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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS v PISTONS

May 22, 2007

Chauncey Billups

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Practice Day

Q. Now that you've had a chance to think about that game last night, thoughts today? Kind of a strange game but in the end you guys did what you had to do.
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: It was. You play the game and you haven't seen it, and you're like, man, that was an ugly game. Then you look at the tape and you're like, maybe it wasn't that bad. But that game, it really was that bad, you know what I'm saying, for us. We executed, and my performance taking care of the ball and trying to set the table, it was pretty bad. But we came out with the win, and that's all really that matters.

Q. What was it about those traps they were throwing at you that gave you some problems?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Well, I think my angles was just bad on it, my decisions wasn't fast enough on it. They were long. They've got a lot of long guys, and it was good. It worked; it was effective.

Q. How likely is it that there will be another game where you don't take many shots?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Well, that's really not me. I've had a lot of games where I've taken less than ten shots, you know what I'm saying, but when I do do that, we've got at least three guys rolling. Last night we only had one guy, Rip, who pretty much carried us. You probably won't see that too often.

Q. Rip said that you guys do a great job of calming each other down, that kind of thing. He said that you're normally the one calming him down. What was he doing for you last night?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: He told me, settle down, relax, make the play, don't worry about it. We're there for one another like that, especially when one of us is struggling, the other one is always there to have his back. That's why we're such a great tandem.

Q. Is that something that (Inaudible).
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: No, they usually showed real hard, but they never really trapped it hard. No matter what pick-and-roll we was running, it was high side, low, it didn't matter, they were just trying to take me away. I really don't blame them. But it won't be that effective anymore, I know that.

Q. What does it say about you guys to not play the prettiest game in the world but to still come out and get a win in Game 1?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Good teams win ugly games, man. Just find a way. You've just got to find a way sometimes, and that's exactly what we did yesterday. I thought our second half was pretty good, considering how bad the first half was. It was pretty good. We came out, turned the tide once again in the second half.
Once we finally took the lead, we never looked back.

Q. Flip said that you guys were a little surprised by LeBron's lack of aggressiveness and then that threw off some things that you guys had planned on him being more aggressive.
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Yeah, we planned on him being a lot more aggressive, and because he wasn't, a lot of the things that we planned on doing or talked about, we didn't even have to go to them as far as defending him. So I'm sure we'll have the opportunity the next game. He's going to be very aggressive, they're talking about having him shoot free throws and all of that. I'm sure he'll find a way to get on that free-throw line the next game. It doesn't really matter, we've just got to play.

Q. As players, LeBron passing off that last shot to Donyell, did that surprise you?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: I thought it was a great play. I thought it was a great play. It was horrible defense by us, but it was a great play. It's been an ugly game, and you've got one of your best three-point shooters wide open. He just had six or seven in the last game. So I thought it was an excellent play. I think everybody just -- they want him to be the man so bad and want him to shoot every single time, and that's just unfair. The kid made a great, great play. If they would have made that shot, then they would have been talking about how wonderful the play was.
I'm just glad they missed it.

Q. How can you help get McDyess and Chris going?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: I think a lot of that is going to be on me, like the pick-and-rolls and the trap, you know what I'm saying, getting some early throw-backs, trying to get them going, just on pick-and-rolls and stuff like that. They played behind in the post, throw it in, let them go a little bit. We'll find out. They'll be fine.

Q. Did you enjoy the back and forth battle in the fourth quarter more than these blow-out games that you had over this playoff series?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Yeah, that was. That was exciting. We scored, they scored, one big play after another. Both teams, really. That was a lot of fun. I'm just glad we came out on top.

Q. Did last night feel more like playoff game from (Inaudible)?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: It did, it did. Obviously we don't shoot for games in the 70s, but it's like that sometimes, you know what I'm saying? That's the one thing I love about our team is we can love the games in the 70s and 80s and we can win in the 100s. We're versatile that way. You've just got to stay aggressive.

Q. Think there will be any more surprises in Game 2 because it seemed like each team surprised each other last night?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: I don't think so. I don't think so. I think we'll see a better effort probably on both sides, both teams. I think it's going to be a battle.

End of FastScripts

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