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Postgame Quotes - May 10 Game 3 - May 10, 2003 Sixers 93, Pistons 83
“I was happy with the way he played. He made some shots, he didn’t get into serious foul trouble, and that really helped us, especially with them going to a bigger lineup. With him, Kenny (Thomas), Derrick (Coleman) or even with Tyrone (Hill), I thought those four guys did a tremendous job because rebounding was the key. We needed him to step up and he did. I’m happy for him.” On the outcome of the game “I didn’t like the way we finished, but I loved the way we played. We played with a lot of energy. Being up at halftime with Allen only having 10, I thought just showed you how good a floor game we played. The only two things that I was disappointed in was in the first half we started off kind of soft defensively and we really didn’t have an answer for Hamilton, but then after that we were great defensively. The only thing that hurt us was every time they got an offensive rebound it seemed like they kicked it out and hit a three. I really believe that kept us from really getting some separation. All in all, except for the ending and the turnovers, we did a great job.” On the play of the small players “I think we got it inside. A lot of that came off of Allen’s penetration, which was amazing and that’s the key. They spent so much time helping that you had a chance to get it inside and rebound the ball. When you make some outside jump shots it opens things up for Allen to penetrate.” On deciding whether or not to rest players “I wanted to rest a lot of people, but I like to remember how we get leads. With good defense, unselfish play and ball movement. I told the reporters before the game, they (Detroit) led the league in bench scoring, with over 34-35 points a game off their bench and their not a high scoring team and then their bench led the league in bench defense. They got to rest players and yet made a comeback. That got me a little nervous and I just would hope that we would finish better than that.”
“I like the idea of it. I really think so. While we have momentum it is good to come right back in here the next day. I think the energy in the crowd was phenomenal, as expected. I like that about the NBA anyway – being able to play back-to-back games. It just isn’t usual in the playoffs. When I saw it in the schedule I was excited about it because you can just go out there and play basketball and forget everything in between.” On Keith Van Horn, Kenny Thomas and Derrick Coleman’s play tonight “They did excellent. They came in here and did what they had to do. I think we rebounded well the last game, but we just unfortunately couldn’t get it done. They worked together under the boards. They boxed out real well. I think the guards did good job of helping to box guys out. You can’t say enough about what our big guys did on both ends of the court tonight.” On his 11 assists “I think in that first quarter I missed seven or eight shots – I mean point-blank shots – right there, baskets I normally can make. It was kind of frustrating because the shots felt good.” “All I did was kept playing and as the game went on I just tried to create for my teammates when they were trying to take things away from me. In the beginning of the game they kept switching out on me or they would try to trap the pick and roll and I was just trying to give it up to guys so they could hit some baskets. It is just a credit to the guys on my team for getting open and finishing the plays. All I have to do is deliver the ball.”
“Yes. That’s how we win. If we can continue to win like that, we will take it. We win ugly. As long as we go out there and play hard – scratch and claw out there – we are pretty successful. But when we go out there and try to play like other teams, that’s where we get ourselves in trouble.” On whether the rebounds early in the game gave the Sixers momentum “I think so. I think it definitely gave us second opportunities and it gave us a little momentum. Those are the things that were happening to us out in Detroit. Those guys were getting second opportunities and they were converting. Tonight was our night. We got the second opportunities and we made the most of it.” On whether the Sixers rebounding edge in the first half gave the Sixers a mental advantage “There are four quarters to a game. You might have a quarter or a half where you are outrebounded or outworked, but there is always the second half. Those guys are not going to quit. Tonight, you saw how (the Pistons) hung in there, kept fighting and hung around. We had to tighten up and do all the small things down the stretch of the game to put it away.” On having momentum heading into Sunday’s Game 4 “It’s great. It would have been even better if we could have gotten the one (Thursday) night. We would definitely be feeling a lot better. But we have to come out tomorrow and do the same things we did early in the game tonight.”
“It was. I thought it was a defensive battle for us. We didn’t shoot the ball great, although we executed offensively. We played solid defense. When we execute offensively, it helps us out defensively so much because we are not giving up transition baskets. It allows us to set up defensively. I think that really helped us out tonight.” On his emotional state after the birth of his fourth child yesterday “I think it was nice to get the stress of having another child off my shoulders. In terms of when it comes to my children being born, I’m a head case. It really worries me that something could go wrong, so I kind of dwell on it. It’s nice to have the little girl here finally and get back to business.” On containing Ben Wallace “He makes so many big plays for them, in terms of hustle plays … In a way, even though he doesn’t score a lot, he’s a key to their offense. Derrick (Coleman) and the guys that have guarded him have done a good job of keeping him off the boards and really kind of counteracting his effort plays.”
“We knew this series was going to be about rebounding for us and for them. They got off to a great start on the boards. At halftime they had nearly half of their points on second shots. That’s not a good sign for us so we’re going to have to match their level of aggression on the boards. If you give up 27 second chance points, that’s a lot, but if you give up 21 out of 48 in the first half, it’s a huge number.” On the adjustments you need to make “Tonight we just didn’t match their level of aggression. We knew they were going to come out hard. They were playing with a level of intensity we just weren’t able to match for whatever reason. That certainly has to be one of the adjustments we make. We’ve got to play with more force against this team. They play with tenacity, particularly in their own building.”
“We didn’t help Ben (Wallace) on the boards at all tonight. He was down there fighting, fighting, fighting, and we didn’t help him at all. We just have to do a better job rebounding - all five guys getting to the defensive boards. We didn’t make that happen. [Philadelphia’s] guards got a lot of offensive rebounds; Kenny Thomas got a lot of offensive rebounds. That kind of set the tone for the game.” On the Pistons’ defense “I thought we did a good job of defending them in the first half. They just got so many second and third opportunities, which caused baskets.”
“We had no doubt about them fighting back and trying to come back and establish themselves in this series. We still feel pretty good about where we’re at. We still feel that we can control them in the half court, it is just a matter of corralling those rebounds. If we can come up with those rebounds, they have a much tougher time scoring.” On adjustments Detroit needs to make for Game 4 “We should be ready to go tomorrow. We have to understand what makes their team good. They do a really good job of getting shots up and chasing down the rebounds. We knew coming into the series that that would be a way that they could hurt us. If you don’t care of what you need to take care of, with boxing out and chasing balls down, then they can take advantage of it.” |
