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Postgame Quotes - January 21, 2017

DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY:  (On fortunate win): “The game is 48 minutes and everybody gets into those things. They’ll get more credit for coming back from a 16-point lead then we will for winning the game, which that’s fine, that’s just the way it goes. It’s all about wins, we got one and let’s just keep getting 16-point leads.” 

(On emotional victory): “It’s just one more in the left hand column. I say this to you guys all the time, ‘Statement games, emotional wins, it’s a win, it is one game.’ I have been at this too long. That’s all it is, one game. It’s either one win or one loss, that’s all it is and it moves you onto the next game.”

 (On losing the lead): “I was just really happy with how hard we fought. I thought our energy was good, I thought we played really hard. It’s really hard to win a game where you turn the ball over 20 times and send a team to the line 33 times. It’s very difficult to win a game doing those two things. There are some things we didn’t do very well, but the positive part is that it’s really hard to win like that. Our guys really fought hard, we had a ton of foul trouble, which really got us caught in the fourth quarter. That is where the lead started to disappear because I had Marcus (Morris) and Tobias (Harris) both on the bench because Andre (Drummond) and Aron’s (Baynes) foul trouble forced us to play Jon (Leuer) with the two forwards. Then we had foul trouble with (Reggie) Bullock. We just had so much foul trouble that we got caught with lineups that weren’t ideal for us out there. Our guys just fought through. We couldn’t get a stop for a long time in the fourth quarter, and then the last play of the game was a great defensive possession and a rebound. We kept the ball out on the floor, we had trouble again getting the shot, but Marcus stayed in there and fought. I thought our guys fought really hard and that’s the positive in the game. We’ll move on from there.” 

DETROIT PISTONS GUARD REGGIE JACKSON: (On last shot): “I knew he had a chance once he went up for it, I just hoped it went in.  I saw there was a lot of time left, so it was just a matter if the ball went in or not.  He (Marcus Morris) left the floor with like 1.5 seconds left, and that’s a whole lot of time.” 

(On game): “It was a nice, solid win.  It was a tough win for us…We went out here and just found a way to battle, and demand each and every play and just came out with a win.” 

DETROIT PISTONS FORWARD MARCUS MORRIS:  (On last shot): “I just stayed basically on my side and stayed with it and crashed the glass.  I happened to be in a good spot.  I actually didn’t (know it was off in time), which is initially why I didn’t celebrate. I grabbed him (Markieff Morris) and put my hand on his shoulder.  I got him back because he blocked my shot the play before that.  I knew that was him.  You can’t make that call at the end of the game.” 

(On game):  “They’ve been a great team for the past couple weeks and they’re playing really well.  They are going to go on their runs and they’ve got great players over there and it happens.  We can learn from it, get better from it, but we got the win.” 

WASHINGTON WIZARDS HEAD COACH SCOTT BROOKS: (On final seconds): “Give our guys a lot of credit. We were down throughout the game, other than the first three or four minutes, 16 and didn’t seem like anything was going to go our way. Our guys on the bench came in and did a great job. Trey (Burke), this would have been the shot of the game, when we were down 16 at that time, he hit a corner three on their best side, cut it to 13 and that gave us some hope. We just competed, we battled and we fought. One rebound short of winning that game. We give them credit. They made the play at the end of the game to win it.” 

(On Bradley Beal’s 3-point slump): “He’s got some bumps and bruises tonight. Both sides competed. Every player in this league is going to go through some shooting slumps and hopefully he can get out of it next game. He’s getting good looks. They’re not falling for him right now but I’ve been around Brad for four, five, six months now. He’s diligent in his work. He gets his shots in. He doesn’t change his routine. That’s the best way to get out some missed shots. He’s getting good looks. He just has to keep believing in himself because I do and his teammates do.”

 WASHINGTON WIZARDS FORWARD MARKIEFF MORRIS: (On final perspective): “I should have blocked it; good shot. Tough loss for us but you bounce back. Charlotte Monday so you’ve just got to move on.”

 (On comeback): “It was a great effort. It’s tough for us. It’s hard to beat somebody when they score that many points. The first three quarters, they score 30-plus every quarter. It’s tough to beat somebody when they’re doing that. With that being said, that shot going in and the end, got a lucky bounce, a lucky tip-in.”