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Postgame Quotes - March 4, 2015

 

Pistons Head Coach Stan Van Gundy:

 On the game overall: “I thought we fought really hard.  I have no problem with that.  I told them (Detroit Pistons) after the game, I don’t think there was a stretch in that game where we didn’t play hard.  Not one stretch in that game where we didn’t play hard.  I don’t even remember plays where we didn’t play hard.  I thought our guys really, really battled, but the same old things coming back, too many turnovers.  We gave up 52 points in the paint, which we just continue to do, even with all of our size, we just give up points in the paint all the time and we give them (New Orleans Pelicans) 15 offensive rebounds.  It’s the same stuff and we’ve got to change it.  We just couldn’t finish anything inside.  Anthony Davis not only blocked eight shots, but they intimated the heck out of us.  We threw up probably seven or eight double-pump, just absolute shots that had no chance to go in.  So, disappointing night, but I thought we battled.”

On the struggling offense: “We didn’t get that many open shots.  We got the ball inside a lot.  We drove the ball.  We took tough shots.  They blocked shots and we’re not making any three’s.  Jodie (Meeks) made one and (Anthony) Tolliver made one and that’s it.  So, offensively right now, it’s just a real struggle, but when you turn it over 19 times, you’re taking away a lot of possessions that, you know, cut that down to twelve turnovers and you’ve got another six points, even at the percentage that we were shooting.  We didn’t go strong enough inside.  We didn’t draw any fouls.  We got to the line nine times on 53 shots in the paint.  Usually, you get that many shots, you’re going to go to the line more than that, but we didn’t.”

 Pistons Forward Anthony Tolliver:

 On Anthony Davis: “He had one of the most well-rounded games I have ever seen, defensively, offensively, hitting shots, (and) effecting the game in multiple ways. He is a special player. We didn’t make the adjustments that we maybe should have as players, and (it) allowed him to continue to stay in his rhythm. Hopefully, we learn from this experience and move on.”

 On the loss: “They (Pelicans) did a good job on defense. They blocked a lot of shots and checked in the paint. We played good defense as well. It wasn’t like they scored a lot of points (individually). Obviously, (Anthony) Davis scored a lot, but as a team they didn’t score a lot. For the most part, we did pretty well collectively on defense, but we just have to figure out ways to get some easier shots, especially down the stretch, and execute better.”

 Pistons Forward Greg Monroe:

 On trying to be aggressive while playing against Anthony Davis: “You want to make the game as tough as possible for somebody of that talent. You want to attack and make him work on defense. Also, you have to find a way to slow him down. He is a great player. You have to find ways to slow those (kind of) guys down.”

 Pelicans Head Coach Monty Williams:

On another gritty win: “Yes, we won a tough game against a team that is a lot better than their record and improving. They could make the playoffs in the Eastern conference. We just fought all night long. We didn’t have great juice to start the game. You look at the numbers and A.D. (Anthony Davis) has 39 and 13 and eight, which is unreal in his first game back. Tyreke (Evans) has 21 and nine, but I thought Norris (Cole) and Dante (Cunningham) came into the game and sort of jacked our juice up. From that point on, we started playing better defense and we had better energy on offense and were able to win a tough game.”

 On being worried about not being able to recover from the rough start: “I wasn’t so much worried about the game as a whole, I was worried about how we were playing. We weren’t making shots, we were giving up transition buckets. I think they had 19 fast break points in the first half so I felt like if we took that out and kept them off the glass, which we were able to do a decent job early. They ended up with 16 offensive rebounds which is what you don’t want, but there they had three so that is why they had some extra possessions. I was concerned about how we were playing early, but once we got our energy it started to feel more like our game.”

Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis:

On how it feels to be back on the court: “It feels great. I don’t feel a thing. I’m just happy to be back on the floor. I told coach ‘Don’t take me out of the game.’ I had so much energy tonight. I loved being back on the floor with my teammates. It was a tough game with Detroit, they’re a great team battling for the eight spot (in the Eastern Conference playoffs), as well, so we knew it was going to be a physical game and we all stepped up tonight.”

 On the playoff push moving forward: “We know what position we’re in. We know that we’re battling for the eighth spot, we’re fighting. All of these guys have a lot of heart to come in and make shots and make plays for one another. It’s so fun. It starts with me as the leader of the team to make sure that I have to do whatever it takes to get this team going.”

 Pelicans Center Alexis Ajinca: 

On having Anthony Davis back in the lineup: “The game is a little bit easier sometimes when he’s just doing stuff like that, he’s unstoppable when he plays like that. We just enjoy having him back.”

 On the recent breakthrough in his game: “I’m trying to bring anything I have to the team. Especially because first we had A.D. (Anthony Davis) and Ryan (Anderson) be out so I had to step up and play big time minutes, and I had to do some different (things). It went well, so now I’m going to go and keep it this way and hopefully I will keep having some good minutes.”