DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: (On the third quarter): “Yeah I thought we were a lot better in the third quarter. It was just a game that we had to grind out. I mean we weren’t at our best first half, we didn’t play at a high energy level. Our guys wanted to win. The thing is they fought really, really hard. Look Sacramento played extremely well. We had a hard, hard time stopping them especially their starters. They were 27-for-41. They shot almost 70% against us. Their starters, they haven’t been making shots. Their ball movement and the way they played is a lot of the way we want to play and their energy level was really high. I thought they played a really good game.”
(On Andre Drummond): “He played well again. I thought he played really well. We had to go a lot of minutes with him on the second night of a back-to-back, but I thought he did a really good job.”
(On getting to the free throw line): “A little bit better, still something we have to work on being able to go the basket, finish, get to the line. We have to be a little better there. I mean really what got us going offensively was our three-point shooting.”
DETROIT PISTONS FORWARD TOBIAS HARRIS: (On what stood out to him most in tonight’s game): “Just being able to get a lead and be able to hold it. It wasn’t our best game, a lot of mistakes along the defensive end, but something we can get better at. Grinded our game and was able to get off back-to-back games. Both teams we played, give them credit, they came out and played hard. (The Kings) had a lot of intensity to them. We were able to run with them and just play our game. (Inaudible) and capitalize off that.”
On being able to grind out a win: “We’ve shown all year, so far, small sample size of games, that we’re going to fight and give our heart and soul. But, it just showed that we were able to be resilient and be able to make shots and capitalize on the leads when we were able to get them.”
DETROIT PISTONS FORWARD ANTHONY TOLLIVER: (On what the 7-3 record says to him): “It says we got going on a good start. It’s part of 82 games. We’ve got to keep doing it. Just one game at a time and don’t get ahead of ourselves. Don’t get too confident, but also using this confidence knowing that whoever we play against we have a chance and we can win and we can beat anybody. Right now that’s how we feel, and these games like this tonight we just have to take care of business and we were able to.”
(On if there was an adjustment made at halftime): “We just played with a little bit more energy, on the defensive end specifically. Offensively, we continued to move the ball, we hit some shots which always helps. Defensively, we played with a little bit more energy and like I said, we were able to get it done. Put together enough stops to finally get a lead. I think, maybe in the fourth, we spread it out a little bit. Like I said, each night is going to be unique and tonight was (more) unique than other nights and we were able to get it done.”
SACRAMENTO KINGS HEAD COACH DAVE JOERGER: (On the game tonight for De’Aaron Fox and Frank Mason III): “It was a great experience for them. De’Aaron didn’t get a lot done for the first 43-44 minutes. He got a lot of those numbers at the end, but we need that kind of push every minute that he plays, and I think that he’ll be able to get that. We’ve got to get it out of him. We’re seeing some really good things. He’s playing with pace and getting up and down the floor. I thought it was a really good experience for him to play up against Reggie Jackson and the same thing for Frank. I mean Ish (Smith) dominated the second half. He was in the lane all night long. That’s a good experience for him to see a guy like that. He’s kind of a different player than you’re used to. I’ve coached Ish before, and I’m so happy for him and his career, but relative to those two guys, I think it’s a tremendous experience, and they both have bright futures.”
(On three-point shooting): “I thought we missed a ton of them. I thought we had a lot of open looks, they had open looks, it was a small-ball game. They hurt us playing small-ball. We countered a little bit by playing Zach (Randolph) at some five. Tobias Harris was really good, and Avery Bradley. Their starters are really in a rhythm right now and they are playing well. Avery had a nice night, Reggie (Jackson) was pretty quiet, but he facilitated a great game. I thought he called a great game with Tobias and Avery, and then Ish came in in the second half and it was really, really good. They went 13-for-24. For us, it’s little things. We make a little mistake and it seems like we were down by four 80 times tonight and then we’d go throw it away. We talked about the ball pressure; their athletic and their strong. We came out the first three possessions, there were three deflections for them and two of them were steals. So, it’s a learning process and being really tough, not getting tired, and getting more physical.”
SACRAMENTO KINGS GUARD DE’AARON FOX: (On the overall performance tonight): “We kind of started off slow again, but we were starting to put the ball in the basket and starting to get stops. The third quarter kind of hurt us a lot.”
(On if he changes his approach when he comes off the bench rather than starting): “No, I try not to. When I come off the bench, I try to be aggressive, but starting out the game I do the same thing. So my mentality doesn’t change if I’m in the starting line up or I’m coming off the bench. I just try to help my team.”