Rip Hamilton interview after Pistons-Celtics Game 2
InsideHoops.com | May 23, 2008
In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Detroit Pistons won 103-07 on the road against the Boston Celtics. Pistons shooting guard Richard Hamilton took 16 shots for 25 points, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Here's what he said after the game:
Question: Everybody is talking about how the Boston overloaded the strong side in the last game and managed to shut you guys down pretty well. How did you attack that defense tonight?
Richard Hamilton: Well, I thought that, you know, everybody knows what they do defensively, how they load up on the strong side. But I thought the thing that we did tonight that was different than Game 1, when we made cuts and we made moves, it was all in motion. It wasn't just like a guy got the ball on the wing, allow them to set their defense, one guy on the corner, now they're good at that.
But we just kept motion, coming off screens, coming off curls, making them react. I thought the guys did an excellent job of moving the ball.
Question: Talk about the magnitude of the win.
Hamilton: It's a big win, but we don't settle for less. We don't look at it as undefeated or at home, we looked at it as an opportunity to get a win. I thought guys knocked them down. We played with a lot of intensity and got a win.
Question: Could you talk a little bit about Chauncey tonight. We talked about him trying to get back to being himself, and it seemed tonight he did a lot of things you guys are accustomed to seeing.
Hamilton: One thing I told Chaunce, you ain't got to be over aggressive out there. You can take your time and be the captain of our ship, and we'll try to do a good job of helping you out on the offensive end and the defensive end. I thought tonight he just stayed poised, stayed poised, directed us, put guys in positions to succeed.
Qusetion: Rip, everyone has been talking in this series about the Celtics' big three and you guys are used to this place in a series where there's stars on the other team. What do you guys do time after time that maybe doesn't get the big headlines?
Hamilton: Well, like I said, first of all, I thought Stuck was terrific tonight. I think he was big off the bench. Huge, making plays, when we needed plays to be made. You know, it's always a good challenge. You look at the team with Ray and Kevin and Paul, it's a challenge for us. I mean, we live for this, you know. It's exciting for us, and we just did a good job of coming out and trying to take care of business?
Question: Rip, just talk about what they should expect, the atmosphere on Saturday, and how good are you guys at home.
Hamilton: It's going to be crazy. We've got the best fans in the NBA. Everybody knows about the Palace at Auburn Hills. We're geeked about getting back to our home court. Our fans are excited, and now it's our job to go and take care of home court.
Question: Rip, talk about your game down the stretch, particularly that shot right at the buzzer.
Hamilton: Well, the one thing I wanted to do was stay poised. When I was coming off curls, KG and PJ was trying to hedge out real hard. So I believe in Dyess and believe in Sheed because them guys can hit that shot at, I think, 90 percent clip. So I just wanted to do that. And then when I got the opportunity to get a switch when KG was on me, I just try to attack him because I know everybody had to stay home when we've got Chaunce out there, Tay out there and the two bigs. So I just tried to be aggressive and get to the basket, and I hit the shot.
Question: Rip, just your thoughts on McDyess, just these first two games. He's been pretty consistent with that mid range jumper and what you saw from him.
Hamilton: Like I said, with them always loading up on our strong side, our bigs are going to have wide open shots because they hedge out over aggressively. We've just got to find them so they can make a play. Like I said, we're just confident in everybody out there. Dyess is always in a situation where he can shoot a shot. Everybody knows he can shoot, him and Sheed, so I thought they did a great job of getting in position to shoot the ball.
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