NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 10, 2005

Richard Hamilton

RICHARD HAMILTON: I think from a guard's perspective, we have to pressure the guards a little bit more so they won't have an easy target and try to pass the ball inside to them. I thought that, you know, Rasheed did a great job only that he got in foul trouble. You know, I thought that he really contested shots a couple times. Anytime you got a great player like Tim, he's going to make plays. He made plays and he made shots for them.

RICHARD HAMILTON: I don't know, I think there's no way that, you know, Rasheed should only get six shots. I think that we've got to do a better job on getting the ball where he's comfortable and he's got to do a better job on wanting the ball when we come down and things like that. I think it's both. I think that we have to get him involved a little bit better so he can make plays. Like I said, I think he's one of the top five power forwards in the game of basketball right now, and I think there's no way we can probably win with him only shooting six shots, so we've got to do a better job of getting him easier opportunities, getting him on the block and getting him wide-open shots and things like that.

RICHARD HAMILTON: I think it was just one of those nights. They are a great defensive team and you can't take anything away from them. I got every shot I wanted to get. I think I missed about four or five layups. I think I missed three or four wide open jumpshots, shots that I usually make. Probably just getting adjusted to the rim and things like that. But I'm comfortable with my shots.

RICHARD HAMILTON: Not at all.

RICHARD HAMILTON: Like I said, the one thing that Bruce is that's different than anybody else in the NBA, and I bet you many people can't say that, he doesn't worry about his offense. His whole thing is defense. He's not out there to score or make plays or anything like that. He spends all 100% of his energy on the defensive end and I think that's what makes him different than anybody else in this league.

RICHARD HAMILTON: He's been great. He's the guy that's on our team that can score and can pass and can defend. He's a big guard and he's a powerful guard. I think that with Chauncey, he loves the ball in his hands, he loves to make big plays and this backcourt. I think he's done great here in Detroit.

RICHARD HAMILTON: The one thing with him is he's relentless in going to the basket. I think that, you know, the one thing about him, you know, he's willing to take contact, he's willing to take hits and he keeps -- he puts the onus on the refs to make the call. It's either going to be a charge or it's going to be a foul and that's how he plays.

RICHARD HAMILTON: I don't know. It's been, you know, I've been having a lot of big challenges through these playoffs, chasing Allen Iverson around the first series, chasing Reggie Miller around the second series, then, you know, playing mostly the whole games of the Miami series and guarding Dwyane Wade. Well, this is what I do. I feel as though I condition myself, you know, to be in this situation and to get better as the season progresses. It's the Finals, you can't worry about, you know, how many minutes you played or how your body feels and everything like that. It's all mental right now.

RICHARD HAMILTON: The entire playoffs? That's a good question. I really can't answer that until, you know, the end of the series.

RICHARD HAMILTON: Well, like I said, he's not worrying about offense at all. You know, there's times where he's on offense but he's still playing defense, and you know a couple of times I might feel as though when the ball goes up for a rebound, I can probably get out on a break and get an easy basket. He's not worried about that. It could be a guy running down the court and get a easy layup, he probably let them get an easy layup rather than let me get a shot on him. He spends all his energy on defense. That's what they brought him for was defense and try to shut people down. That's just a thing I have to continue to work, I have to continue to try to find my teammates a little bit more and try to get guys easy looks, because I think that will open up a lot for me.