NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 12, 2005

Chauncey Billups

CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: You know, today I thought we came out focused and ready. They delivered the first blow, obviously and you know, every time we chipped away at it, they delivered another one. We tried to help on a lot of the penetration plays with Manu and Tony, and when we did today, hit those shots on kick-outs so that made it tough, that made it so the next couple of times, we didn't help as much, and tried to get back to the shooters also, and they still made plays. So they were good. They were good. They only made, you know, 29 field goals, but still win by 20 points.

CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: I thought we got a little frustrated. We got a little frustrated. I thought we did a great job of cutting that lead at the seven- or eight-minute mark, maybe six in the fourth quarter. I know we cut it to eight. I think up to that point, they probably had scored maybe two or four points in the fourth quarter or something that wasn't that much. You know, we were kind of on a run. Then, you know, it was free throw after free throw, free throw after free throw, cutting it, and when you stop the play like that shooting free throws, it stops your run and then you, without even shooting the ball, you start to accumulate points, accumulate points. It was tough.

CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: You know, we did, we made a constant effort to try to get the ball inside and play the inside-out basketball. I thought it worked for us, you know, Rasheed was great. He got us off to a good start offensively, you know, where we needed the ball. I thought the second half, you know, Rip stepped up and got a lot more aggressive, just trying to make something happen really. I got a little more aggressive. Just, you know, really it was like a desperate -- it was kind of in a desperate phase, you know, trying to make something happen out there. But, you know, needless to say, it wasn't enough.

CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: We are going home, where we play very well. We're very happy to be going home. This team came out and took care of business. We're down 0-2 right now. They came and they won on their home court. We've got to try to do the same. But we've got to take it one quarter at a time. We can't take it one game at a time. We've got to play quarters now and we've got to be very focused on short spans, quarters. If we can do that, you know, we can get this series to swing back in our direction. If we can't, we're going to be in trouble.

CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: They did. And you've got to give them credit, you've got to give them credit for that. Every time we made a run, every time we showed we were trying to get back into the game, they made a huge play. They made a huge play, whether it was a steal or a three, they did it. When you get into a groove like that, you know, it seems like you get all of those kind of little breaks. They played good and you can't take anything away from them. We'll be happy to get back to Detroit.