Detroit Pistons Head Coach Stan Van Gundy
(What was the key to never trailing while winning your seventh straight)
“I thought in the first half, quite honestly, I thought we got lucky. They missed some great open looks. I thought our defense in the second half was much better. They (Dallas) are very difficult to stop and they still had some shots they could have made but I thought our defense was a lot better. Then Greg (Monroe) and D.J. (Augustin) just carried our offense and we made some threes again. So a good night all around and then the other thing is, obviously, we dominated on the glass. Andre (Drummond) didn’t have a great night all around but he gets 19 rebounds and you don’t even notice. So him with 19 and Greg (Monroe) with 18 and we dominated on the boards, I thought that was huge.”
(What was it like watching D.J. (Augustin) after picking up the technical and then making back to back threes)
“He played great last night and all you guys were ready to kill me if we had lost last night, for taking him out of the game, which probably I would have deserved. But one of the things I really liked tonight is we finished with almost an entirely different group than we finished with last night. At one point with 4:40 to go I turned to my assistants on the bench, I said, ‘Do we want any subs?’ And I had Brandon (Jennings) and Andre (Drummond) standing up going, ‘Hell no!’ You know this group is rocking. So that’s what we’ve got right now attitude wise it’s different people every night and nobody seems very concerned about it, they just want to try and win games.”
(On bench play in general)
“No I thought again, I mean everybody we put in makes a contribution and that’s why we are playing well right now.”
(What’s turned this thing around for you? Seven game winning streak, the longest in the last six years.)
“Well, we’ve gotten better on both ends of the floor. The ball is going in the basket that helps quite a bit when the ball goes in. It not only helps obviously for the reason that the ball goes in and you score a point, but I think it gets your energy up when things are going well. We’ve also defended a lot better. Also our group, I don’t know why, but started Dec. 22 we had three days of practice and from then on it’s just been different. Guys have worked harder, they’ve been more attentive. A lot more together and again we don’t have guys that are getting concerned about who’s in the game or their playing time, or their shots, or anything else. They just want to win games. So you have guys, four guys that were in the game in a great win last night sitting on the bench on the sideline tonight and loving every minute of it. You know Greg Monroe didn’t get in the game last night in the fourth quarter. Tonight Andre (Drummond) doesn’t get in, in the fourth quarter there at the end of the game. Brandon (Jennings) doesn’t get back in, KCP doesn’t get back in and guys are into the game.
Pistons C Greg Monroe
(On keeping the winning streak alive)
“It feels good. Any win feels good. (Dallas is) another very good team. We just have to keep it going.”
(On taking control of the game early)
“We just wanted to come out and control the game and the pace. In the first half, we had a few turnovers, but we never lost focus.”
(On DJ Augustin’s play in the fourth quarter)
“It was fun. I’m happy to see him get hot. That’s the thing about this team. It doesn’t matter who it is. Each night we get somebody different (to step up). Tonight, he just stepped up.”
(On different guys stepping up to contribute each night)
“Like I said, on any given night it can be anyone. We’re in this together. It doesn’t matter who it is. We just want to win at this point. It doesn’t matter who it is. We just want to win.”
Pistons G DJ Augustin
(On his aggressiveness in the fourth quarter tonight)
“I have just been trying to be aggressive these last few games. I’ve been attacking and looking for my own shot. Things just opened up for me tonight.”
(On different players stepping up in games)
“We don’t have a one-man team. We have different guys that can contribute every night. It’s fun when we’re playing together like this and we’re winning.”
(On being worried about a let-down game after last night’s win)
“We enjoyed last night’s win, but we talked about it and we understood that we were coming to play a very good team tonight and last night was over with. Now we can enjoy another good win and get ready for Atlanta.”
(On different guys stepping up to contribute each night)
“Like I said, on any given night it can be anyone. We’re in this together. It doesn’t matter who it is. We just want to win at this point. It doesn’t matter who it is. We just want to win.”
Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle
(On tonight’s performance)
“We made a few runs, but we never got enough traction. We got beat in every single quarter and were able to tie one quarter. Really, essentially, it was a wipeout. Start to finish, they just outplayed us. It’s no accident that they’re on a seven-game winning streak and they’re beating some good teams. They’re playing at a high level, and tonight, they were just better.”
(On Detroit’s rebounding edge)
“The rebounding problem caught up with us tonight in a big way because we turned it over quite a bit and our shot-making wasn’t great. When you can’t mitigate a rebounding deficit with those two things in your favor, then it’s going to be tough. I give Detroit a lot of credit. We just weren’t good enough tonight.”
(On the energy level of the Mavs)
“I’ve got to look at the film before I give you that answer. I thought at the beginning, we just got off to a slow start. We just never had enough of a hit-first disposition. We made runs and we got close a few times, but we could never sustain. They would get more aggressive during those stretches and they’d hold us off. Right now, they’re one of the best basketball teams in the NBA just with the way that they’re playing together and how hard and the kind of energy they’re playing with. You’ve got to admire what they’re doing. Right now, we’ve got a little practice time, and we’ve got to get back to doing things better ourselves.”