Toronto Raptors vs. Detroit Pistons
Tuesday, April 1, 2003 – Air Canada Centre

Wilkens

(on the fourth quarter effort) “Hey sometimes it takes that long, but they worked real hard. We had a good combination they were playing off each other extremely well, our defence picked up. We had a lot more energy in that quarter and you know Detroit’s a good team, but we didn’t quite, we weren’t going to just fold up and let them off the hook. So I thought that group played extremely well and we stayed with it and they got us right back in the game.” (on lack of effort in the first three quarters) “It’s just that we started out with a good game plan and then we kind of got out of whack, and then we missed some shots and it seemed like our heads went down. Hey, you just have to keep fighting hard, if you miss a shot then try and get a better one next time. Don’t settle for fall-a-way and you have to take care of the ball, things like that. Your focus has to become greater.” (On tying Bill Fitch for most losses) “You know I’ve had a great career and made a lot of teams I’ve gone to, we’ve improved always. Some of the best coaches, if you’re around long enough, that happens. I don’t think it’s any big thing. I think that I’ve been here a long time and I’ve been successful, so with success that comes.”

V. Carter

VINCE CARTER

(On battling back late in the game) “It is another sign of us not giving up, just competing together and trusting each other. The deficit may have been just a little too big for us, but the one thing you can’t question about us is our effort.” (What do you think the difference was between the first three quarters and the fourth?) “A sense of urgency. We know we can compete against these guys. We just have to bring the effort, stay consistent throughout the game because they make you pay for the little things as you can see.”

Alston

RAFER ALSTON

We were real upset being down by that much and allowing them to get some easy baskets. We might have run out of gas being down 18 points. When you come back the way that we came back, you really work hard defensively so it is hard to work so hard defensively and come back and score.”

Carlisle

RICK CARLISLE, Pistons

(A win’s a win, but you can’t be happy about letting them shoot 50% in the fourth quarter) "They made a frantic comeback. I give Toronto credit. They played hard the whole game and they made a fierce run at us but we’ve got to be better. We have to be better defensively, and offensively we obviously made some mistakes down the stretch but anytime you get a win on the road, it’s a positive. Right now we have to regroup and get ready for another tough game tomorrow night against these guys." (On starting off well) "Somehow we have to fit a first half and a second half together. I’m confident that we’re going to get there. It’s been a struggle lately but we did a lot of good things tonight even though we were a little slip-shot in the third and fourth quarters but the main thing is that we keep building and keep improving.”

Wallace

BEN WALLACE, Pistons

"You go out there and you get a little relaxed. They weren’t putting up much opposition at first. They made a couple of plays, got the momentum flowing, and got the crowd into it. That’s the pretty thing about this league, things can turn on you at any time." (On the game tomorrow) "I’m pretty sure they feel like they can win now. We have to refocus and dig down a little deeper and go out there and take care of it. If we go out there and play the way we played down the stretch, I’m pretty sure they are going to get the win. We have to come out and play the way we started the game from start to finish. We are not going to dwell on this game too much. It was an ugly win but we got the win.”

Williamson

CORLISS WILLIAMSON, Pistons

“We lost the game in the first half, getting down by 15. I thought we played pretty well in the second half. We came out pretty good and kind of ended the third not so hot. In the fourth quarter we played well, but you get on the road and you have got to keep it close all game. You can’t dig yourself a hole. They came back hard at us when we made our runs. Alvin Williams hit some big shots and they had good energy from the bench.” (On Vince Carter) “He is a scorer, so if he’s not scoring that’s fine with us. He wasn’t scoring tonight so there were other guys we had to stop.”