Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach Maurice Cheeks
On the game...
“I’m a little angry just based upon games before the Houston game, where we were in every game. We talked about it. We knew this week was going to be a tough week. We knew playing in Chicago was going to be tough. We knew playing in Utah was going to be tough and Detroit. Obviously the last few games with the way we’ve come out was not the way we played in the past few games. Up to that stretch, we were playing and we were in every game. So the last few games disappoint me in the way that we haven’t come out and the way we played up to that point.”

On his team’s play...
“We haven’t played the way we played. I know Andre Iguodala’s back has been bothering him. Andre Miller got nicked on his knee a little bit. Just the way we’ve come out the last few games is just disappointing to me.”

On if his team quit in the game...
“It’s been a long year. Mentally, physically, it’s been a long year. Obviously, Detroit is a good basketball team, as is Houston. It’s just disappointing because we’re in the game up to a certain point and something drops off. It drops off to where we just don’t continue to do the things we were doing beforehand.”

On what he wants to see from his team...
“I want to see more ‘go-get-it’. If I get beat by 50 points one night the next night I’m very upset and I’m going to go out there and maybe chew someone’s head off. We got to get to that point. I know we got young guys and it’s something we’ve been talking about. We need to get young guys better. It’s something we’ve been talking about, getting these young guys better. Even young guys have a little fight in them and it’s disappointing to see that.”

Philadelphia 76ers Forward Kyle Korver
On tonight's loss...
“This is that time of year, we’ve fought the mental battle for a long time now and we’ve got to keep it up because the last two games have been a let down. It just hasn’t been good basketball. We just have to keep on fighting.”

On the season
“We’ve just played two very sub-par games than what we’ve been playing and we’ve played two teams who are very talented, very focused and we’re fighting for playoff seeds. When you’ve got a team who on paper is a little more talented and are also playing harder, the last two nights are going to happen.”

Detroit Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders
On how Tayshaun Prince matches up vs. Andre Iguodala...
“Tayshaun is so athletic, he can use his athleticism and he’s so long so when he does get the ball he quick shoots him he doesn’t give him a chance to use his defensive quickness as much. When they take him out and put (Kyle) Korver in, we make a conscious effort to get Tay (Tayshaun Prince) the ball and they switch a lot of pick and rolls; he’s going to have a smaller guy on him, and we can run our offense though him and let other guys play off him.”

How it was to get up for the game given where it falls on the schedule...
“We jumped out well. I thought in the first half we were a little too spotty, played good, then backed off a little. We missed some shots and they had some guys…(Willie) Green was unconscious there in the first half, kept them in the game. As the game progressed our defensive intensity picked up, we got into our swarm mode in the 3rd and 4th quarters and basically took control of the game.”

On Richard Hamilton...
“We tried to get him a little more rest. We were fortunate enough to give Rip (Richard Hamilton) 31 minutes rather than 38. We have four games in five days. Not having Lindsay (Hunter) and Chauncey (Billups) at the end of the game. We had to keep Flip (Ronald Murray) in because we had no more smalls. It’s going to have to be a conscious effort to try and limit guys minutes in the mid 20s if we can which we did tonight.”

Detroit Pistons Center Chris Webber
On the game
“Our defense is something that we hang our hats on and that’s what we rely on. This team is unlike any other I’ve been on. You can count on our defense every night. I’ve been on three different teams and you can count on offense every night but counting on defense every night is a luxury so it just shows that we grind it out, stick to it and play our type of basketball and hang our hat on our defense.”

On his former team, Philadelphia 76ers
“I’m glad that I didn’t get to play the fourth quarter. It was good seeing the guys. I’m still friends with the guys on the team. They’re great guys, young guys, they’re talented. I think Andre Iguodala is going to be a great All- Star talent in this league. I love Kyle Korver, Sam (Samuel Dalembert) and those guys. I’m just glad we won and I’m ready to get on the road and try to get two tough games and come back here and in these last 30 days get to the playoffs.”

Detroit Pistons Guard Chauncey Billups
On his injury
“We are like a month away from the playoffs and I definitely don’t want to do anything that can hurt me. It’s getting better, it’s a (muscle) tissue situation so that is just something that you have to rest and you cant push it, push it, push it because it can get worse.”

On whether he can run at all...
“No, just a little bit, but not really running like game time type situations.”

On his return timetable...
“No, I don’t know right now. It’s just day-to-day, game-to-game. We will just see. Like I said I look at the big picture and of course if I can play and feel that I can be effective I’m going to get out there. If I can’t and it’s not ready, than it’s just not ready. I’m always going to be smart within a situation like that.”

76ERS PLAYER OF THE GAME

Willie Green
16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists,

Andre Miller fell just behind Willie Green with 16 points and remained consistant across the board with five rebounds and three assists in a tough game against the eastern conference leaders.

POSTGAME NOTES

Joe Smith pulled down a game-leading 17 rebounds tonight.

The Sixers have dropped four of their last five after winning seven in a row prior.

Andre Iguodala scored just 6 points… it marks the second time he’s failed to score in double-digits since his 4-point performance at Memphis on 1/17… tonight is just the fifth time this season Iguodala has scored below 10 points.