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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v HEATMay 31, 2006Flip SaundersDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Five Q. Can you just talk about what was going through your mind before the game knowing this was the first do-or-die situation? FLIP SAUNDERS: It's very similar, I think, to Game 6 we had in Cleveland. I think there was a calmness with me, I think calmness with our players, and I think we knew what was at hand, what we had to do. I told the players I felt comfortable because I felt the players were focused. I thought tonight both teams came out and played hard. Q. There have been some people questioning throughout the series whether Ben has been Ben. Can you just talk about tonight, whether Ben was Ben? FLIP SAUNDERS: Ben was Ben. He was extremely active. He worked hard on Shaquille, changed his looks defensively, attacked him more aggressively as far as offensively, getting involved, reading situations when Shaq was trying to get to open areas. I think there's no question, our whole team has been challenged here over the last 14 days, and Ben accepted the challenge at hand and got involved. Q. The fourth quarter defense, 13 points allowed, I think three points in the last seven minutes or something crazy like that. Any adjustments that you made, or was it just effort getting back to -- FLIP SAUNDERS: I think we finally got to the point where we put a little bit of pressure on them. We trapped Wade some, we were more aggressive in our carry defense, we were energetic, we had Tay guarding Wade at times, Chauncey guarding him at times. We gave him a lot of different looks so he just really couldn't get in a total comfort level. We did normally what we did over the regular season. In the fourth quarter we had the ability to turn it up. As I told our guys prior to the game, I said, we've been in a funk here for two weeks, it's time to get out of it and start playing. I thought the fourth quarter was the one situation defensively where we were in that mode, and we had some good success. Q. How much better is this team offensively when Tayshaun gets in a rhythm like that? FLIP SAUNDERS: Well, he carried us a lot. I think that any time you have a guy that makes as many -- he made a lot of shots and a lot of shots that were tough shots. There's no question if you have any player that can lead your team, can carry a team over stretches, he did for 48 minutes, it makes it easier for the other players to play off it. I thought we did something better tonight, our offense, we moved better. I think both teams struggled in the fourth quarter because like I said, both teams played so hard, exerted so much energy that sometimes the shot goes a little bit. We still had a couple guys we haven't gotten going, and that's going to be our main focus going down to Miami on Friday. Q. You guys are now 11 and 2 in elimination games. What is it about this group of players that can respond even when they look like they might be dead? FLIP SAUNDERS: Well, I think that they understand what's at hand, and I think that you can't be afraid to lose, afraid to fail. I think if you're looking at it where you're going to be afraid to fail, then usually you play timid, and this team has really not done that in these type of situations.
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