Raptors 92-87 Hornets
The Raptors win 92-87. Lowry scores 26 points, Valanciunas scores 18 points and DeRozan scores 16 points. Daniels scores 24 points, Walker scores 17 points and Henderson scores 15 points for the Hornets. DeRozan on Pierce talks of Raptor’s playoff game:
Paul Pierce has always got to say something. He said something last year. He’s always got to say something. Just let him talk. I could care less what he says.
Coach Casey on playoff Game 1 versus Wizards:
The real season starts this weekend, what we’ve been building for.
Coach Clifford on the Raptors-Wizards series:
They’re very well coached, they have a number of ways to score and (Casey) is going to know how to prepare them defensively.
Lowry:
It feel great. Good game for me to go into the playoffs off.
Pistons 116-77 Hornets
Pistons win 116-77. Drummond scores a double-double (15 points and 19 rebounds) and Monroe scores 17 points. Vonleh scores a double-double (16 points and 12 rebounds) for the Hornets. Monroe on the team’s performance:
It’s crossed my mind, but I try to stay in the moment. This was a good win for me and my teammates.
Prince on the team’s tribute to his career:
To see that tribute, it pays that respect of what I’ve been able to accomplish. I’m very appreciative for it.
Clifford on eliminates from playoff contention:
There’s disappointment in not making the playoffs. We’ve got to put more into this game. With the injuries, we’re a little bit out-manned – that doesn’t mean we can’t win.
Raptors 92-74 Hornets
The Raptors win 92-74. DeRozan scores 18 points, Vasquez scores 16 points and Lou Williams scores a double-double (12 points and 12 rebounds). Walker scores 15 points and Williams scores ten points for the Hornets. Coach Casey:
The first quarter wasn’t very good, But I thought in the second quarter we set the tone of how we want to play. We started the second quarter and finished the game doing what we wanted to do defensively.
DeRozan:
For some reason, we’ve always had bad luck against this team, especially playing here (in Charlotte). But it felt good to get a win against this team at a critical time for us.
Coach Clifford:
We just had no juice. We’re going to have to find a way to be professional. I think our team has stood for effort and purposeful play all year long, and we’re going to have to find a way to do that over these last four games.
Heat 105-100 Hornets
The Heat wins 105-100. Dragic scores 28 points, Deng scores 21 points, and Wade scores 19 points. Henderson scores 29 points, Walker scores 17 points and Williams scores 15 points for the Hornets. Coach Spoelstra:
That’s how tough it is to win in this league. You’ve got to make a lot of plays and play all the way to the end.
Dragic:
We were talking before the game, this was a playoff game…Tonight was a must-win for us.
Henderson:
Tonight was a big game. We’ve played all the teams that are in the mix there with us, and we lost to them all. It’s never good.
Pacers 93-74 Hornets
The Pacers win 93-74. Stuckey scores 15 points, Miles scores 12 points. Henderson scores 12 points and seven rebounds and Williams scores 12 points for the Hornets. Miles:
It was just a big sense of urgency. They’re a tough team, but we wanted to come out with a sense of urgency and get a good start.
Henderson:
We didn’t put up a good effort at all. We are in a tough playoff push right now and that’s not really the type of effort you can give if you want to make the playoffs.
Coach Vogel:
We had a confidence against this group playing at home, understanding the ramifications of the game. We’re just trying to stay in the fight and we executed the plan pretty well.
Hornets 102-78 Pistons
The Hornets beat the Pistons 102-78. Williams scores 18 points, Walker scores 17 points. Meeks scores 15 points, Drummond scores 13 points and nine rebounds for the Pistons. Williams:
Guys still feel good and are staying positive. Coach is staying positive and encouraging guys who are playing through injuries. We’re really trying to push for the eighth and seventh spot and we think we can get there at the end of the day.
Walker:
The start was one of our main priorities – to start fast and try to maintain it.
Coach Van Gundy:
We were bad, When you’re not ready to play, and it wasn’t just one player, it was everybody, it’s going to be a long night.
Celtics 116-104 Hornets
The Celtics beat the Hornets 116-104. Bradley scores 30 points, eight rebounds, Evan Turner scores 15 points. Walker scores 28 points and 12 assists for the Hornets. Coach Stevens:
Avery was terrific on both ends of the floor.
Turner:
Every game is important, so we came and toughed it out.
Walker:
I’m pretty disappointed, especially because we had to play catch-up throughout the whole game.
Hornets 115-100 Hawks
The Hornets win 115-100 aginst the Hawks. Walker scores 21 points, Williams scores 18 points. Bazemore scores a career-high 20 points, Muscala scores 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks. Coach Budenholzer:
Defensively was where there was the most slippage, but they played the way we want to play and did a lot of things.
Bazenmore:
I did get some pull-up jumpers to go down and shot some 3s.
Coach Clifford:
Obviously we caught a break with them resting their guys.