Quotes from Cheeks: Pistons head coach on loss in Memphis, Chauncey Billups, Rodney Stuckey and more

On the game (via Freep): "It was a good game, it was a good, fun game," Cheeks said. "It's unfortunate that in regulation we had a couple of plays..."

More on the game (via NBA.com): "That was a Western Conference Finals team last year, and we were right there, we had a chance to win. We had the chance to win the game. I'm proud of our guys."

On how he wants this team to play (via NBA.com): ‘Gritty.' I think that's the way we want to play throughout the season. Especially coming on the road and coming into a building as their home opener. We knew they were going to be tough, and our guys were there the whole time. We were forced to be in the place we were tonight with a chance to win the game."

On losing streak to Memphis (before the game) (via MLIVE):  "It's got to stop at some point. We don't want it to keep going. At some point, it's going to happen. The past is for a reason and we're going to try to erase that past, see what happens."

On Chauncey Billups getting final shot in regulation (via NBA.com): "I'll take my chances with Chauncey anytime. Whether he's on the line or shooting the ball, I take my chances with him anytime because he's really good. Overall effort - I can't complain."

On Rodney Stuckey & playing Will Bynum more (via Freep & NBA.com): "You throw them out there and it's the first game. I thought he was good his first game and he was very effective in this first game. I felt like I wanted to put Will out there to get more penetration to the rim. Stuckey was good; it wasn't a case of him not being good. It was his first game back and I didn't want to put too much on his body. We've got a few more games coming up. Saying that, we still had a chance to win."

On Greg Monroe (via NBA.com): "We put the ball in the post with Greg and we put the ball in the post with Josh [Smith] a few times. Sometimes when we do that, the offense kind of bogs down a little bit and we don't want to do it as much. But when we do put it in there we usually get good results."

On fourth quarter stagnancy (via NBA.com): "Sometimes when a guy gets into foul trouble... Sometimes we try to put the ball in and see if we can get a fifth or sixth foul. We get that a little bit. I like our game and I like the effort."

Here's video of Cheeks after the game (via MLIVE):