Detroit: John Kuester | Charlie Villanueva | Rodney Stuckey Charlotte: Paul Silas | Gerald Henderson | DJ AugustinPistons Head Coach John Kuester
(On playing second half) “Our second unit gave us a lot more energy. I thought Rodney Stuckey did an excellent job with 24 points and 11 assists. Our bench played exceptionally well - I think we had 68 bench points. We looked like a totally different team in the third period. We got a couple of stops in a row, so that helped us. ”
(On the bench play in tonight’s game) “We were just trying to come in and change the game. We gave up an early lead to them. They were up by 15 at the end of the first quarter. We let them score too many points. The second unit just tried to go in there and provide the team with a spark.”
(On Rodney Stuckey) “(Rodney) Stuckey has been terrific for us all year. Whichever role Coach (Keuster) gives him, as a starter or coming off the bench. He’s been real good for us.”
(On playing without pressure) “We never really had pressure. It was just to go out there and have some fun. The shot at making the playoffs is not there so we just go out there and play and have fun.”Pistons Guard Rodney Stuckey
(On his play in tonight’s game) “Just being aggressive. That’s my game. I’m just trying to finish the season out strong and on a positive note.”
(On taking advantage of the size of DJ Augustin) “Anytime a guard is really smaller than me, I try to put myself in the post and get some easy touches like that. Charlie (Villanueva) was making some big shots for us and our whole bench just came in and did a good job today.”
(On the team’s plans going forward) “We’re young, running a lot more and changing the atmosphere around here. We’ve got to get back to the old days of what Detroit basketball has been. So hopefully the new owner can come in and make some tremendous changes.”
(On tonight’s loss) “I thought we didn’t adhere to our principles defensively. It just seemed like we lost energy. I’m not really sure what happened to tell you the truth. When I subbed my second unit in, we just lost it and we weren’t able to recover.”
(On Rodney Stuckey) “When we put Gerald Henderson on him, we were good, but when they came back big, D.J. (Augustin) couldn’t guard the off-guard, so we had to put him on (Rodney) Stuckey and he is just so strong. When he’s hitting his jumper there’s basically little you can do. Kwame (Brown) would come over and help him and that’s the reason they got all those drop layups and offensive rebounds.”
(On what he is telling the team the next few games) “My philosophy has always been that I want them to play hard every game and I want them to think we can win. I don’t want to go into any game thinking that we are just going to play this out. That’s really what it’s all about. I don’t care how shorthanded we are. If I would have played my first unit the whole game I think we would have had a shot, but you can’t do that. I’m taking a look at everybody right now.”
(On the game) “I thought we would play better because we really gave Miami a good game. Certain guys rose to the occasion that didn’t do that well tonight. We got outscored by their bench 68 to 17. We want to win games, but the fact is I have to decide who we are going to keep and who we are not going to keep. I have to let them play. That’s just the way it is. I still want to win don’t get me wrong, but I do want to see the players also and see what they can do.”
(On the final two games of the season) “I’m just going to treat them like any other game. We can’t make the playoffs anymore, so it’s just about our team. We can get better in these next two games, we just (have to) play them to win. Obviously there are odd circumstances, but we’ve got enough guys and we’re going to go out there and try to compete.”
(On scoring 14 of his 21 points in the second half) “It wasn’t enough. I scored a few points, but we needed to play better defense. If I would have scored 30 in the second half it would have been a big deal, but we needed to play better defense and we didn’t do that.”
(On being outrebounded by the Pistons tonight) “I think they got 11 offensive rebounds. It added to some of our trouble, but that wasn’t the main reason that we lost.”
(On tonight’s loss) “It was a tough game. I feel like we played hard in the first half and in the second half we didn’t play as hard and we lost the game.”
(On his career-high 14 assists) “My teammates were doing a great job of getting open and they were knocking down shots. That was big for our team. We went on a big run and we had them by 15, but in the third quarter we kind of fell off.”
(On how the team is approaching the final two games of the season) “We’re just trying to get better. Going into these next two games it’s about moving our momentum into the summer and what we need to work on for next year. We want to go into these games and try to win. That’s the key to the team. Every game I think everybody wants to do well and we’re going to go out and play hard. If we just come together as a team, maybe we can end on a two-game winning streak.”