Detroit: John Kuester | Tayshaun Prince | Rodney Stuckey Toronto: Jay Triano | Ed DavisPistons Head Coach John Kuester
(On the game) “I thought our first quarter was as good of a first quarter that we played all year offensively and we did some good things offensively. We played with a sense of purpose. I thought the game overall was probably one of our better outings. I’m more into, not the opponent, as opposed to how we’re playing. I thought guys came off the bench played with an edge defensively and offensively and being sharp. I thought Stuckey set the tone for that group coming off the bench.”
(On veteran lineup) “I think we will start that lineup next game. The reason being it hasn’t presented itself as I wanted it to throughout the year for certain purposes of whatever. I thought they group set the tone no question about it.”
(On Stuckey) “I thought he was attacking but wasn’t attacking for himself, as opposed to him attacking for others. His pace of his passes, his share of force throughout the game in regards to attacking. You can attack at times and not always for yourself and that’s one of the things I thought was so impressive. He was getting on time, on target passes to other players.”Pistons Forward Tayshaun Prince
(On setting the tone in the beginning of the game) “It doesn’t matter who starts. If you get off to a good start like we did, it sets a tone to the game. I think it makes a difference when you have a guy like Ben Wallace out there protecting the paint and doing things for us defensively like blocking shots and rebounding the ball it allows us to get out and run, do some things and take some gambles.”
(On ball movement) “We were moving the ball. We feel that if we can move the ball from one side to another we can do some things against a team that can move a little bit. They went to the zone, so we really had to move the ball consistently. In the first-quarter, everybody was making shots. Everyone was moving the ball and finding the open man. Then Stuckey came in with the second group and he just shared the basketball. It was just a good game overall. The thing now is that we just have to build on.”
(On protecting the lead) “In the third-quarter we went back and forth with them and weren't getting the stops that we were in the first quarter. Then a lot of guys come off the bench after sitting over there for a while, so it takes them a few minutes to get going. Those first couple minutes are important because if the other team gets going it's hard to stop.”Pistons Guard Rodney Stuckey
(On assists) “My guys were open and they were making shots. We opened the floor and I found them and they were just making shots.”
(On playing aggressive) “My guys were just open, but I was just passing them the ball. I passed up a couple of shots tonight when I should have shot the ball, but I was just looking for my teammates tonight.”
(On game) “This is just the way the game developed tonight, I’m a good passer though and I was just trying to showcase that tonight.”
(On having to prove something) “There is nothing to prove, I just have to come out and make sure that I play hard for my teammates.”
(On the game) “You can’t dig a hole like we did tonight and their energy was better than us from the beginning of the game. I thought for the remainder of the game, once we were down 20, I thought that we outplayed them, but you can’t afford to get down against this team. We came out of the gate slow and one the things that we talked about was having better energy than them because they do have the experience, but they moved the ball extremely well tonight and picked us apart.”
(On Pistons’ rebounding) “As good as Reggie (Evans) has been, and Reggie gave a good effort tonight, they had a bigger, stronger guy there tonight to keep it alive and those are usually rebounds he gets. Give them credit tonight, both teams shot 50 percent tonight, but when you look at the assists tonight that is why they won. They found guys tonight and they are a threat from the three-point line.”Raptors Forward Ed Davis
(On the game) “We just had a lack of focus and lack of energy tonight and it showed up on the court. When you have those things you get that kind of play that we had in the first quarter. We have just got to come to play better.”
(On their final push) “We had fought hard to get back into it and then in that last little stretch they pulled away.”
(On playing against the Pistons’ big men) “I wish that I would have played better, but things just didn’t go my way. It wasn’t anything that they did to take my game away from me tonight, things just didn’t go my way tonight.”