Postgame Quotes - March 3, 2014

(On team effort): “I told them in the locker room it was pretty hard to specify who had a good game because I thought everybody who played had a good game. I thought we did a great job on Melo (Carmelo Anthony). Of course Andre (Drummond), every rebound that came near him, he found a way to corral and get it. It starts there. It was a total team effort and that’s what I told the guys. They were a pleasure to coach tonight.”

(On Andre Drummond): “Honestly I don’t even really look at a stat sheet that much during the game but you can kind of tell by Andre’s mannerisms. His energy was high the entire night. I thought he ran the floor tremendously. They put him in a lot of pick-and-roll and his pick-and-roll coverage was exactly what we had worked on. He was really in the stance I thought tonight; challenged shots around the goal. We always talk about rebounding outside your area. He went and got some rebounds outside his area. Anybody who can get 26 rebounds in a game, that’s a heck of a job.”

(On defense and offense): “Defensively we definitely stepped it up; we had to stop them in transition. Offensively we were getting good looks. We just kept on grinding, kept on working and eventually it started to fall for us and defensively we played excellent tonight.”

(On playing with heart): “I thought we responded well. I pride myself on playing like that every night so it’s kind of what I do. We definitely need to play like that more as a team; everybody needs to play with that type of heart and tenacity.”

(On winning): “We didn’t do a whole lot of gambling. We were able to come up with some stops in a row and we were able to get out on a break and be able to get some of these buckets.”

(On the second half): “I think we responded well, coming off two disappointing losses in Texas. We struggled at first, overall, and then in the second half we kind of buckled down. We made them call the first timeout. We were playing with a little enthusiasm and with a purpose.”

(On Game): "I thought our defense was pretty solid early. We went kind of flat in that third quarter. Tonight when we finally found some defense, we could not find offense. Raymond (Felton) did not shoot it well, J.R. did not shoot it well, Timmy (Hardaway), nor Iman (Shumpert)."

(On Andre Drummond): "He (Andre Drummond) played great. That is what he has done for this team all season. He is a young talent that I think is going to get better as the years come and go."

(On losing the lead after the first quarter): "They (Pistons) did a good job of getting stops. They ran the floor and they did a good job of getting offensive rebounds, which led to second-chance points. We weren't competitive enough on the boards. Offensively, we got action but couldn't capitalize. Guys got open shots, but just couldn't make them."

(On Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum): "They penetrate real well and they do a good job of getting into the paint. They make plays for the bigs, as well as for themselves and they both hit some big shots tonight."