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Postgame Quotes - May 16 Game 6 - May 16, 2003 Pistons 93, Sixers 89 (OT)
“We haven’t had a lot of things go our way. The thing that’s amazing to me, is that we just keep trying. The biggest thing is they (Detroit) made plays. We made some bad plays at the end. We had two or three turnovers in regulation. In overtime they hit two three’s, but then we give up a cheap basket on a fast break for lack of communication.” “I’m proud of my team. I’m thrilled with the way our fans responded.” On the Detroit Pistons “My hat goes off to Detroit and to those kids. They are well coached. They have two great young rookies. They have a great backcourt, and they have great depth. They deserved to win.”
“You still get that (same) turn in your stomach. No matter of the outcome, we are never going to quit. We are never going to lie down for anyone. It all starts from the character of our coach.” “The main thing is that we kept fighting. We never gave up, even when we were down; we always fought our way back into the game. We hung together regardless of the outcome. Somebody has to win and someone has to lose. (Tonight) we got the short end of the stick.”
“Right now I just have so many different things going on in my head. (You can) talk about all the would-have, could-have things you want to, but they got it done and we didn’t. They were the better team, obviously, from the outcome. We just couldn’t catch a break. We put ourselves in a bad situation fouling the way we were at the end of the game. While we had to make shots, they were only making free throws. That hurt us.” On his feelings “I feel bad, obviously, because this is another season gone by and my dream didn’t come true. I think it’s a lot … I need to look in the mirror at myself. There is a lot more I can do to make us a better team, playing the game and verbally. There are just a lot of things that I understand that I have to do to get better plus to have a chance to win a championship. I am just going to put that pressure on myself in the offseason to try to do a little bit more than I have been doing. Mainly, just trying to get stronger. At times – I didn’t feel that I was getting tired – but I was kind of weaker than I usually am. So much attention is focused on me as far as guys banging me all through the game. I feel like I need to get a little bigger and a little stronger. So that’s what I’m going to concentrate on. But I feel bad right now.”
“We played tough. We had some mental lapses at times. We didn’t rotate too well some times and missed some big shots in overtime.” On the play of Chauncey Billups “Chucky (Atkins) did a good job stepping in at the point (guard) position. Chauncey wasn’t even playing when they won at home. We weren’t supposed to lose this game; we weren’t supposed to lose a few other games. It just leaves a sour taste in your mouth.”
“I can’t say enough about our team and what they’ve been able to do. We’ve had some injuries, situations, and everybody on our roster has been instrumental to us getting to this point. Guys like Chucky Atkins stepping in and making huge contributions in the absents of Chancy (Billups), and Tayshaun (Prince) emergence is a true factor for us. Corliss Williamson, tonight, was a difference-maker. He went in there and played with force and helped us get the game under control when we were struggling a little bit.” On the Philadelphia 76ers “The Philadelphia 76ers, to me, are a really class team. I can’t say enough about what Larry Brown means to basketball. I’m a huge fan of his. They (Sixers) really compete hard and play the right way. We are real fortunate to have had the chance to advance against a team like Philadelphia. It’s a feather in our cap as a franchise.”
“We were going to fight. We were here tonight to fight. I kind of knew it from shoot around. Everybody was loose, upbeat and ready to play.” On some Sixers claiming they should have won the series already “We were here to win games. We don’t care what they say or how they feel. We know that they had hearts of champions. Those guys have been to the NBA Finals before and we were trying to get to where they had been. We weren’t listening to what they had to say. Those guys are playing against us. They are our opponents. That’s what they’re supposed to say.” On the Pistons maybe gaining some respect after winning this series “I doubt it. But all we have to do is continue to win. It doesn’t really matter what everybody thinks. That’s the way it has been all year, so why should it change now.”
“It was a heck of a win. It was pretty ugly for both sides for quite a long time. But it’s great to see the old (Chauncey) Billups back. Corliss (Williamson) came in and was awesome. Everybody played great. That’s the sign of a good team. We knew we had a game seven in our back pocket, but we came in with a good focus, played intense and just did the job. That’s what it takes.” On the upcoming Eastern Conference Finals series with New Jersey “Everyone picked us to be out of here a long time ago. We were down 3-1 to Orlando and no one thought we’d be here. That’s fine. We don’t care what people say obviously. We have a lot of belief in one another in this room.”
“We went into overtime, and I just told them right before the timeout, ‘I am about to take this game over.’ I told them and they were like, ‘alright.’ I was very, very aggressive in the overtime. I tried to look for my shot and just try to keep the game going. One time I think I got an open look and I knocked it down. Another time, it was a tough shot, I just jabbed him and got it up. I kind of turned it on a little bit. My mentality changed for that five minutes and I said I’ve got to turn it on.” |
