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NBA FINALS: HEAT v MAVERICKS

June 8, 2006

Jason Terry

DALLAS, TEXAS: Game One

Q. Talk about your game and talk about your play when you missed the layup or the dunk and they got on a little run.
JASON TERRY: Oh, yeah, tonight we wanted to come out aggressive, be assertive on both ends of the floor. I thought as a team we got off to a slow defensive start, picked it up in the second half and we bounced back and got some stops. We had a good defensive fourth quarter.
On the dunk, I thought it was Wade or somebody, got a little too excited, was running a little too fast, and got ahead of myself.
But I got two days to recover and I'll remember next time when I get on the break to just lay it up.
Q. I'm curious, what did your teammates say to you after -- you're hitting everything else --
JASON TERRY: Yeah, I just need to stay focused, shake it off quick. I kind of grabbed my knee thinking it was my knee that caught or something, but D.A. just shook his head at me and said, "That wasn't the case." (Laughter) I just shook it off, man, had to bounce back, stay focused and keep plugging away.
Q. When did you first sense in the game that you were going to have a hot hand, that you were going to be the hot shooter for the night?
JASON TERRY: I just wanted to come out and be aggressive. There was no point where I ever looked up at the score board. I'm just continuing to take shots. Fortunately for me they were falling tonight, thank God, but my teammates did a great job defensively. We were able to get out in transition early and get easy baskets, especially when Miami had the lead. You know, that's what got us back into the game.
Q. Avery said, we've been asking for the real J.T. to come back to us and he said you came back tonight, do you agree with that; what was wrong, if anything, during the last series?
JASON TERRY: Well, I just wanted to stay aggressive and, you know, just be assertive. I'm going to keep repeating that. That's what he wants me to do. For my team to be successful, I have to be out there in attack mode at all times and that's what I was able to do tonight.
Q. How were you able to keep the hot hand, you were 9-of-11 in the first half and as you tried to get Dirk going in the third you didn't get a touch and then you hit three in a row, how does a shooter keep that roll when you go so long without a touch?
JASON TERRY: Well, in the third quarter, we wanted to get Dirk going a little bit, let him at least touch it to see how he was feeling.
But, you know, Coach took me out a little early in the third. I went to the bench, I just wanted to stay focused, watched flow of the game and then when I came back in, a couple quick steals here or there, Coach kept me involved with the play calling and my teammates were setting great screens, getting me open and I was able to knock down the shots.
Q. What do you think hurt them more, the 20 points you had in the first half or the 12 in the fourth quarter?
JASON TERRY: I don't know if my points hurt them particularly more so than our defensive effort. You know, us getting stops and coming back down on the other end and executing and making sure we got good looks at the basket more than me individually.
Q. Take me back a year ago, you remember last year, running into to you at the Finals in your home city of Detroit, at the game, and now being a part of it and playing, that whole transformation there.
JASON TERRY: Home city is Seattle, but it felt like Detroit a little bit because I was up there just watching The Finals, seeing every game, just soaking in the moment and the environment, you know, wishing that one day I would be able to play in a Final.
I thank God for the opportunity that I have now, and we just want to keep plugging away. Man, this is Game 1 and that's all it is. No series is won in one game, so Game 2, we'll come back focused, watch the film. We'll come back and put together a better defensive performance because we still have another level to go to.
Q. Talk about NBA Finals is where players really make their mark, first time for the Mavericks to ever get The Finals, your history in Atlanta and getting to this level, feeding on the atmosphere, what was it like, first NBA Finals game?
JASON TERRY: Really it's no different for me than in the regular season. Really haven't kicked in yet. I was kind of expecting to be all over this situation, but I think Avery has done a great job of preparing us for this moment the last year and a half.
It's just another game. Rims are still ten feet, even though it didn't seem like that on my layup. (Laughter) we just want to go out there, stay focused and execute the game plan and see what happens.
Q. A lot of you were put on Dwyane Wade; how do you think that's going to transpire, do you think yourself seeing Wade more or what players are going to be assigned to Dwyane?
JASON TERRY: I don't know, we're just going to change it up, give them different looks. Dwyane, as you know, is tough to spot. He's just like Kobe, McGrady, all of the great one-on-one players in our game.
Early on it was going to be a long night for us the way he was getting to the basket, making layup after layup, but credit our guys for contesting his shots and being a little more aggressive on him in the second half.
But, you know, it's not going to fall on one guy to retain him. It's going to be a team effort. Luckily tonight in the second half, he cooled off a little bit.
Q. Did you feel you had something to prove tonight with your 3-point shooting after not having the 3-point shot during the Detroit series?
JASON TERRY: Not anything to prove. I just feel that I'm a much better shooter than, you know, what I've shown in this year's playoffs, and you know me, it's just all about hard work and perseverance. I had to persevere through all those times where I wasn't making too many shots. Preparation is what got me to this point and I just want to continue to work and stay humble, and hey, let's get back to Game 2 and see what happens.

End of FastScripts...

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