Detroit: Lawrence Frank | Brandon Knight | Greg Monroe
Washington: Randy Wittman | John Wall | Trevor Ariza
(On the game): “First and foremost the start of the third quarter was tremendous for us. We stepped up our intensity defensively and executed our plays on offense. Jose Calderon was truly a floor general tonight he controlled the game. It was a team effort, Brandon Knight and Greg Monroe got up their shots; Jason Maxiell was a force on defense. Overall just a great win for the ball club. Obviously there was a downfall in the fourth, and we will correct those issues. Sometimes it takes a struggle to get a win and tonight it was, but we got it done. This team is maturing and the effort is there, we just have to continue to play with this winning formula and go from there.”
(On the play of Jose Calderon): “He was great for us tonight from start to finish. Jose gave me 36 strong minutes and I felt like I played him 30 seconds too long. Him finishing the game with 18 assists is just outstanding, he controlled the whole game. He got our guys easy baskets and delivered the ball exactly at the right time. He will continue to get better because he is still learning our guys.”
(On the Wizards): “We had to stop them in transition first and foremost .When John Wall gets up and down the floor that team is tough to beat. We had to realize one man just can’t stop him from penetrating, we had to build a wall defensively. Forcing turnovers and contesting their shots was the main key to our success against the Washington Wizards.”
(On what contributed to the win): “I think the biggest thing for us was just playing with energy. That’s what I saw sitting on the side for the past three games. I like to fight so for me it wasn’t about making shots. It was about coming in and trying to make sure that we played Pistons basketball.”
(On the team performance): “Tonight wasn’t one of better defensive games individually. I did all right for my first game back. But I always want to be better. I think we did a better job defensively but even in the fourth quarter we didn’t get the stops we needed to keep the game spaced out. Overall it was better improvement from the past three games.”
(On the Wizards performance): “They are an NBA team. They have been playing well as of lately and haven’t been losing at home and also have been beating some tough teams. Since John Wall has come back and since they have had all their players return, they are at the top of the pedestal as far as how they have been playing. With the way they have been playing they can be one of the top teams in the NBA.”
(On the game): “I think this was a great win for us tonight. Getting a fourth win against any team in one season is a great thing. The effort from my teammates and I was something I would like to see each and every game. This game was very close at the end, but every team runs into scares no matter who you are. I am more impressed with the fact that we were able to remain composed and pull out the win.”
(On the guard play): “The backcourt was great tonight; Brandon Knight and Jose Calderon really did their thing tonight. Jose really distributed the ball and got all of us going. Brandon put the ball in the basket, and when he and I are both going offensively we are a tough team to beat. It’s great to have Brandon back and that type of offensive production.”
(On the last play of the game): “I couldn’t see, I was blocked by the referee. I couldn’t tell. Beat the guy up top and I don’t know if the ball got deflected or hit. It looked like it took a weird path over to Martell (Webster) or in between Martell and Trevor (Ariza). I haven’t seen it yet so I don’t really know.”
(On Trevor Ariza late in the game): “He did just about all he could do. We went small and tried to spread the floor. Got some turnovers, got some stops, pushed the ball up and made some shots and Trevor was doing a lot of that.”
(On the game): “Tonight, we got what we deserved. We didn’t’ deserve to win that game. We were more caught up in ourselves as individuals than the team tonight. That’s the bottom line…That’s what this thing boiled down to, it didn’t boil down to the last shot.”
(On John Wall’s recent struggles): “He is going through a rough stretch. As I talked before the game, whether it’s a game, a stretch, two weeks, a week, 10 days, you got to fight through it. You can’t succumb to it. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. Not only John, but we feel sorry for ourselves sometimes instead of fighting through it. The game can easily change, as we saw tonight, by staying involved and staying and fighting through tough times. We don’t always do that and tonight we didn’t do that.”
(On his game tonight): “Just not making shots - that’s all I can say.”
(On talking to Jose Calderon after the game): “(He) said I’m a talented player, (to) just keep playing. And go forward with that.”
(On his health): “No health (problems) at all. Just trying to play basketball and do my best to help my team win.”
(On his four early turnovers): “I think those were great passes. Some of my teammates aren’t catching them, some of them got tipped away. Just got to deal with it.”
(On the loss): “We didn’t play as a team like we usually do. That always happens when we play this team, that’s why we always get ourselves behind.”
(On the near comeback): “We were fighting. Clawing to get back in the game. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game. We let this one slip through our hands.”
(On John Wall): “He’s a player that’s learning how to play the game still. He’s still young. He’s still trying to improve and step up to his leadership role. There are going to be nights when he doesn’t play his best, but he’s still learning. He’s still the point guard of this team and he’s going to get better.”
(On the team defense): “We didn’t do what we needed to do tonight. Stuff that we’ve been doing that’s been working for us lately, we didn’t do. We gave up a lot of points in transition. As of late, we have not been playing like that. If we want to get wins we’ve got to do a lot better job defensively, transitionally.”