| PISTONS.COM |
| PLAYER OF THE GAME |
Tayshaun Prince
Points: 22
Rebounds: 7
Assists: 4
FGM-A: 9-14BR>
Minutes: 12
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Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders
On Richard Hamilton’s ankle:
“Rip was being monitored by (strength and Conditioning Coach) Arnie (Kander) on how much he could play, when to maybe take him out, give him his rest. The dangerous thing is you couldn’t keep him out for long periods because if he tightens up then you don’t have him.”
On tonight’s game:
“Anytime you’re in a game and you have 42 buckets and you have 30 assists and only nine turnovers, you’re distributing the ball, playing pretty well. I thought our main group, we did a nice job overall.”
On Maurice Evans:
“He has the ability to knock down those corner threes and guys found him and we had guys make some good plays. I thought Mo came in and gave us a great spark at both ends, offensively and defensively.”
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Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups
On first five Pistons’ baskets being scored by different players:
“That’s how we beat people. We always know there’s strength in numbers, that’s why we play the way we do. We go into games not knowing what match up we’re going to attack. We just see how it goes, we see how the flow is and early in this game everyone had good looks. Our defense was solid, we did the things we talked about and we executed pretty well and we kept them at bay most of the night.”
On the tempo of the game compared with Game One:
“I think the biggest thing was like we said, we played out of character, we were a little too excited. Everybody was just trying to take the ball, run, pass, shoot and that’s just not us. We were just a little too pumped up; we were waiting for Game One of the playoffs for a year. So today we settled down.”
“That’s the way we play, no matter who we’re playing. We have so many options. We’ve have so many guys that can hurt you, as opposed to teams who have only one or two guys that can really hurt you and you can adjust your defense and try to stop one or two guys. You can’t do that when you play against us, we have too many options.”
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Pistons Guard Tony Delk
On the bench play:
“I thought Lindsey (Hunter) came in and gave us a big lift as well as Mo (Evans) did. (Antonio) McDyess came in and stepped up. Bench play was key, I think it helps in the playoffs, like I said, when you have guys come in that you can depend on. Experience also helps.”
On Maurice Evans:
“He is still working on his game. He comes in and practices hard. When the opportunity comes, you have to step in and take advantage of it.”
On maintaining the edge as the series moves to Milwaukee:
“You have to take the same mentality to Milwaukee when we play them on Saturday. We have to be aggressive on both ends of the court like we are capable of doing. I think the first five minutes is always important because they are going to come out and play really hard.”
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Bucks Head Coach Terry Stotts
On using T.J. Ford to guard Rip Hamilton:
“The first few times we played the Pistons in the regular season we started with that match up. Part of the thinking is not to have Michael (Redd) chase around screens as much, take out the one-three pick-and-roll, put a bigger guard on Chauncey. You saw down the stretch they tried to post T.J. with Chauncey. I think Chauncey’s probably more of a post threat than Rip is. T.J. is quick and can chase him around the screens.”
On trying to counter the Pistons’ offensive runs:
“They’re a great team and I was proud that we were making the runs that we were making. Every time they got up, our guys kept coming back. They (the Pistons) were able to make plays. You don’t know where they’re going to come up with it, but they usually come up with it, whether it’s Chauncey, Rasheed, Tayshaun or Rip, … or McDyess. It’s a sign of a good team and good balance, and I’ve said a lot, one of their strengths is their balance. Any one of their guys can make plays to stop runs, start runs, win games.”
On how much of an advantage home court will be:
“I hope a lot. There’s a home court advantage here, and we’re coming back to the Bradley Center and the Bradley Center’s been a great building in the playoffs. … They call it home court advantage for a reason, so we’ll go home and take advantage of it.”
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Bucks Guard Michael Redd
On his play tonight:
“We made adjustments to try to get me open in a better position. I am just taking my time to read the game, look at the film from a couple days ago, and try to adjust my game to how they are playing me, so it was a little different tonight.”
On guarding the Pistons:
“They posed a lot of problems for us. Whether it’s Tayshaun (Prince) on blocks, Rip (Hamilton) coming off screens, Rasheed (Wallace) popping out, and (Antonio) McDyess getting off as well. They have a versatile team. I think their offense is underrated. Their defense is still going to be solid, but I think their offense has come up a lot this year.”
On the Pistons pushing the pace of play:
“They are pushing it on us, and that is our game. That is something we have to work on in the next couple of days before we play them again. I don’t know how many turnovers we had today, but they got a lot of fast-break points, even on some of our makes. I think they put an emphasis on pushing the ball against us and they feel they can push the ball against us.”
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