NBA FINALS: PISTONS v LAKERS

June 10, 2004

Phil Jackson

COACH PHIL JACKSON: I didn't feel like we reacted very well to the game today. Detroit beat us to the basketball. Second chance points was a big factor in this game tonight. At halftime I told the team, I don't think we can play any worse than we played this first half as far as shooting the ball and executing in the open floor. But we tried hard the second half to duplicate it. As I told the team, this is only one game, we're out here to win a game, and we'll find our opportunities. We have a couple days off to get our feet on the ground and get ready for Game 4.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: No, that's what he's been looking at. He had a hard time shooting. This is a tough background to shoot in, it's a different one, and the basket, he had a few things that didn't go down for him; didn't get to the line too often.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Say again?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, he couldn't get a break in the second half. You know, he got an offensive foul and a guy came over his back and knocked it away and he lost it. He even lost a couple of balls that he had inside and couldn't control the ball when he would get it inside. There were four or five opportunities in the interior when he had the ball and things just didn't go right for him. He didn't get a whole lot on the offensive boards tonight, either. Those things hampered his effectiveness and he got in foul trouble and things like that happen.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: You know, we thought, you know, we had stemmed the momentum edge at the end of the half and we felt better about our game and came in, said, you know, we didn't play a whole lot of good minutes out there but we did finish up okay, so now we have to go out and establish it. We went out and scored the first basket in the second half and couldn't continue the pace. They beat us to the punch. It was noticeable foul discrepancies. They shot almost two to one in free throws in this series now in three games, and that a lot of times is a sign of the aggressor, the team that's most aggressive in basketball, and we're the reactors. I think that's what we're upset about as a basketball team. We're not reacting well.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: You know, he looked like he was struggling out there tonight, I thought, in the second half. First half, I was content with the way he played. He gave us an effort, not everything worked well for him. He did get a call going to the basket and did looked like he got fouled and he played on through it and he didn't lose his composure out there. The second half I didn't think he got loose. He just didn't get warmed up. The game was deteriorating quickly around him and we had to have some pressure up court and I opted not to push him any farther than that. We were pleased with the effort he could give.