Detroit Pistons Head Coach Dwane Casey
On the game:
“I thought our guys laid it on the line tonight. We were 14 down, the guys came in and gave it their heart and soul. I thought tonight was one of our best screening games as far as our big setting screens, getting guys open. I don’t know what the percentage was for making the shots. But, again, you’ve got to put that and IQ together. You can shoot yourself in the foot in a game like this every possession. We did some things that are correctable, if we want to correct it. And, if we’re serious about winning at a high level, we’ve got to use our minds and that intensity, effort and focus (that) I thought we had to put ourselves in a position to win.”
On whether he had a chance to look at Evan Fournier’s play at the end:
“Everybody looks at the last play. It was way more possessions before that that we did some things that get you beat. That play I thought Stanley (Johnson) got off, gave him a little edge in that situation, but again he made a tough shot. The games don’t come down to that one play. Those things, like you said, go either way. The other plays down the stretch that we’ve got to execute, run our stuff, when we did, we got fouled, we executed the play, got to the free throw line, tied the game. Just do the simple things. But again, we have to learn.”
His perspective of how Terrence Ross got free late:
“I’ve got to look at it again. You’ve got to keep everybody in front of you and not let them get behind you. In that situation, where they’re going full court, those things I’ve got to look at and see exactly what happened.”
On whether their body language was better today:
“Totally. Again, I’m proud of our team—the way they competed and fought. Again, like I said, we takeaway some of the IQ situations we did down the stretch that hurt you, that get you beat. I love the effort. Even if we lost by whatever, five points, six points, I loved our approach, our disposition. I thought we played with some toughness, some grit. They could have folded in with 14 down, but that’s the way the NBA is. You’ve got to make sure you do the IQ thing in the right situations, certain situations whether it’s on the defensive end or on the offensive end, if we’re serious about making the playoffs, being a playoff team or if we want to be pretenders.”
DETROIT PISTONS GUARD REGGIE BULLOCK: (on losing this game when it came down to last 2.5 seconds of game) “It is frustrating seeing that we just put ourselves in a position…we played hard tonight…we put a lot of will into it…we just have to clean up a lot of our mistakes. We just have to clean up those little mistakes right here at the end to be able to pull out a win and put ourselves in a great position.”
“I felt like that was a start to us getting our mojo back. Everybody knew pretty much how we wanted to come into this game and compete a lot harder and put a lot more effort into it. I felt like we did that tonight and Coach had mentioned just putting our brains with it and just trying to do it for 48 minutes. But we definitely competed hard and put ourselves in a great position and they just pulled it out.”
(on his clutch free throws late in 4th quarter after being fouled on 3FGA) “No pressure at all. I just knew I was going to make all three of them. I felt I am a shooter. My teammates expect me to make it and I expect myself to make them so there was no pressure at all. I see myself as a great free throw shooter and just had a great position to put our team to tie the game up and I just knocked all three down.”
(on Coach feeling team was able to clean up their turnovers tonight compared to last outing) “Yeah we did. Last game we had 20 something turnovers (22) but we didn’t turnover as much tonight (13) but we keep chopping down and give ourselves more possessions and be able to score buckets and put ourselves in a position to win games.”
(on production Kennard’s recent play has meant to the bench) “It means a lot. I see like a clone of myself out there anytime you see a look you let me go, him and Lang (Galloway) that’s what we do. We are the shooters of the team and we just have to be consistent and continue to knock down shots, space the floor for our teammates that are beasts down low and continue to do that throughout the season.”
“We definitely have to remain positive. There are a lot more games to go. Right now this puts us two games under .500 so we definitely have to continue to stay positive right now and we will get this game back and prepare and get ready for Milwaukee and compete against them. We just have to take it one game at a time and just try to keep adding wins and get over the hump.”
DETROIT PISTONS GUARD LUKE KENNARD: “It is tough. The way we fought today and fought back into the game it is tough. It is tough. It really is. I know the guys, we walked in here (locker room) and guys were down. We played hard. We had a chance, but to lose like that, that is a tough one.”
“It’s not like I am doing anything different. I am continuing to be aggressive but the way our “bigs” were screening today was unbelievable. If they screen like that we can be a real dangerous offensive team. They are capable every single night. We tell them that, but they created a lot of offense for us just by screening. They may not get the ball but they know if we score and they set a good screen, they should get the points. They did a great job of screening.”
“I’ve watched a lot of film over the past few games, and that is the main thing I have been focusing on is not being ready to shoot. Taking shots that I should be taking that I haven’t been, so that has been my focus and just being aggressive and having that little killer mentality and just getting to certain spots and getting shots up. I have been working on it and it has got to continue.”
Orlando Magic Head Coach Steve Clifford
What did you see from Aaron Gordon tonight, especially on the defensive end of the floor?
“I mean I think a terrific all-around game. I mean Blake’s 4-10, 1-2 (from three), I thought he had to work for everything he got and then he had a double-double so I thought it wasn’t just his defense. You know, he scored very efficiently. He’s 8-15, he got to the free-throw line seven times, he had 10 rebounds – I mean he played a great all-around game.”
You know how clutch Evan is, do you always want the ball in his hands in those situations?
“I mean he was the first option and then he showed great poise, two and a half seconds he took two dribbles, which I would say is about how many you could take and then that’s not an easy shot. I mean that’s like a, without looking at the film I’m going to say that’s a 15-16-foot floater, which to be honest as good as these guys are, there’s not many guys that make those.”
Is he the type that it doesn’t matter what kind of game, he wants the ball in his hands?
“He wants the ball at the end, there’s no question about it, no question. And he’s got courage so yeah, make or miss, if he gets a shot like that you’re going to feel comfortable that there’s a good chance he’s going to make it.”
Do you have any word on the injuries to Jonathon Simmons or D.J. Augustin?
“We won’t know probably until tomorrow, until they get there and get treatment and everything like that.
Talk a little more about D.J. tonight and how he really had to step up after Jonathon Simmons got hurt.
“I thought he was enormous and he had again, I don’t want to say it last time I said it I got the quarters wrong. He made the majority -- Vooch had a huge jumper obviously there late, but I thought D.J. really created. Aaron Gordon had the big three late, but he really created I think the quality shots that we had in the last six minutes of the game.”
Orlando Magic Guard D.J. Augustin
On Evan Fournier’s game-winning shot…
“Evan’s always been like that. He’s the type of player that no matter how the game is going for him, if he’s making shots or missing shots; when the game is on the line, he’s willing to take those big shots. It’s great to have him on our team.”
On his own leadership of the team…
“It feels good but it’s a long season. I’m trying to take it one game at a time and just stay focused. You can never get too high and never get too low throughout this season. Just try to be consistent.”
On how it feels to win the game…
“It’s great man. Those are the types of games that we’ve got to win. That’s a good team over there. That’s a good win for us and a big win for us moving forward. For us to go out there, compete, and fight hard all of the way until the end means a lot.”
On Aaron’s Gordon defense against Blake Griffin…
“AG’s (Aaron Gordon) been playing great offensively and defensively for us. Even in the last game against Kawhi Leonard, he played great defense on him. He’s been doing a great job on those all-star players and he’s just proving himself to be a great defender.”
Orlando Magic Guard Evan Fournier
On Coach Clifford’s confidence in him during late game situations…
“It’s good. I’ve really embraced those moments. I’m glad that Coach drew a play for me and the execution was great.”
On his game-winning shot…
“I was actually thinking about shooting the ball like a jumper because you can rarely get to the cup in late games – I would rather have a clean shot. [Stanley Johnson] definitely opened up too much, I had a little bit of space on my right side, and I decided to float it in.”
On maintaining the team’s momentum after winning the last two games…
“It’s going to be tough going to Charlotte. We lost 12 straight and every time we’ve played these guys, they’ve crushed us; dominating us physically and mentally. It’s going to be hard tomorrow to be honest, especially on a back-to-back, but the main thing is to keep playing the same way. We’ve got to be more consistent. We’ve had really good stretches where we played tough, where we played with intensity, where we played with focus and some stretches where we weren’t as much in it. This road trip is going to be hard but we’ll see.”