the ball up a little bit. The Bucks like to play zone, so if we can get the ball up early and get some early posts and get the ball inside… Really that’s what we have been doing all year, getting the ball inside.

(On calling an early timeout in the third quarter…) “I mean I didn’t curse at them or anything like that. I just didn’t like that in the first minute the Bucks got a layup. That is something we talked about, getting ourselves back on transition and eliminating the easy baskets. Then in the first minute or so they got an easy basket and I didn’t like the way that happened. Then right after that we went on a little run.”

(On returning to Milwaukee…) “I was real nervous. I mean, to be honest, I was real nervous in the beginning because I’m not used to being on this side. It was a lot of emotions going on, but once the second half started, I was able to settle down and just play basketball.”

(On Pistons frontcourt…) “[Andre] Drummond played big. Greg Monroe played big. I mean, I was telling Greg [Monroe], there was one point where I was looking at all three of them crashing the boards and I was like ‘wow!’ That’s a scary site down there. Those guys played big tonight. They came in here and did a great job. They took a lot of heat off me.”

(On the team’s frontcourt dominance…) “We are really starting to gel. We’re starting to find ourselves and find an identity for ourselves. First half was tough for us. We felt fatigue a little bit. We had a long night before…but we can’t let that be an excuse for us. We came out the next half and we played like we’re supposed to play. We clicked on all cylinders.”

(On tonight’s loss…) “We were going into this game really concerned about our matchups. With both Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, and Josh Smith at the three, we just felt they were too big. We would have to mix our defenses up and hopefully be able to rebound out of them. I thought the first half, particularly the guys that came in off the bench, did a really good job. The starters didn’t have a lot in the tank at the very beginning and I sensed it, therefore I went with the bench midway to late in the first quarter. I rode those guys the rest of the half because I thought they did provide some energy for us.”

(On the team’s offense…) “When you talk about offense it can be a combination of things. Yes, we’ve had injuries, but I don’t think we should use that as an excuse. When you talk about being a good offensive team it starts with execution. At this stage, we can’t continue to use an excuse of the injuries. We’re at a point now where guys have been around long enough to where they should be able to go out and execute with pace.”

(On the team’s recent struggles…) “It’s one of those things where we’re going through a rough stretch. All you can do is keep playing and hope for it to turn around. We kind of have to play a solid game all four quarters, can’t really make any mistakes to win games. Injuries, stuff like that, it happens. That’s how it is, man.”

(On Brandon Jennings returning to Milwaukee…) “Just another player. He was here, he was a good teammate, now he’s with another team. We’re going to compete, and it is what it is.”

(On Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe…) “They were just on the boards all night. It was tough for us. That’s kind of what they do. They’ve got a lot of size, and they used it to their advantage tonight.”

(On having a difficult third quarter…) “That’s been the case all season. We’ll have a stretch where we’re playing great basketball, then we’ll have a stretch where we sub or something will happen, [and] we lose that intensity we had. That’s part of being professional. You’ve got to be able to, no matter who’s in the game, to have that same intensity, that same fire, and keep it going.”

(On trying to overcome the recent struggles...) “As a unit, we’ve got to be better. For an NBA team there’s a lot that goes into it when you put teams together. It’s a whole entire new group. There are a lot of struggles, but for us as professionals, we’ve got to make sure we’re taking steps in the right direction each and every night, just being confident to know that eventually it’ll turn around for the best. There are a lot of variables that go into this NBA business – injuries, new faces, new coaching staff – all trying to get a feel for one another.”