DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: (On defense): “I thought in the first quarter our defense was the best it has been all year, maybe as good as it has been since I have been here. We were really on it, making more than one or two efforts on every possession. I thought our first quarter defense was outstanding. I thought our second half defense was pretty good. Second quarter, I don’t really know what happened. Defensively we just lost our will and didn’t really fight. Everything was going to the rim; it was all at the rim. Even the threes they got in the second quarter were the result of deep drives and throwing it out. For three quarters of the game, I thought we really locked in and defended well. I was happy with that.”
(On responding after the Brooklyn loss): “There was a different mentality. But, here is the challenge, and we said this to them, although we did not respond well but we said it to them after the New York game. Everybody or any team with any kind of character is going to respond after a bad game like Brooklyn. The challenge is, is to not have to lose to get yourself in that kind of mentality to gain a consistency. Otherwise, if you don’t you are just, with this team kind of up and down and it is hard to ever be good. What I said to them afterwards tonight is, ‘whatever you did individually and as a group to get yourselves ready to play at that level tonight is where you have to get yourself night after night.’ Now, I am not talking about emotional. We are not a real rah-rah relying on emotion, just get ready. They were ready to play, they were locked in. It started with the first play of the game. We had gone over Mike Malone’s (timeout plays), he has great stuff out of time outs. We had gone over more of those kind of plays probably than we have all year; eight or nine different ones to lock into. It’s not like there is one or two to remember. In the very first play of the game, Andre (Drummond) was locked in and knew what to do and exactly what was coming. He saw the start of the play, scoped out what was happening and was on it. That’s not something with just him, but all of our guys. It is just not something that we have necessarily done all the time as a young team. Right on it, but I thought all of our guys were really on it defensively from the get go. We had a good first quarter offensively. After that, it was a little uneven offensively. We had a lot of shots pulling up short and everything else but our defense carried us and that is sort of what we were looking for.”
DETROIT PISTONS FORWARD JON LEUER: (On defense): “I thought our defensive effort was a lot better tonight. It was obviously a point of emphasis. I think the first quarter we get up by like 12 points and that was a lot better effort than the other night. Our energy on defense was a lot better. Guys really took it on as a challenge after our last performance. We were in the right spots all the time and that’s how you have to play and that is how we have to continue to try to play.”
(On team and self-improvement): “This team has a lot of balance. Marcus (Morris) and Tobias (Harris) and Andre (Drummond) have been carrying us, but we have a balanced group of unselfish guys where the ball is going to find the open man and it is our job to knock it down. I try to improve every day and try to work on my game every summer and then obviously show that during the season. It is just the matter of continuing to get repetition in the system and feeling more and more comfortable every day and just keep getting better.”
DENVER NUGGETS HEAD COACH MICHAEL MALONE: (On struggling to make a comeback): “That’s our M.O. right now. Like I said, we’re only five games in but it’s been a pattern for 4 straight games where we’ve got down by 15, 18, 20 to four to start the game. We’re paid professionals, you’ve got to be ready to play at the jump ball and we have not been. Drummond kicked our but inside and the guards hurt us. Give them credit. I don’t want to take anything from Stan and the Pistons. They kicked our butts, they deserved the win but I’m just tired of watching the struggle that goes on out there. It almost looks like their disinterested to start the game and if we’re going to go down, we’re not going to go down like that.”
(On defense and offense): “We were bad everywhere. It wasn’t just offensively. Our defense was horrendous tonight. They did whatever they wanted. It’s the fifth game in a row where the squad came out asleep so we’re not going to have the same starting lineup tomorrow night. We can’t afford to keep on building ourselves 15, 20 point deficits to start the game and play catchup. That group is unable to change that so we’ll try to mix up the lineup to give ourselves a better chance at playing 48 minutes because I’m tired of watching that. So it wasn’t just flat offensively. Couldn’t buy a shot and missed 20 layups but more importantly, we didn’t play any defense either. It was like men against boys here tonight.”
DENVER NUGGETS FORWARD WILSON CHANDLER: (On how Pistons got the jump): “They came out pretty aggressive on defense and they kind of got into us and kind of made us speed up the game in a half-court set. We couldn’t make shots and in the second half we started turning the ball over so you know we’ve got to give them high praise when it comes to them getting it to us and making us take tough shots and forcing turnovers.”
(On playing catchup) “It’s tough. Even though we came back and we had a chance to get back in the game. We spent so much energy trying to get back in the game then they went on another run and kind of bust the game wide open. It was over from there.”