NBA FINALS: PISTONS v LAKERS

June 11, 2004

Shaquille O'Neal

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: I'm not surprised. We know and understand that they are an aggressive defensive team. But like I've been saying all playoffs, this isn't anything I'm not used to or anything that I haven't seen before. So, we just need to make a few adjustments and just go out and execute and be more careful with the ball, and if we do that, then we'll be fine. It's all about us. It's all about what we need to do. They are not doing anything that's, you know, putting us out of character. We are putting our own selves out of character, like that hat this guy is wearing up front. It's not a character hat; that's an out-of-character hat. (Laughter).

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: Of course I'm getting older, but I'm not slow and weak. In order for me to be me, I have to continue to do the things that I'm doing. I'm still shooting 60 percent from the line. I can still cause people to send three or four guys. I can still cause defenders to flop and beg for the call. Of course I'm slower and weaker but I'm still me. I'm still Diesel, and I look better than you, so it doesn't matter. (Laughter) .

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: I just know that they appreciate our work like we appreciate their work. Sports does a lot, you know, for the average man, you work all day and deal with your boss all day, and you want to come home and drink a beer and watch sports; that's where I come in. You know, for me, I work all day, get fouled all day, I want to go home and watch a good movie. So, you know, we have a pretty good understanding relationship.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: It really doesn't help me. I haven't done a movie in a while. My last movie got me an Emmy. I think it was Kazaam; that got me the Emmy, and ever since then, I've just been chilling.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: It's real frustrating, but, you know, it's more about us in that we just have to execute our offense and we just have to do the little things. Once we decide to do the little things, we'll be fine. This is just another game that we let slip away, so now we just have to try to get this one on Sunday.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: They are a pretty good defensive team, but we are used to aggressive defense teams. We just have to take care of the ball. We have to be more aggressive on offense. I think they have shot 30 or 40 more free throws than we have shot. They are real aggressive, the guards are going to the bucket and mixing it up. We are just relying on the jumper a little bit too much. But we'll be okay. I'm not worried.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: We just have to execute on offense. We have to control the boards. And we have to, you know, just you know act like we want it.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: It gets very frustrating sometimes. We have a lot of weapons on this team. You try to keep everybody involved. But I've always said that if a team is going to play me single coverage, got to make them pay, and we haven't made this team pay yet. We are relying on jumpers and we are relying on other stuff. I think we need to make this team pay.