Round Two, Game Four: Detroit Pistons 72, Cleveland Cavaliers 74

PISTONS.COM

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Richard Hamilton Points: 30 FGM-A: 11-25 FTM-A: 7-7 Minutes: 40

(On the Cavs playing better in the fourth quarter)
“We’ve had some good looks. I don’t think tonight was a great fourth quarter for each team. I think both teams were locked in as far as defensively. We had some opportunities and we haven’t – you’re on the road when you’re playing a team and we had an opportunity to extend that lead and get to that pressure point, you have to do that. We haven’t been able to do that.”

(On the Pistons playing tight)
“I can’t help it. I think a little bit that we’ve played more not to lose than we played to win. We haven’t shown, haven’t been as aggressive, we just haven’t been as sharp in some things we’re doing. Hopefully getting back home in front of our home crowd will give us the same energy that it gave the Cavs in these two games.”

(On Rasheed Wallace’s night)
“Well, he had some great looks early. Had some great looks really the whole game and then of course sprained his ankle. He kept on trying to fire back but he just really could not move. We tried to give it to him while he was in there but basically he couldn’t get any for us so we decided to go small and actually played pretty well with a small lineup.

We’ll evaluate him tomorrow and see where he’s at. That’s one of the things I always said – playoff situations, heaven forbid you have injuries no matter who it is but it can change the complexion of a game in the series. There’s no question in the late game situation it would have been nice to have ‘Sheed, because he’s been a guy we’ve gone to late down in the block to try to either get fouled or score for us.”

(On whether the two losses are because of the Cavs defensive intensity at home or the Pistons not playing like themselves)
“I think it’s a combination. When you play in the playoffs (at home), you play in front of friends and crowd and it energizes you. You play at a high level; your adrenaline is flowing so you play extremely hard. I think a combination of things. We have to get back to getting the things we do well. If we do it, we’ll be fine. That’s pretty much where we’re at.”

(On why he had Richard Hamilton guarding LeBron James in the second half)
“Just to maybe get a little more pressure. Tay guards with length, Rip guards a little bit with a little bit more pressure and just to give LeBron a different look. It’s a bit scary to think that he’s only 21. I think that when you get in the situation and you see the things that he does and you look at this team that won 50 games and what he does, there’s a reason why people thought he should have been MVP. If you’re going to judge the MVP by what a player does to keep his team at a high level, there’s no question that he would be voted MVP for that reason. But just to give him a different look. As great players, they have the ability to adjust to situations. I thought he was getting a little too comfortable with Tay’s length all the time and just to give a different look.”

(On whether that was the Cavs’ best defense he’s seen)
“I thought that their New Year’s Eve game that actually played very good defense against us. I think that people have to realize, I told our team coming in that this team was 31-10 during the regular season at home. They had the 4th best record behind ourselves, San Antonio and Dallas. So they’ve been a very energetic and a very good team at home. A lot of times when you have some youth and you’re trying to climb the ladder that’s where it starts. They played very well. We’re in a dogfight right now and that’s what they have to understand.”

(did Rasheed’s comments affect the Cavs)
“No. The atmosphere was as energetic tonight as they were last game. Being from Cleveland, I know that the fans get very fanatic about their teams and they’ve been that from the first game so I don’t think this building was any louder tonight than it was the other game. It may have been louder the other game because it being the first game as far as at home. I think the situation now the players believe and the town believes. We’ve got to take care of business when we go back home.”

(On whether the pressure is on the Pistons since the Cavs are underdogs)
“There ain’t no pressure. The game of basketball is fun. A lot of people expected us to win. Cleveland played two good games at home. Now its our job to go out and take care of home court.”

(On whether they underestimated the Cavs)
“We never really took them for granted. They won two games here; we won two games at home. Like I said our job is to go home and take care of business.

(On the Rasheed Wallace guarantee)
“We wanted to get the win, every man in that locker room. We didn’t show up to lose. We wanted to get the win regardless if he guarantees it or not. We want to go out there and do that. We didn’t get it done. Point blank. Cleveland got a win tonight and now it’s our job to go out there and win at home.”

(do they think they need to make adjustments)
“We played our style of game. I thought there were a couple questionable calls at the end of the game but it happens. We had the game right where we wanted it. It’s just that we were stuck on 72 for a minute. Shots that we usually make we didn’t make. They didn’t come down and score either. We just couldn’t put the ball in the basket.

(On missing the short shot at the end of the game)
“I think LeBron grabbed the ball in the cylinder, you’re not allowed to touch the ball as long as the ball is up near the rim. So I thought it was a goal tend but they didn’t call it. We needed that basket at the time but no need to make an excuse. They got a win.”

(On guarding LeBron in the second half)
“I just wanted to make him work. I just didn’t want to allow him to bring the ball up the court freely. I thought we had to put a little pressure on him. Try to make him work bringing the ball up, tire him out that way. It worked. I think he only scored six, seven points in the second half but his team got the win.”

(On this type of basketball)
“I love this. This is very, very exciting basketball. I wish we had a little bit bigger lead though but other than that, I love this grind-it-out, figure it out, bump here, bump there, attack on both ends style basketball. It gives both teams a chance to win.”

(On the Cavaliers becoming a consistent team)
“When you play good basketball and you expect to be a good team, there is one word that comes into play and that’s consistency. The teams that are on the cusp of being good do the roller coaster thing and that’s what we did most of the year. We were here and there. But the good thing about it is anytime we got knocked on our behind, we figured out a way to bounce back quickly. If we can get this type of mindset down and play this style of basketball, we will have a chance to be one of the good teams in this league for a long time.”

(On Anderson Varejao’s play)
“Andy’s charge was huge. He has about the quickest feet of any guy that I know that is seven feet, or six-ten and some hair. He’s great. His feet are extremely quick and he is a very smart basketball player. It brought back flashbacks of when we played Milwaukee earlier in the season when he came across and did the same thing to a very good player in Michael Redd.”

(On the rest of the series)
“I keep telling you guys this. It’s one day, one game at a time and if we continue to focus on one day, one game at a time, who knows what will happen.”

(On winning in the road in this series)
“We have to figure out a way to win on the road. We did a little bit better job of it this year than last year. We know it’s going to be a tough environment to play in therefore we can’t have 12 turnovers in one half. We can’t allow them to have open looks from the three-point line because this is the best shooting team in the league and we can’t allow them to dominate us on the offensive glass. If we do those three things we are going to give ourselves a chance to win as long as we bring effort for 48 minutes. We’re going to have to be mentally tough going into that game, take care of those three areas and give effort for 48 minutes.”

(On LeBron James buying into playing defense)
“It’s been easy. LeBron is one of the most coachable guys I’ve been around. Even though he’s a little different than a Tim Duncan when it comes to being coached and the willingness to step up and lead your team in any way shape or form, he’s one of the best I’ve been around. I told him my experiences, my thoughts, my philosophy defensively and he’s given me feedback and we’ve met at some point in the middle. He’s led the charge. It’s been great.”

(On the team taking on a Mike Brown identity)
“We know if we play defense we can give ourselves a good chance to win down the stretch. This is a great team that we’re facing and we have to be mistake free as much as possible against this team. I think that we had a lot of unforced turnovers. We had 18 turnovers today, and I had eight of them. What we did was try to make up for those turnovers on the defensive end and we were able to take care of that.”

(On saying something to Rasheed about his guarantee)
“No. We just play basketball. We can’t get caught up in Rasheed’s comments. We just have to go out and play our game and take care of business. We came here and took care of home court, and they took care of home court. The first team to win on the opponent’s court will win the series.”

(On Anderson Varejao’s maturation as a player)
“Andy’s playing very well. I told you all at the beginning of the season that it was going top be really hard for us to maintain energy without Andy, because of what he did for us last year. He’s playing his best ball now in the postseason. It’s excellent to see.”

(On help coming from Eric Snow)
“Eric Snow has been in the post-season before. He’s played in big games and made it all the way to the Finals. It wasn’t about the offense tonight; it was strictly about the defense. We shot 42 percent from the field, but they only shot 33 percent from the field and 26 percent from the three-point line. We played excellent.”

(On being mentally tough)
“You have to be mentally focused against a great team like this. One thing that is helping us right now is that we don’t feel any pressure; the Pistons feel all the pressure. I think everybody has counted us out; even people in our own backyard have counted us out. We just go out there and don’t listen to anybody. We just go out and play basketball.”

(On the fans and the atmosphere)
“It’s awesome. I love the towels and I love the WITNESS banners. It was awesome. It’s been electrifying throughout the playoffs. We’re happy that we’ll back on Friday night."

(On the way LeBron has played the last two games)
“If you look at the last two games, LeBron hasn’t pressed the issue. He has been taken what has been given to him. He has been hitting the open guys. We have been helping him out and making the open shots. We said that after Game 2, “when he kicks it out guys have got to help him. It helps free him.”

(On proving Rasheed wrong)
“We aren’t out there to prove Rasheed wrong. We knew that we were going to have to run through Detroit in the second round. We knew it was going to be us against the world. It still is that way. We aren’t going to say we proved anyone. Obviously a lot of people didn’t think we were going to win two games. We want to win the series. We are still not done. We are not happy with what we have done. We haven’t proved anything yet.”

(On winning the game with great defense)
“We did it on the defensive end. Offensively no one was good tonight. I know we shot 43 percent, but we had a lot of turnovers. Nothing was sharp offensively. Defensively we really turned it up. We were able to get stops. We scored there a little bit, but we are going to hang our hats on the defensive end. We are going to make it tough for those guys and win going away.”

(On what the difference has been in the last two game from the first two)
“We are more in tune to their sets, and more in tune to their personnel. We are making jump shooters put the ball on the ground, and we are shrinking the court. We are contesting shots and trying to eliminate their easy baskets because they shoot the ball well. We are just trying to make it tough for them.”

(On Rasheed Wallace’s statement)
“We won the game. That is the only statement you can make. When someone makes a statement like that you win the game. That is the best thing you can do when someone makes a statement like that.”