|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: PISTONS v LAKERSJune 13, 2004Chauncey BillupsDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four Q. You didn't control it today like you did the other three games. I mean, it was like a little out of sync until the fourth quarter. Is it something L.A. did or you just -- I don't know what to say, you controlled it for three games, what happened? CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Well, you know, they came out with all they got. It goes to the big fella every single time, they controlled the tempo. I thought in that first half, we got great opportunities, we just couldn't knock them down. A couple of times, we overpenetrated. I overpenetrated a couple of times, more than usual, just excited. But we got great opportunities, just couldn't knock them down. I knew the second half when we got those same shots, we'll make some of them, we'll make most of those shots. Q. You've controlled that pace yourself except when your sub comes in, and it didn't come tonight until the fourth quarter. Is it something they did? Did they throw other guys at you did? They put you in different areas? CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Well, they threw a couple of different guys at me, but I don't think that was it. We didn't run as many pick-and-rolls in that first quarter as we usually do. We were trying to get Rip going and get Rasheed going, so because of that, we were just posting it up and we didn't put those -- really make them pay in the pick-and-roll situations, and maybe that has something to do it. Late game comes down and we start running some pick-and-rolls, slow the game down and use the clock a little bit and that's when we are at our best against this team. Q. Can you talk about what was said amongst you guys after this win and how important Tuesday is, being that it's at home? I'm sure you guys would like to get it done here. CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Yeah, we came in the locker room, of course were happy. Of course we're happy that we won this game. We thought this was the biggest game of the series, so we came out and won. I thought we had a bad first half. We just said, you know, we're not there yet. We're playing against a team that has been here plenty of times. Been here plenty of times and they are not going to panic. They are going to come out and play, obviously with a sense of urgency on Tuesday. So, you know, we just basically said, you know, there's no time to celebrate. There's no time to celebrate. Come in tomorrow and see what we didn't do in the first half and try to fix that, and you know, come out and play 48 hours from now. Q. Talk about the key rebounding for you guys and the need for Rasheed tonight. CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Well, one of the constants that we've had in this series is rebounding. We've outrebounded that team and I think that's why we control the tempo so much because we can get rebounds. We make hustle plays. I knew it was just a matter of time that Sheed was going to get going. He was going to get going, and tonight no better night, no better night. He gave us the option to throw that thing in there, and we're coming in with a double, and we've got great shooters. When he's rolling and you've got Rip rolling and hitting shots and myself, we're tough to play. And we are playing defense the way that we do, so we are just tough to play when we can get Sheed going like that. Q. Kobe, it seemed, was guarding either yourself or Rip Hamilton tonight. Were you guys going every time to the other guy, the guy that Kobe was not defending and trying to use that mismatch? CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Not really. We were not trying to attack any match-ups except for -- we were trying to force feed Rasheed. But me and Rip, we are running the same plays no matter who is guarding who, you know. We'll run pick-and-rolls or we'll run his pin-downs. We wasn't trying to attack the other guy, because when we start -- one thing we found out through the season is when we start trying to attack mismatches, we forget about the flow and our plays and what we really can do, so we don't do that. Q. Can you talk about what you've been able to do in this series thus far, and are you surprised by how well you've been scoring on a game-by-game basis? CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Well, I'm getting great shots, man, I'm getting great shots that are my shots, and a lot of times, they are not even contested that many times. So I feel like if I can get those looks, I'm supposed to knock those shots down. I'm a shooter, I'm a scorer, that's what I do. So if you put me in that situation, I feel like I should knock those down. You know, I just hope that they continue to play like that and we'll continue to run a lot of the same sets.
End of FastScripts... |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|