Detroit Pistons Head Stan Van Gundy:
On the third quarter:”Yeah we gave them 20 points in the first five minutes. We came out of the locker room and didn’t want to make an effort and that’s why we gave up 39 points in the quarter. If you just look at the numbers, the two areas where they beat us was free throws and turnovers. We turned the ball over 16 times and they only turned it over eight times. They hit 24 free throws and we only hit 10. That’s 14 more points. That’s the difference in the game.”
On the possibility of going back to his bench to finish the game:”Well I thought Stanley [Johnson] and Brandon [Jennings] did a good job against the other teams back up guys. Everything is an option and everyone is viable. I went back to Aron [Baynes] so everyone was an option. We let those guys finish the game in Memphis and it didn’t work so tonight we went back to our guys and that didn’t work either.”
On the last possession of the game:”We played a great defensive possession on the last play. Marcus [Morris] did everything you could ask someone to do on defense during that last shot. Reggie missed two layups on drives, so you know it comes down to make or miss. In my opinion we got better shots than they did but Danilo Gallinari made a huge one. I’m not worried about that though because the game was decided in the third quarter.”
Detroit Pistons Guard Reggie Jackson:
On the third quarter:”We want to hold teams to under 25 or possibly 22 points a quarter. 39 points just isn’t acceptable. The third quarter was just out of hand and we need to come out better. We did everything we needed to do early, we talked and communicated. We had a nine point lead at half and we just need to play defense because that was ridiculous getting out scored by 19 points in the third quarter.”
On the last play of the game:”Man I am just tired of this. I have the most drives in the league and I average maybe three free throws a game. That is just crazy. Gallinari shoots 16. He is a great player, but the guy shoots 16. I attack the basket more than most people in the league and I can’t get a free throw. I attack it more than Gallinari does but he shoots 16 and I shot two free throws. We shot 19 as a team and he shoots 16 by himself. That makes no sense to me.”
Detroit Pistons Forward Stanley Johnson:
On who should have played in the last couple of minutes:”That’s a coaching decision. All we can do is what we can control. I don’t think the numbers lie about what’s going on the court. All we can do is our job to stint them to get back in the game and win the game for us. As long as we do our job and worry about what we can control, we can be a better team. That’s holding ourselves accountable first and then holding each other accountable second.”
On Reggie Jackson’s frustration about Gallinari shooting 16 free throws:”Why are we worried about what the refs are calling? That has nothing to do with it. We are playing basketball. We are fouling him. I fouled him twice right away. Whether the call it or not because sometimes they don’t call it on me but I use my hands. Regardless of everything Gallinari did all night, we were still in position to win the game. To worry about what he is doing and not worrying about what we are doing is stupid. We cannot control what the refs do every night. They missed four or five calls tonight. That is not our prerogative. We have to worry about what we can do to win the game.”
On start of the third quarter:”That is our fault. Stan is saying exactly what we need to do and we aren’t going on the court and applying it right away so he is overly frustrated at this point and I see it. I don’t blame him for being overly frustrated because we aren’t doing our job as professionals. I thought we played ok but those stints that we have means we can’t be serious about what we are doing when we mess with the game. A 39 point quarter is never good for us. When Stan comes into the locker room and says every time to be ready in the third quarter, he can’t come out and play for us. He is telling us everything to do. He is the most animated and trying to motivate us to play and we are not going out there and being professionals and playing. Every time we don’t give effort, we are going to give up 30 point quarters.”
Denver Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone:
On the third quarter:”We defended. It’s the second or third game in a row where we’ve allowed our opponent to open the game up, just to do what they want. We talked at halftime and we have to take a lot more pride in our defense. In the third quarter I think we outscored them 39-20; that is a product of our defense and running off of our defense. Even in the half court I think we played with much greater pace; the first half we held it very slow, Detroit controlled the tempo. To come out in the third quarter and play as well as we did was great to see.”
On performances from the young players in the third quarter:”When that group plays as well as they do, you want to ride that but you have to get them out at some point to give them some rest; we go to our bench to start the fourth quarter and it’s a 14-2 run for Detroit so we just gave it all back. What I was most proud about though is from the 7:08 mark to the 2:08 mark, we held them scoreless. Timely stops down the stretch, big rebounds, it’s always good to win a close game. We’ve lost a few close ones so to come out on top tonight is well deserved and I give our players all the credit.”
On the young players’ contribution to the team:”For young guys, they are very mature. Nikola [Jokic], Emmanuel [Mudiay] and Gary Harris in particular, have gotten quality minutes this year and I think because of the experience they’ve gotten, they are never afraid of the moment. I thought Emmanuel made a couple of big plays, Jokic plays like a 10 year veteran – the guy is unbelievable – and Gary Harris continues to play at a high level on both ends of the floor. It was a team win but I’m very proud of our young guys because they are maturing and growing right in front of our eyes.”
Denver Nuggets Forward Danilo Gallinari:
On the clutch shot late in the fourth quarter to take the lead:”It was not a set play when I caught the ball, I got the ball with four seconds left on the shot clock and so I had to make a move in a tough spot but it went in.”
On tonight’s bounce back win:”This win means a lot but like I said we still have some things we have to get better at and we can’t allow ourselves to get down in the first quarter like we did tonight. We have to play for the full 48 minutes.”Denver Nuggets Guard Emmanuel Mudiay:
On free-throw shooting:”I have been working on it in the gym, I knew it was only a matter of time but I will keep working on it because I’m not happy where I am at but the main thing is we got the win.”
On going into the third quarter being aggressive:”I felt like I had to be more aggressive for us because Gallo was the only one being aggressive and I knew they were going to come out there and be real tough on him. I knew with me being aggressive, it would open a lot of things. Nikola Jokic and Gary Harris both came in also and started playing well.”
