Detroit: Maurice Cheeks | Josh Smith | Brandon Jennings
Philadelphia: Brett Brown | Thaddeus Young | Evan Turner
Q: I know that was a much-needed win. What did you like most about the win tonight?
Well, we got down big and we were able to fight back, and we just continued fighting from there. When we went into halftime, I thought we were playing pretty good, and we came back and just continued playing the way were playing that first half.
Q: You haven't been able to celebrate a victory in a while. It's got to be nice, especially coming back here to do it.
It didn't matter where this victory came from or where we were. We just needed to get a win and get back on the winning side.
Q: You had five blocks and you played a lot of power forward tonight. Is it easier for you to protect the rim playing power forward rather than small forward?
Yeah, because the majority of the time, the guy that you're guarding is around the rim as opposed to having to having to guard a spot-up jump shooter that you have to be a little closer to him. I just wanted to be active, fly all over the place, and set the mark on what we needed to do to win.
Q: What was your frustration level like early in the first quarter? Most say that you were playing hard and the rest of the team wasn't necessarily, and being down 19-4.
I was frustrated because of the fact that we were on a six-game losing streak and it was disheartening to see us not be able to come out with the kind of desperate energy we needed to get out of this skid.
Q: You guys have been talking for a while about more team play, playing together and playing the entire game. I know it wasn't the start you wanted, but overall was this one of the better examples of team play that you've seen in a while?
Yeah, just us, we kept fighting to the end. The second half we had was probably one of the best second halves we've had all season.
Q: Talk about having Will Bynum out there for a lot of minutes. How did that help you?
It helped a lot, just the fact that we had another ball handler out there in the fourth quarter so I didn't have to always have the ball in my hands. We were able to take turns. Will did his thing. I did my thing, and everyone just fed off that.
Q: Their length seemed to get to you in the second half. Maybe they made some adjustments defensively.
I think their length bothered us the whole game. They had 25 offensive rebounds and we go into the game where you know that’s the problem, it’s going to be a problem and it ended up being a huge problem. I thought to hold them to a field goal percentage in the first half, especially a reasonable percentage, was a good effort, but we just couldn’t box out. If you look at their offensive rebounds and their blocked shots, we struggled. I think at the end of the day, those are the two stats that stick out the most tonight.
Q: Your guards did a good job finishing at the rim in the first half, and then the second half they seemed to disappear a little bit. Was that something on their end?
I think so. They do a good job of purposely baiting you late or that’s just the way the game played out. We were able to get to the rim and then they just came and made great plays at the rim. We ended up with 64 paint points, which is a big number. But we give them credit, especially stopping Michael [Carter-Williams] and making plays at the rim. To end the game with 14 blocked shots, that’s a huge number.
Q: It seemed like the difference in the game was rebounding.
Yeah, I would probably definitely say that. The difference in the game was the rebounding and I would say Brandon Jennings got off and hit about three or four threes and that was the changing point in the game. I think the rebounding though, we were still in the game. We were still trading baskets and stuff like that, but I think the biggest part was when BJ got going.
Q: What changed for you guys after you got out so quick in the first half? What changed for you guys between the first half and the second half?
I think we got away from what we usually do, which is push the basketball and create an up-tempo game, just use our pace against them. They kind of started getting us into their half court set and started using screen and roll where guys were helping and it was either a give or take where you either guard [Andre] Drummond going to the basket or you’re going to guard Brandon Jennings or Will Bynum going to the basket. It was one of those cat-and-mouse games, and they played it well.
Q: You guys started fast and furious and it looked like the speed game was going to win this one out. What do you think?
They made a run we couldn’t come back from. When they made their hits, they were big. [Brandon] Jennings came out and hit some big three’s, I had it on the break and I lost it. That was a big run right there. When they made their hits, it was lethal. At the same time, they just kept staying on the boards and giving themselves opportunities, and that was it.