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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: ROCKETS v WARRIORSMay 24, 2015Dwight HowardHOUSTON, TEXAS: Practice Day Q. What do you need to do to keep the team together? What's your message to them in order to do that? DWIGHT HOWARD: To stay together. That's it. You can't just quit on each other when times get hard. You never know how far you've made it if you just quit. But that has to be the mindset. Q. How much of that positivity do you feel like is on you now for this team? DWIGHT HOWARD: It's on everybody. We've got to stay positive. It's that negative energy that can go from one person to the next, and we just seemed to fold. We don't want to be the team that folded under pressure. Q. Is everybody positive? DWIGHT HOWARD: Is everybody positive? I'm positive. I'm going to stay positive. That's all I can control is me, but you know, I'm going to make sure that I do whatever I can to keep my mind positive. We're in a tough situation but there's no reason for us to be moping around. I think that's the worst thing you can do whenever you're down and out is just to mope and sulk into the negativity. We've got to stay positive. Q. Is it easier said than done to tune out the noise about no one has ever done this before, that sort of thing? DWIGHT HOWARD: I never even heard that. I'm going to keep my headphones on. Q. Does it help you came through a similar situation in Game 4 with the Clippers where you bounced back? DWIGHT HOWARD: We've just got to win one game. That's the mindset. Win one game and take it from there. Q. Can you explain the effort in that situation yesterday that‑‑ DWIGHT HOWARD: I can't explain it, man. It's over. It happened. The sun came up again today, so we've got to move forward. Last night was ugly, the series has been ugly, but you know, instead of, like I said, sulking in negativity and allowing the negative energy to pull us down, we've got to find a way to stay positive. Q. Is that easy to do, to try to move forward? DWIGHT HOWARD: We've got to move forward. I mean, that's the only way I know is to move forward. We all go through different trials and tribulations, and for us to try to get over whatever we're trying to get over, we've got to fight through. Q. Assuming all that happens and the team is positive and moving forward, all that good stuff, how do you then play at the level they played at last night? What has to be difference besides attitude? DWIGHT HOWARD: Just go to go out there and sell out to each other. Trust each other and don't quit on each other. We've got to believe. If there's any doubt or any disbelief in your spirit, then you might as well say we're finished. I want to continue to believe. It's the first team to four wins, and we've got to stay positive, and no matter what goes on, no matter what your friends or family or whatever are saying, we've got to say positive because we're the ones that's actually in the battle. Q. Do you feel like you need to be more physical inside? Kevin said when you get out‑rebounded the way you got out‑rebounded, you've got to be more physical. DWIGHT HOWARD: If I get physical‑‑ yes, we have to as a team. We have to do a better job of blocking out and getting rebounds as a team. When the bigs go help block shots, the guards have to crack back and make sure that they get those bigs off the court. That happened to us a lot last night where the bigs were up contesting shots and they were just crashing the boards from everywhere and getting some easy rebounds. We've all got to make a concentrated effort around rebounding the basketball. Q. Last night when things got bad did you see quit from some of the teammates? DWIGHT HOWARD: I saw quit from everybody in the arena. We can't have that. Like I said, no matter how far you fall, you're never out of the fight. That's the way you've got to look at it. We may be down 3‑0, but we've got to continue to fight. That's the only way. If we don't believe, then who else will? Just got to stay positive, stay together, stay focused. Q. Can you use some of the anger that y'all felt from the performance last night‑‑ DWIGHT HOWARD: Can't use anger. Anger is not going to do nothing. Got to take all the emotions out and just play basketball, simple basketball. Put all the emotions and stuff, the anger and stuff, that's energy that's wasted on the wrong things, so you've just got to keep your energy towards winning and making the right basketball play. Q. That rebound that Curry pulled down is getting a lot of attention. What did you see from that? Was that just a fundamentally sound play? DWIGHT HOWARD: I didn't even see Curry. My man was out on the perimeter, so I just thought nobody was there, and I turned around, and Steph Curry is up on the‑‑ he got a rebound. It happens. It's basketball, brother. Q. Kevin mentioned that what he saw last night was a lot like Game 1 of the Clippers' series. Did you lean on the home court a little bit too much last night? DWIGHT HOWARD: I just think as a whole, as a group, we thought that just playing at home was going to give us a chance to win. But with anything you've got to go take it. Nobody is going to give you anything. This is the Western Conference Finals. There's four teams left, and they're fighting for the same thing we're fighting for, and you know, they're not just going to hand it to us, and I think that was the mentality that we all had as a team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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