DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: (On how pleased you are on the fight of the team): “Our defense down the stretch was great and our offense at the start was great. Mainly being Reggie (Jackson) really played well. That’s probably one of the best games he’s played since he’s been in Detroit in terms of his energy, mixing his scoring, attacks, passes, you just couldn’t have a much better game than he had tonight and obviously finishing it off with the free throws, tremendous job. So he really got us going, but Ersan played really well. We got pretty balanced attack especially those five starters. Everybody played real well.”
(On what Reggie did well when he didn’t score): “Our guys did a pretty good job staying in front of him and he missed the shots he was making in the first half. There is always a little bit of both. He can get those same exact shots if we went out and played again, he’d make all three. ‘Was I pleased with our guys?’ I was, they stayed in front of him. But could he have made all of those shots? Absolutely.”
(On the atmosphere): “I mean it was a great basketball game. The first half from a fans perspective, David and I would have probably liked to see more defense from our teams, but from a fans perspective first half was really good basketball. Well played by both teams in the whole thing and then it turned out into a grinded stretch, it was a great basketball game to watch. We’ve got great fans here who appreciate really good basketball. They know what they’re watching, which isn’t the case everywhere. And they knew the effort we were putting in and everything else, and they got behind us. It was great.”
DETROIT PISTONS GUARD REGGIE JACKSON: (On effort to solidify the comeback): “It was a hard fought game. We knew we were getting a really good team coming into our building. We wanted to protect our house. It’s been a tough stretch these last four games for us; consecutive losses on the road. So we wanted to at most protect our house and find a way to win tonight and I think we just battled all 48 minutes and found a way to do so.”
(On Coach Van Gundy’s comments): “He said, ‘This was the best game you have played since you’ve been in Detroit.’ I’m happy that’s how he feels. I just try to be aggressive and decisive with my decisions. I still had some turnovers, five, but I knew I just had to be aggressive and play my game and really be on attack tonight.”
DETROIT PISTONS CENTER ANDRE DRUMMOND: (On Reggie Jackson’s performance): “He did a really good job of attacking the defense and making them decide whether to guard him or to guard me. He made it real tough on them tonight”
(On importance of tonight’s win):“It was a big win for us. It was a team that was just in the finals. For us to come in, fight back and grind a win out shows our fight.”
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS HEAD COACH DAVID BLATT: (On what transpired in the last quarter): “A number of things. I thought we had a stretch there where we had a chance to put the game away. We missed I think six or seven consecutive free throws which seemed to hurt our flow and we let down defensively which there’s no reason for, no excuse for.”
(On the “hack-a-Dre” and his use of it tonight against Andre Drummond): “Well, you know, Andre’s 40 percent from the line and we didn’t use it for a good part of the game. We thought perhaps we could gain a possession or two and unfortunately he made them, went three-for-four at those moments. To be fair, I said what I said last year, but I did say that we would use it if we felt it was necessary because those were the rules. It didn’t work out for us though, tonight.”
(On its typical use when teams are behind and the Cav’s choosing to use it when they were ahead): “Again it’s just the idea of being able to gain a possession or two at a critical moment. Up to that point he had not shot them very well, if you look at it statistically, but he made three-out-of-four to keep them open.”
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS FORWARD KEVIN LOVE: (On tonight’s game vs. Pistons): “Of course, a loss always is (tough to swallow). With it being two in a row, both away, we have to be a great road team. So we’re fortunate to have the next few at home, so go back in and start over.”
(On any concerns he may have): “No, I just think it’s just mentality. Obviously we hate to lose, we expect to come out and play well every game and play hard. It’s a mentality for us. We have to hit first and I think you’ll see that moving forward. LeBron’s mentioned it, the coaching staff has mentioned it, the guys have mentioned it, and we need to start becoming a better team and we will.”