STAN VAN GUNDY (HEAD COACH)
On what you told the team at halftime…
We got real technical, we said we had to try and we have to really play hard. We wrote the stuff on the board, they had 40 points in the paint, they were running behind us, they were getting everything going; fast breaks, to the rim, everything they wanted. It was all effort stuff, there was no x’s and o’s to talk about, nothing. We had to match their effort and intensity and we didn’t do that at all in the first 24 minutes, particularly the first quarter. I played 11 guys in the first quarter and I didn’t think any of them put out a very good effort. But the one thing that we’ve become good at, and I give them a lot of credit, is we stay with games. That’s one thing our guys do. Even in the Atlanta game when we were getting crushed we stay with games. We’ve gotten better closing them out and in the second half our effort was a lot, lot better.
On Brandon Jennings…
Brandon (Jennings) was unbelievable, he just put us on his back and carried us and to come up with the play at the end too was a great play, and smart too because if he gets called for a foul it’s not bad they’re out of timeouts and the whole thing they don’t get a chance to shoot a three. So it was smart, it was aggressive and it just capped off a great night for him.
JODIE MEEKS (13 points, three rebounds)
Did that fast break layup get you going? Yes, a little bit. I was struggling in the first half and before that, anything to get going. I thought as a team in the second half we got better, made them a little bit uncomfortable and got it going.
By your own admission the first half wasn’t your best half of basketball, what made you think you could make that three- pointer late in the game?
You always have to have confidence. The shot clock was winding down and I knew we had to get a shot up. No matter how many I miss, one, nine I am going to shoot with confidence and hope that it goes in.
Did the way Brandon Jennings played in the third quarter give the team confidence you could win?
Yes, he played great tonight and came out on fire in the third quarter. He kind of got us going and we had a good third quarter too. In the fourth quarter we just kept it going and got the key stops down the stretch.
BRANDON JENNINGS (34 points, 10 assists)
Thoughts on your play in the third quarter…
Just because of the sluggish start in the first half, we were definitely struggling. I think we were down 60-48 and I just wanted to come out aggressive in the third quarter and see where it takes us.
Thoughts on going up against Kyle Lowry…
Kyle Lowry is definitely going to be an All-Star this season. He has been playing like it since the season began. My thing was just to attack him because he can get it going and once he gets it going it is hard to stop him. My game plan was just to attack him on the pick and roll.
At the end of the game was there ever any thought to foul before they could get off a three?
Yes, that was definitely the game plan to foul. The main thing was I was going to try and steal it first, see if I could get a steal and once I got my hands on it I just went for the steal.
DWANE CASEY (HEAD COACH)
Thoughts on turnovers and second chance points…
We shot ourselves in the foot. For whatever reason we had the break going, we had our pace going, but we were forcing a lot of passes. When you commit that many turnovers against a good team like that, you shoot yourself in the foot and that’s what we did tonight, that’s all on us. We didn’t get them off the boards. I thought we played good initial defence, holding them to 43 per cent and 33 per cent from the three but we gave it right back to them in second chance points and turnovers.
Is it a lack of attention to detail and carelessness that creeps in?
We took some tough shots in tough situations. But again, their defence I thought was solid. Their bigs were going with our bigs, rolling with our bigs, either by getting to the rim or with the drop off pass. That caused some of our turnovers, but again we’ve seen that before and again it’s uncharacteristic for us to throw it away and cough it up.
Thoughts on Jonas’ (Valanciunas) career night…
Great night. We kept getting it to him in the paint and he did an excellent job of scoring. I can’t speak enough of how well he played. We would much rather it be in a win but he played big against two very good interior players.
JONAS VALANCIUNAS (31 points, 12 rebounds)
Thoughts on the game...
I feel pretty bad because we lost. It was a tough game. We had them but they found a way to score and to stop us.
Thoughts on the play of the Detroit Pistons since the last meeting...
They run the floor and they are better on defence. They found a way to be better.
KYLE LOWRY (10 points, 12 assists)
Thoughts on turnovers and second chance points...
It was definitely us tonight. We turned the ball over way too much and gave them second chance points. They got to the free throw line a lot tonight.
Thoughts on the play of Brandon Jennings...
He gets hot when he gets going and we've all seen it before. He just played extremely well tonight.
Thoughts on the scramble play with time running down on the shot clock and the Jodie Meeks three-pointer...
It was the backbreaker. Everyone commits to the ball they got it out and he made a tough shot.
Thoughts on the play of Jonas Valanciunas...
It was just everything. He's just confident in his game, he got good positioning and he was in the right spot at times.