Detroit: Maurice Cheeks | Josh Smith | Will Bynum
Phoenix: Jeff Hornacek | P.J. Tucker
(On the close game): “It’s unreal. They made shots though. They continued to make shots and we had some wide-open shots. I think KCP (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) had one. Kyle (Singler) had one. Will (Bynum) had a couple. We didn’t make ours. They made theirs. (The game) just turned in their favor. That’s the way our fourth quarters have been going here. Fortunately, Josh (Smith) made those two shots.”
(On Andre Drummond’s shot blocking last two games): “He’s reacting a lot, covering our paint up. This is growing up. Early on we talked about him not moving over and covering up the paint when guys drive the lane. Last night he did it, tonight he did it. It’s just growing up and learning the game a little bit better.”
(On the final basket) “I wanted to be aggressive when I caught it I didn’t want to settle; I just took it and drove the basketball.”
(On the Suns’ play) “It’s just basketball, NBA basketball; it’s a game of runs and we were able to make another play on top of them and be able to get the win.”
(On big leads dwindling) “It’s the NBA; it’s a game of runs. The teams are talented so the teams are going to go on runs. They fight, they play hard, they’re going to make runs but tonight we responded.”
(On line up combinations) “It’s not what the other teams are doing I think it’s what we’re doing it’s tough to defend. Sometimes in those fourth quarters Brandon (Jennings) was alone out there as far as creating and that’s kind of tough on him. So when we’re out there we help him out a lot and that spreads the court out gives us opportunities.”
(On Josh Smith): "He made a great shot. The three was a bad break on us. We had them stopped and we lost the handle of the ball, they threw it out and they hit it at the end. Gerald (Green) came through and made those three free throws. You have to give them credit. They came out from the start of the game and went after us."
(On Comeback): "They did not quit so I guess that is it, but we are past that. We have had a lot (of games) where they go in afterwards and say we should have won that game. You have to do that all in 48 minutes. You can’t think you can turn it on for 24 minutes and win the game."
(On Pistons front line): "They are big. They did not allow us anything inside in the first half. (Andre) Drummond was blocking shots. With (Greg) Monroe they are long and they get offensive rebounds and then you have Josh Smith playing the three spot."
(On game): "We fought. We usually do when we get down early and we found our way back in the game. Nine times out of 10 you're not going to win those. We've done that before and came back and won down 21, but this team (Pistons) got it going early and it was hard to turn it off once they got it going. It was a tough loss, but we have to get ready for the next game.
(On tough loss): "The Josh (Smith) three and the one at the end, those aren't the shots that beat us. Those lay-ups, those dunks, those fast-break points; those are the points that beat you, not the shots at the end of the game.