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Postgame Quotes - February 10, 2016

DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY:  (On lack of players): “No, we just didn’t do our job. We didn’t play well. We turned the ball over, didn’t run back on defense a couple of times. Didn’t defend hard enough. Had nothing to do with guys being sick or out.” (On pointing out a defense/play hard message in the second half of the season): “They know what the message is, they understand it. We will see if they do it or not.” DETROIT PISTONS GUARD STEVE BLAKE: (On game): “You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. Will Barton was very aggressive and making a lot of shots. They got one too many offensive rebounds and the turnovers, too, on our part. A lot of things we could’ve cleaned up, but you have to give them a lot of credit for forcing those things and playing well.” (On challenges of new lineups): “It shouldn’t be too much of an issue for us. We’ve been playing together for a while now. I think we did some really good things. You saw the ball moving at times; it was just the little details. Turnover’s here, offensive rebounds there and that kind of kills our run.” (On the outlook for the second half of the season): “I feel pretty positive on our outlook. We have a pretty good group of guys who are willing to work hard every day in practice and we’ve seen some signs of improvement, but we do have to get better. We have to buckle down, pay attention to some detail things that are going to take us to the next the level. I think coach will get us in the right position to do that and help us make a strong push down the stretch.” DENVER NUGGETS HEAD COACH MIKE MALONE:  (On the impressions of the win and if it was a nice way to answer Brooklyn and finish out before all-star break): “Yeah, I’m obviously very happy that we were able to close it out.  Second half, I thought our defense was terrific, we took care of the basketball.  I think (Will) Barton and (Jusuf) Nurkic came off the bench were phenomenal—made big, big plays.  That’s the best Nurkic has played since he came back, and that’s why we left him in there. Offensively and defensively, he was outstanding.  We kept them to only seven free throw attempts; only four turnovers in the second half. So to your point, Chris, tough loss to Brooklyn, we didn’t play well and we win this game…So we go 4-2 in our last six going into the break, which is terrific.  Hopefully, our guys have a safe break and we can build on it in the final 28 games.” (On what this road win means): “Well, I think somebody told me that this was our 11th road win in the season, which is what we matched last year total for the season.  So, the fact that we were able to come to New York and come to Detroit with a lot of distractions, a lot of guys are thinking about where they’re going on vacation.  Our second quarter was really bad tonight, but I apologized to the team.  The first half, I coached pretty angry and I don’t know if you guys heard, Monty Williams, a good friend of mine, his wife was killed in an accident.  So I apologized to them because it’s taking my anger out on them and they don’t deserve that.” (On why Nurkic was so aggressive): “He was very aggressive, he was 8-of-12 from the field, rebounds had a couple of blocks and plays at the rim.  He’s a physical, young man—very strong, doesn’t shy away from contact and as he gets in better shape and slows down in the post and the paint, he becomes much more efficient and then to go 8-of-12 from the field, that’s phenomenal for him.  So happy for him…it has not been easy.  Coming back from injury when you’ve had a great rookie season, and you see all these other young bigs playing well, I give him credit because he comes and worked very hard.  He’s getting back in shape and tonight was a great result of all that hard work.” DENVER NUGGETS GUARD EMMANUEL MUDIAY: (On tonight’s win): “It was huge we had a little goal set up to go 4-2 before the All-Star break. That’s what we did we reached it, but we can’t worry about that we always have to move on.” (On importance of getting a win before the All-Star break): “It’s real good. We have momentum going in. I think a lot of us are starting to buy in.” (On Will Barton’s performance): He’s been playing real good. He’s been playing real good basketball . We know what Will can do.  He’s finally getting an opportunity to show what he can do and that’s really been the key for him.”

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