Detroit Pistons Head Coach Stan Van Gundy
Re: What was the key to the game: “The key to the game was earlier…to go up eleven and then we just thought the game was over and we quit playing and let Avery Bradley raise up and make threes and we threw the ball away. We didn't finish it well but we played the game well for forty-six and a half minutes. The key at the end was that the clock ran out.”
Re: Was this the best offensive performance of the year: “Oh yes no question. We had a lot of turnovers in the fourth but yes even with that, over the course of forty-eight minutes, no question, best offensive performance of the year.”
Detroit Pistons Guard Ish Smith
Re: What was going through your mind when you were sitting on the bench before you went out to play: “That is a talented team…but what we did was having everybody making runs and weather the storm and I think that is what we did a good job of. We also got our stops where we needed to. That was huge for us…that is going to be huge for us for the rest of the year.
Re: Offense did its work tonight too, what has been different the past couple of nights: “Defense. I really think our defense has ignited our offense. Even though we gave up 114 tonight, still defensively we got the stops we needed, got our run and that is what got us to the lead that we needed.”
Re: When the Celtics took the brief lead, what was the key to you guys' sparking another turn around: “Just staying calm. Just weathering the storm. Things are going to get crazy, that is a heck of a team we played against and you just have to be calm in those situations…and we did. We got some stops, executed on offense when we needed to, and got a little bit more separation…we kind of got sloppy at the end…but as far as getting the stops that we needed…we did a good job.”
Detroit Pistons Forward Tobias Harris
Re: About 27 hours ago you guys were 1 and 8 on the road and all of a sudden you beat two playoff teams, what has changed these last couple nights: “Well definitely our focus has changed. We have come in last night and tonight with a defensive mindset, and obviously tonight was not our best defensive game but we hustled and we kept fighting all night…We are playing more together out there on the floor, We are moving the basketball on the offensive end, we are getting easy looks, and we are embracing each other out there and that is a really good sign.”
Re: You're 10 and 10 without Reggie, what is a big picture assessment of where you are at and where you are headed: “Obviously Reggie is not playing with us but we have to continue to progress and there have been some ups and downs but now we really have a chance to take that next step for the team. That is how we look at it…the gradual progression. I think we are getting a good rhythm and it is always good to win on the road and find ways to win on the road, so that is a major key to being successful in the league.”
Boston Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens
Re what went will in fourth: “I thought that group really defended with incredible energy and led to some offensive possessions. We were moving the ball, we found the right shot over and over. And even when things didn't go our way with that group, it didn't seem to lower its head; it just kind of moved on to what's next. And we played a team that's playing really well. I thought they were terrific last night in Charlotte. They carried that right over to tonight. They played terrific and made shots. In a game like that, you've got to be even more in their airspace and you've got to capitalize even more on the offensive end. Otherwise, you're probably in trouble.”
Re would he like to see Al Horford take more than five shots: “That's a good question, and that's the first thing I saw when I looked at the stat sheet. It's not enough; I know that. So we need to do a better job of making sure that we help put him in position to be successful.”
Re Detroit hitting mid-range shots: “I think the thing that you want to do is you want to be there with the opportunity to challenge and contest jump shots, and obviously those long twos are shots that you want to – if you contest those well, you feel good about them taking them. But that's what they make, and they really do a good job with that. I mean, Marcus Morris is a handful for a lot of threes because of his ability to post, back you down, and just shoot over you. But then his ability now to really score and make shots in transition as well – he just keeps adding to his game. I thought (Kentavious) Caldwell-Pope had some great moments. Tobias (Harris). They're a hard team to match up with, but again, if you're playing a team that feels good about themselves – which they do – and is physical, you've got to really get into their airspace. And we just didn't quite do it enough of the time. But I don't want to take away from their play; their level of play was high tonight.”
Re did he wish he put Isaiah Thomas in sooner in the fourth: “What'd he come in with five? He was at the scorer's table with six to come in. Or whatever it was. That team came back, it was tied up. I mean, he played the whole third quarter. He's got to get some rest. So I'm not too concerned. Maybe if we started that quarter on a 6-4 run instead of 11-0.”
Re any disappointment in losing to a team on the second night of a back-to-back: “I don't think any of that stuff's predictable. I don't want to make excuses for us, them, or anybody else. We had a game to play; 48 minutes, they played better than we did. So that's the end of that story. We've seen us play really well on the second night of back-to-back, and not play well with four days off. So I don't know – I understand that we're all dissecting those even more than we ever have, but we've also seen kind of those anomalies or those things happen on the second night of back-to-backs.”
Boston Celtics Guard Avery Bradley
Re: Rebounding – are Pistons too big for you guys: “No I think they played hard the entire game and they were making shots.”
Re: How disappointing is tonight: “Its disappointing, but like I said they were making shots. Hats off to those guys; they played well, their starters played well. Just got to move on to the next game.”
Re: Shots made from you in 4th what changed: “I wasn't making shots I was just able to knock some down a little too late.”
Re: Did you feel shots were rushed: “Yeah we were trying to get it all back at once, but I still like the effort that we played with at the end of the game. All the guys still played hard to try and win the game.”
Boston Celtics Forward Kelly Olynyk
Re: Coming off bench getting it going: “Felt good. I got some open looks and just kept rolling from there.”
Re: Take a while to get shoulder to get back into it: “Yeah I mean I haven't played basketball in six months. Take a little to get back into the groove.”
Re: Elbow feeling: “Its good. Its obviously tender, split open, but Ed (Lacerte) has been doing a good job of keeping it under wraps.”
Re: Defense played like you wanted: “Yeah they made a lot of good shots. They made a lot of two's that were contested and we kind of let them get going, gave them a couple of easy ones in the first half unfortunately. They made shots, they made shots when they needed to make shots and they made them four quarters in a row.”
Boston Celtics Center Al Horford
Re: Only 5 shots in the game has that ever happened: “Yeah that has happened before. I think that I probably could've got more shots but at the end of the day we needed to be better on the defensive end and we just didn't get the job done on defense.”
Re: Sign that ball is sticking a little bit: “It was probably the way that they were playing us a little more. They would double me a lot and forcing me to pass the ball out or on the pick and pops when we've been able to give me the ball up top their guards were even switching that tonight. I think it was just a mixture of that. As a team we just have to make sure that we move the ball. When we have high assists usually we have good nights.”
Re: Them hitting good shots/how much on defense: “You got to give them credit because they hit some tough, tough shots. I felt like our guys were there; I mean the way that they were shooting there was just no room for error and I'm going to look at the film tonight and just see how we can be better and we can impact those shots. They had their way with us from the beginning.”
