Jacque Vaughn | Post-Game Press Conference | Detroit Pistons | 12.26.23

Jacque Vaughn | Post-Game Press Conference | Detroit Pistons | 12.26.23

Well Jack going off of that you mentioned that this team was a good team was going to going to come in here and fight this Pistons team did do that what was it in those closing minutes that allowed you guys to come with the win yeah I didn’t sleep very well last night

Anticipating how how tough this game was going to be just knew uh with their coaching staff they had some guys that were healthy during being able to help them down in the middle uh it was going to be a tall task for us and uh anytime

You’re playing a team back to back like that that really tough to do uh knowing that uh both teams searching for a win I give our guys extreme amount of credit to uh to persevere throughout the course of the night and and show composure to make the right plays at the right time

And Poise different individuals amazingly throughout the course of the night uh that made plays but after our start you know that could easily uh make you relent and we didn’t and uh for us to stay together uh for other many guys to step up throughout the course of the

Night of across the board uh I think that’s a huge win for us what did you call in those last few minutes where you had cam Johnson knock the big time three Dory infiny Smith knocked the big toown through we saw your reaction of excitement of saying that was it kind of

Yeah it was great uh just execution wise our guys have really grown to uh understand Concepts and what we want to get done on specific plays and the execution was a high level and even uh the discipline where uh cam Johnson drives Baseline and uh do stays at home

Stays locked and loaded in the corner and gets rewarded for it you talked about Doe’s discipline I mean he plays every I think he plays every second that fourth quarter um what kind of Faith at this point has he built up with you that you have trust in him that he’s going to

Make those kind of plays down the stretch that you leave him in for that entire fourth yeah I think he knows uh uh how I value him and how we value him as a individual and the plays that he can make he’s done them before four uh

There’s a a certain amount of poise that you have to have at the end of the game and uh he took on the challenge of guarding Cade also at the end of the game so you know we needed him on both ends and needed just a big body to to

Guard Kate who is a a really big guard and uh for do to be able to do that but also give us something on offensive end the floor that balance that he you know presents and uh um it was great that second unit was awesome we needed them uh in the end of

The first and the second quarter to give us some life and he was was a part of that and they did D I think had five rebounds in that fourth quarter felt he had more but just his effort kind of was part of that second unit you just spoke

Of what what was it about him where you just saw him kind of assert himself rebounding wise with the four blocks just his play tonight what did you think about him it’s just great to see him uh be able to string and stack days and

Games up back to back uh just shows his maturity uh you have to be prepared to play you have to do your homework and be prepared to play and he’s been doing that um he has an ability to rebound the basketball and there’s a toughness that

About him that’s about him that we need on on on a lot of nights just because uh he’s a big dude and we need a big dude in the middle uh to to push and and grab rebounds and set screens and and be okay doing that uh he isn’t complicating

Things and I think that’s the best lesson learned right now you keep it simple do the things that you do really well you’ll continue to get minutes I guess what what do you attribute that the slow start to in this in this game obviously Detroit came out inspired but

Just on your guys in what did you see that maybe you guys weren’t executing as well as you wanted to no I think they just hit first and that started with uh you know they were picking up full court there was a uh a want and a desperation

From that group uh that we saw early uh good thing we didn’t Panic we stayed together and uh gave us a chance to get back in the game but give them credit for really coming out and trying to hit first with this game I know you mentioned that it’s tough to play the

Same team two games in a espe withered what impressed you just with your group and balancing the outside conversation when it comes to not allowing that losing streak to snap against them yeah it’s uh I it’s a huge statement I think because there there is and obviously there is outside noise and

And with guys with social media and being on their phones they hear it see it uh I did um in all honesty but I think going into this game we were really concerned about us getting better and we’ve tried to keep it that simple I think tonight we got better as a

Basketball team uh making plays together guys stepping up figuring things out together so at the end of the day for us if we keep it that simple uh we’ll get rewarded for it are there things that you learned from this game and you were talking about before the game talking about you

Know Gathering all your data are there things that you learned from this game that you can apply when you’re making your decisions on lineups and rotations and so forth and so on no I think it’s a culmination of things so I mean you can’t take one game so if you took one

Game then you would be starting Dron tonight you know because Dron played so well tonight that he would deserve to start the next night so it’s the combination of what’s going to be best for the group uh I love that second group and their ability to have a fight

About them and uh uh and bring an activity level that really I put up against any other second team in the in the in the league that’s how much confidence I have in that group and so uh tonight I changed the rotations a little bit to get a

Little bit of taste to that uh we got a little bit of Mel not on the floor with with CT at the same time so I did Tinker a little bit Brian uh probably ran Nick and dar around little longer stretches to see what that looked like they both

Were able to make it through it and had an impact so uh I’m always trying to push the group and uh I think you learn about guys um whether that that is doe playing the entire fourth quarter whether that is Dron playing nine minutes straight those things you learn

About guys and I continue to reward them and continue to put things on the plate for sure what have you learned about your two bigs when you have two guys who are very versatile like Nick Clon who’s starting then you have Dron who’s um proved for his minutes as well what it

Like just to have those two at the same time it’s been interesting you take uh you know the there’s no hesitation when substitute those dudes uh for each other and whether that the opposing team has a starting center on the floor or a backup center uh I think they’ve learned how to

Play for each other uh really cover for each other and not want to let each other down uh looking on the sidelines you can see them cheering for each other and uh that that’s pretty cool as as teammates I I really do think they want each other to do well is this another

Example of you guys playing so many close games that the Poise is growing now where you guys guys you trust these guys to not get rattled as easily as maybe game one I guess for sure they were looking for me to call a timeout like 8 Minute Mark when they ran uh get

Went on a little run go play we’ve done this thing before uh and so no timeout was called I want our guys to to lean into those moments that pressure moment lean into that thing accept it and uh you’ll get better from it another back to back situation I

Don’t want to but it’s tomorrow um you’ve done this before as mentioned um just as a group do you feel like this group is more prepared from everything that you’ve seen these last few weeks handling back to backs now you guys got to go home and take yeah a lot of

Minutes uh more than probably wanted to get you but this was a win that we had to have tonight uh hopefully our guys aren’t banged up too much you know going to this game uh everyone wasn’t feeling very well virus and colds and everything going around uh some banged up bodies a

Little bit so we’ll we’ll get those dudes assessed and see what we look like tomorrow all right there’s nobody that you know would be sitting there against the books like there’s nobody that you that you know already that did not going to play a second night I have not told a

Single player that you’re not playing tomorrow no

Jacque Vaughn spoke to the media following the Nets vs. Pistons on December 26, 2023