NBA FINALS: PISTONS v LAKERS

June 8, 2004

Phil Jackson

COACH PHIL JACKSON: You know, that's basically what we are trying to get accomplished. Luke made a double weave out of it, normally it could be done off a pass, too. But we wanted to clear Kobe and have him at the top of the floor shooting a shot. We also looked to try to get a quick look to see if we could get an early 2 and a couple seconds just in case but we were out of time-outs so it was almost an impossibility to foul, score come back and foul and get from the free throw line back on the court, so we took that risk.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Maybe sanity is the best excuse. I just needed somebody in there that could move the ball and had the ability to create things off the dribble, and Luke is a kid, a rookie, of course you always worry about them getting calls offensively, having things happen right for them. And then the other end of the floor that they don't get overmatched defensively. But he held his own and actually was the player of the game, really, for us tonight. There wasn't enough time to get him in in the second half, I was wondering how long it was going to take me to get him in in the second half. Tex Winter was poking me behind me to get him back in the game and fortunately we did.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, we always believe that Kobe can make miracle shots even when things are not going well for him. He got a little bit off kilter and out of character after a situation in which he thought he was fouled and came down the court and was angry, and just had an opportunity to tell him just to relax and get his mind straight again and take a deep breath, go back out there and feel centered so that he could make that shot and that was a great shot.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, I can tell you, twice it's happened in my career where we wanted to come out and foul and players have gotten a four-point play, made the 3 and also get the foul shot, and that's enough to burn you, because not only do you not get the tie, you lose the ballgame in that situation. And it happened with us in a playoff game, the Bulls versus the Knicks in '88. It also happened in a regular season game in Dallas a few years ago, too. But those are things to burn you, but most of the time we tell a player to be prepared to take that foul and be ready to shoot the ball if you are fouled, so you have that opportunity to score and maybe get a foul shot. But, again, it looks like a no-brainer at times, and I know that we've had more and more opportunities over the years and hesitated to do it, and often times felt like we made a mistake when we haven't.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, that was right up there. It was like the energy fell out of our team, lost the momentum. I gave a lecture to the ballclub about the third quarter. We had everything going for us right in the third quarter except our execution. We didn't use the opportunities. We had to build on a lead that was a double-digit lead, and the Pistons came down, executed and got the game back on their end, the momentum calibration. We talked about that at the end of the game. And to rebuild that momentum took us another, almost, half a quarter to get it back again so that we were back in order. It always felt like that game was a possibility for us to win. We just had to get in our right mindset. We got some things going positive for us and we're fortunate. I told them, God smiled on us tonight on that one.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Reaction. I think that we didn't react well. But I don't think energy is really that much of a situation for us. We haven't played. We've been off a week, I mean, really, it's about that. We had some guys that were hurt. Obviously Karl got hurt during the course of the game and to go out for a while and get some ice on his knee and try to get himself back in position to play in the second half. He struggled his way through that ballgame. I just think that we didn't react to the ball. I was on Shaq a little bit about trying to get after those rebounds, and seemed to be hanging around in the middle of the lane. And they beat us to everything tonight.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: He had a tougher night tonight when he got to the free throw line. His outside game of shooting wasn't what it was the other night. We feel we started to get a handle on him, especially the first half we felt comfortable with him, and he got loose a little bit in the second half but our problem is putting him on the line. 14 foul shots in a game is way too many for him.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, Richard had a nice game. We don't mind him taking 25 shots to get 26 points, but he was critical down the stretch. That was the big part; we didn't stop him when we really needed a few stops out there. He got second opportunities, which really hurt us tonight. That was one of the keys that kept him in the ballgame. I had to put Kobe back on him after using Kareem for a large part of that fourth quarter, and he did a good job in moving the ball and without the ball and also taking opportunity shots.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: That's one of the things that happened quickly and we anticipated that possibly could happen. Shaq said to Luke, get open as quickly as possible, so that would not happen and we are fortunate they didn't foul us at that particular time.