RAPTORS: Post-Game Quotes

Post-Game Quotes

Mitchell

SAM MITCHELL

Thoughts on the keys to the Pistons success tonight…..
We just didn’t play well. I don’t think they did anything necessarily, we just couldn’t guard their two’s and three’s. When you get outscored at two positions 51-16 or something like that, it’s hard to overcome that. Rip (Richard Hamilton) and Tayshaun (Prince), they just kicked our butts.

Thoughts on Toronto’s play in the third quarter….
We got down, I think 13 points, and we came back. We had a couple of chances to tie it up, and Andrea (Bargnani) had a block and blocked it back to Rasheed (Wallace). It was a two point game and Rasheed hits a shot at the shot clock, and that happened a couple of times. If we just play a little bit better, maybe we could have won the game. We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities we had when we had them. A couple of times in transition we could have attacked and we pulled the ball out. You have to make people pay, get to the free throw line, you have to attack the basket and make them guard. We just didn’t do a good enough job of doing it.

Calderon

JOSE CALDERON

Thoughts on the game tonight…
They were running almost the same play almost every time. We could not stop Tayshaun Prince. We’ve got to keep learning. They have a pretty good team; they have been playing together for a long time. I think it was our worst game, but we had a chance to win so that is the positive thing about it.

Thoughts on the play of (Rodney) Stuckey….
They have pretty good guys. It does not matter if Allen Iverson was playing or not. We did not know until the last minute. I think (Will) Bynum and Stuckey have been doing a pretty good job the last two games. We know they are good players.

Bosh

CHRIS BOSH

Thoughts on the play of Jermaine O’Neal…
I know it can be tough for him because he is use to playing a certain way. He has an opportunity to do that but he is just not doing as well as he wants to right now. It’s a very long season, I had to remind him of that and he just has to get his jump shot and if he continues to do that, he’ll be the player that he is.

Is it the best thing for you as a teammate to keep him (Jermaine O’Neal) up?
Exactly, I can offer him a little support and always back him. To me he is an all-star, he is an all-star player and we need to feed him the ball no matter what’s happening. If he misses five shots in a row, he has to make one. We just have to stay behind him, I am happy to have him here and we have to just continue to support each other.

Curry

MICHAEL CURRY

On winning while playing shorthanded….
Yeah, the guys did a really good job of stepping up and being prepared to play and that’s what we ask. When you have a chance to play, you have to go and perform and carry out whatever defensive plan and offensive scheme we have set for that day. We did a pretty good job overall, that’s a really good basketball team over there. We wanted to keep the ball in basically Calderon (Jose) and Chris Bosh’s hands and not make everybody else become players. We just kept it in their hands, we need to do a little better job at it. Two great players and a really good team over there and we were fortunate to come out with a win tonight.

On their bench maintaining the lead in the fourth quarter….
We are comfortable with whoever is out on the court. All we actually do defensively is follow the defensive scheme, five guys rebound and offensively, execute it, move the ball, take good open shots and don’t turn the ball over. Whoever that is that is on the court, we expect that. We have certain guys that are more of go-to guys that we run some sets through, and we try to make sure we keep one or two of them on the court at all times.

Stuckey

RODNEY STUCKEY

You had a huge lead and the Raptors got back into it, but were able to take back control of the game…
We have a lot of veterans on our team who have been in this position lots of times. It is not really new to me, but it still is. While I am out there with them they are just calming me down, making sure that I am calm and leading me out there. We did a terrific job.

What is your role going to be with the addition of Allen Iverson?
It is going to the same as if Chauncey (Billups) was here. My role is to come off the bench and provide energy, get easy baskets, get to the free-throw line and create shots for my teammates.

Prince

TAYSHAUN PRINCE

You had the hot hand tonight…
I had the opportunity to come into the game in the second quarter with the second unit and I know that at that time Coach wanted to try and run some things through me. I got fouled on the first play throwing it up in the air and it went off the glass. I know that I have to be aggressive when I am out there with them (second unit). I have to be aggressive and make plays for them but at the same time look for opportunities. I know that at the start of games we are going to go to Rasheed (Wallace) and get Rip (Richard Hamilton) involved. I think if I start the second quarter there is a chance for me to make some plays and today it just happened that they went in.

Did you feel you had to be aggressive tonight because you were undermanned?
Obviously that had a lot to do with it not having Allen (Iverson) play tonight. At the same time we can have a situation where A.I. is on the bench or Chauncey (Billups) vice versa, when I am out there with the second unit and Chauncey or A.I., Rip (Richard Hamilton), Rasheed (Wallace) are on the bench and it is time for me to make things happen and make some plays.