|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: HEAT v MAVERICKSJune 11, 2006Dirk NowitzkiDALLAS, TEXAS: Game Two Q. How pleased were you with your performance of your teammates? You look up, you see Josh going, diving after balls, and Devin doing his thing? DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, I thought our energy was great today. Energy was great today. We were hustling on defense, but offensively moved the ball to the open guy and really shared the ball well and played with each other as a team and really attacked from all angles. I thought defensively we rotated for each other and we had active hands and it was fun to watch. I thought in the fourth quarter, we let down a little bit and we played more to keep the lead instead of keep attacking. So that was something we've got to look at and address in the fourth quarter. But to get the lead, I thought we played a heck of a game. Q. Were you surprised to see Shaq come out on you a couple of times in the first half? DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, he's been doing it in the first game, too. He's been trying to, you know, blitz on the screen and rolls and get out there and move his feet. He's been very active. Q. Talk about Damp's play again tonight, and also, two key hoops I thought Van Horn had early on that kind of sparked y'all a little bit? DIRK NOWITZKI: I think it's a complete team effort. If you get The Finals, you have to play on all angles and our big guys have been doing a great job, obviously on Shaq. Nobody really can stop him one-on-one. We're playing to send help as soon as we can. But they are trying to battle him, trying to keep him out of the paint. Josh and Damp, they were both active on rebounds and just trying to keep a body on Shaq. They were big the first two games and hopefully they can keep it up. Van Horn, Stack, we need all the guys from the bench making plays. Stack was huge in the run we had in the third quarter he's a very streaky shooter and he just caught fire and it was fun to watch. Q. When you look at stats, were you amazed you were able to hold Shaq to that few shots? DIRK NOWITZKI: We're trying to have our guys on him as soon as we can and just scramble and make things happen on the defensive end; I thought we had great energy. Q. It feels good to be up 2-0, but now the series shifts to Miami. How do you keep the feeling good in everything that you did tonight and take this into Miami? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, obviously we've got to stay focused, we haven't really done anything, we won two games at home. We know they are a different animal at home. They are going to be obviously fired up. You know, Shaq and Dwyane, they are going to get their troops ready to play. You know, it's all about, you know, getting rest and being ready. It's a quick turnaround with the flight tomorrow. So, you know, we've just got to be ready to play, that's the bottom line. I thought, you know, hopefully we'll learn from the Phoenix series where we won the third game on the road, and I thought we relaxed a little bit. Next thing you know, we get drilled in Game 4. So I think we learned in the playoffs, you know, the teams are too good. You can never relax, you can never take a breath. You always have to, you know, keep the pedal to the medal and hopefully we all stay focused. Q. Can you talk a little about the difference in this game from Game 1, Avery was talking about moving around to be able to get you more space to your shots. Did you find yourself -- was it a little easier to get the shots off today? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I still they tried to play me very physical and get in me. They basically tried to do the same thing they did in Game 1. I thought I caught the ball a little more on the move, which is better. Because when I catch it standing, you know, they are going to box up, the guys are going to get into me and we have nothing going. I thought out of the movement, I'm a better player anyway instead of just holding it and playing one-on-one. I thought we did a better job of that and trying to be active and really help the team win. Q. Do you find is it hard after a tough-shooting game like that not to force it; to not press the next game out, because it looked like you really did a good job of staying patient? DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, I think early on, I tried to be aggressive. First spun right away in the first play of the game and doubled off my foot. So obviously that really wasn't the start I was looking for. I know that our team is good and that we can all make plays and make shots. If they stay with me on pick-and-rolls the way they do, our other players have to step up and play well and make plays. If the opportunity is there for me, I'm still going to be aggressive and try to score. So I thought we found a good mix today. We had a lot of guys in double figures, and that's how we have to attack if we want to win. Q. Just as far as you guys have had such great depth throughout the playoffs, and now Miami may have -- just talk about the depth and how critical that's been and how critical it's going to be? DIRK NOWITZKI: I think our depth is really what got us here. We won 60 games in the regular season with a lot of injury problems. You know, our bench has had to step up a lot of times to win big games for us in the playoffs. Obviously, like I said, you've got to have a great team to get to this point in The Finals. Nobody is going to carry a team by themselves or with two guys. You can't come here The Finals. The league is way too good for that. You have to have guys playing well together. You've got to have a strong bench. You've got to be obviously well-coached, and both teams are there. So looking for a battle in Game 3.
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
|