Detroit: John Loyer | Greg Monroe | Josh Smith
Milwaukee: Frank Vogel | Paul George | Lance Stephenson | David West
“(On Paul George’s long three-pointer) It was a big play in the game. I thought down the stretch, our guys did a fabulous job guarding out on the perimeter. We made them take, and a few made, tough shots. Down the stretch, you’ve got to rebound the basketball.
(On Detroit’s start) I thought Josh (Smith) got us off to that great start. We had good pace, we threw it up the floor, we attacked. I can’t fault the way our guys played, they competed their butts off against the best team in the East.”
“(On the lengthy Pacers’ possessions at the end of the game) You can pick out a lot of plays throughout a game, but yeah us not rebounding there at the end hurt. But there are plays here and there that could have made a big difference. We are a few plays away from being in a totally different position against a lot of teams, but especially against this team.
(On their good start to the game) I thought Josh had it going good, especially in terms of being aggressive and scoring. I thought I had a pretty good game going myself. We just wanted to come out and attack and be aggressive and I thought we did that.”
“(On the difference in the game) I would say it was on that possession when we didn’t get any rebounds and we gave them a lot of second chance shots down the stretch. Especially on the road, you can’t do that, keep giving teams second chance shots.
(On them playing the Pacers tough and having a bad season) Our season definitely could have been better. We have taken a lot of lumps and bruises throughout the year. We’ve been an inconsistent team all year. And that’s been our main problem.”
“Good win. We took a step in the right direction. It won’t snap back into place after being out of rhythm the last two weeks. We’re getting open shots and that’s encouraging. I thought we were playing the right way, work our tail off defensively, trust the passing and results will come. The bench was really good. Ian (Mahinmi) played great basketball. He was terrific.
(On Paul George) I think he’s sharing the basketball. He’s the one who made the biggest shift as a facilitator and playmaker. He’s creating a lot of stuff for his teammates.
(On Lance Stephenson) He really changed the game. He came out playing hard but not confident. Lance had a burst that gave us a huge lift.”
“It was a good quality win against a quality ball club. We did a lot of things well tonight. There are a lot of areas where we still need to get better. But a win is a win in this league and we’ll take it. Any time a locker room can be positive and just have good vibes in it, especially around this time going into the playoffs, it’s great for the team.
(On the team’s scoring balance) Everybody contributed. That’s us when we’re playing well and playing at a high pace; everybody’s a part of the team and everybody’s contributing. That’s the kind of night it was for us tonight.”
“We’re happy to get a W, but we have a bigger goal. We want to be better than we were today. We’re happy but we’re not too happy.
(On what the difference was tonight) We made a lot of changes. We have to get back on track. We have a big goal. We have too many pieces and we can’t let this opportunity slip.”
“We just put together a more solid game than we’ve been playing. We knocked down some shots. They got some tough offensive rebounds but we were able to limit them in key moments.
(Is it a step in the right direction?) We’re just trying to focus on playing better basketball than we have been playing. We’re just trying to put together solid possessions and hopefully possession after possession leads to better games.
(On learning from the recent rough patch) We just have to regroup and keep pushing and keep working and get ourselves going again. We’re trying to play solid basketball heading into the playoffs.
(On Paul George’s 40-foot shot) He was in a tough spot. When he got the ball there was like two seconds left (on the shot clock). The shot clock didn’t reset right away. He did the right thing giving us a chance at the basket.
(On going to Toronto) We’re just trying to win a road game. At this moment we haven’t won a road game in quite some time. We have to be able to put together some solid quarters, some solid possessions, and give ourselves a chance to win.”