Ben Wallace Game Quotations

I don't think we played with the heart and desire that we usually play with. We didn't come out and impose our will on this team. This league is strange like that, you look to come out and win every game but things happen. Some nights it doesn't go for you and tonight was one of those nights.

Right now, that's what we're playing for. We're not worried about who they put in front of us or who we've got to play this week or next week. We're just trying to win every game we possibly can.

It don't mean nothing to us, man. We just want to go out and try to win every game that we possibly can. Then, at the end of the season, we add them up and, hopefully, we can end up with home-court advantage. That's the only thing that we're shooting for right now.

I think it says a lot about the league, that you don't have to come out and try to dominate the basketball and dominate the game in order to have individual success.

It didn't matter, they were still going to lose. As long as we win the game, I am good. I don't have so much pride that I can't see the big picture.

Yeah, we expect anytime a team gets a win on us now, they're going to celebrate a little bit. We remember that and we'll take it into the game as a little extra motivation.

You know you got to be on top of your game or you're going to get embarrassed.

We had control of the game and let it get out of hand.

We're motivated to keep this up because we want home-court advantage, after losing Game 7 on the road at San Antonio last year. That will help us get back to being champions.

When we come out with that type of focus and that type of energy, it's tough for teams to beat us. When we play the way we played tonight, we make it look like that. We make the game look easy.

Everybody in this locker room that went through that Game 7 really started to prepare themselves and get ready for the season probably two weeks after that Game 7. That was the big reason we came back so focused and ready to play.

We've been chased for a long time. We know what kind of beast these playoffs are. We will be prepared for everything and we will go into every single game ready to fight for our lives.

When we play like we did today, good things happen. When we play like that, we make the game look easy.

The thing that he didn't show in Detroit was the passion for the game to want to go out there and want to dominate the game.

Every time we play Miami, regardless if it's in the playoffs or a regular-season game or pre-season game, the tension, the excitement, everything is there.

This game doesn't mean a whole lot. The playoffs are a whole different game. I know that's a broken record but that's what it is.

If our defense struggles a little bit, our whole game seems to struggle. It's good to know we're going out on this trip with our defense clicking.

I guess you could say we usually learn our lessons and not come out the next game and make the same mistakes.

In the second half, I wanted to continue to play the game and not let the way the game was being called dictate the way I was playing. Sort of force the officials to adjust to me and not try to adjust to them.

It's contagious. Everybody else seemed to pick that energy up and start pressuring them. I like playing like that. It makes the game fun for me, and I think it's the best way for us to get a win.

It is what it is. We had control of the game and then it went out of hand. We didn't take care of business when we supposed to and that's what it came to.

It's a great experience, being able to come down here ... with three of my teammates. I think this is an all-star game we're going to remember for a long time.

We just wanted to come out with a lot of energy early in the game and take control of the game and we were able to do that. That was our game plan and we had good success doing it.

We just wanted to give ourselves every opportunity to win games. Guys came out ready to play with a lot of energy but the playoffs is a whole different beast. This game won't mean anything for that. Everybody knows teams step up their game once the playoffs start.

It's going to be good to look out and see someone that you know, and get a chance to see Chauncey and Rip in that first game for the first time. That will be exciting for them. It's going to be good for the whole team. It's going to be good for the city of Detroit to look up at that All-Star Game and see all four Pistons out there.