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NBA FINALS: HEAT v MAVERICKS

June 14, 2006

Dirk Nowitzki

MIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q. You guys have been so productive in the earlier series, driving the ball to the basket and Avery made a point of saying, we're not a jump-shooting team anymore. This series, 3-point shots are way up, are you guys taking more outside shots than you would like and do you need it get back to driving the ball?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I think we need to mix it up. They are obviously a great defensive team. They have the shot blocking in there with Shaq and Mourning off the bench. You know, that's what good teams have, guys that protect the paint and really protect the basket.
But saying all that, we still have to get in there, draw some fouls, get to the foul line and penetrate and pitch and that's our game.

Q. Have you personally had a tougher time getting to the basket than in previous series?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Say that again?

Q. Have you personally had a tougher time getting to the basket than in the previous series?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, obviously, they are a lot better defensive team than Phoenix was. Phoenix, our team was able to get to the basket, really, whenever we wanted and obviously Miami is a lot better defensively. Their rotations are sharper, and like I said, they do have the big guys in the paint.
Yeah, they try to make it tough on us, and I think both teams played pretty well defensively so far.

Q. Through the first three years, you guys controlled back boards, every game. You didn't lose the rebounding battle once. In this series, it's gotten away from you a little about. How much of that is because of how you have to play both Shaq and Wade with help?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, obviously that's a big key. You know, we're trying to keep Shaq out of the paint and after that, we're pretty much scrambling. And Haslem most of the time has a free run at the basket because everybody is scrambling for the other guys. But saying all that, we still have to do a better job getting a body on those guys and getting back to rebounding.
You know, once we rebound, we usually run better, get our fast break game going. So we need to get back to rebounding the ball a lot better in Game 4 if we want to have a chance. Usually, you know, when we're tied or win the rebound game, we give ourselves a great chance to win the game, and if we don't, we're usually in trouble. Even though we lost and got hammered on the boards yesterday, we still had the opportunity to win.

Q. A night's rest and removed from a devastating loss, how difficult will it be for this team to put that behind and move on?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, it's hard. Obviously last night wasn't easy to sleep on. We didn't really get lots of rest, or I didn't, at least, because we feel like we were right there. We were up, whatever, 10-points with a couple minutes left, and I had a chance to put it in overtime and I didn't. So it was a tough night. But saying all that, it's a quick turnaround. You only have one day off. You've got to look forward to a game tomorrow. You can't live in the past. So there's nothing really we can do about it now. We'll probably watch some film, about the last couple minutes and what we did wrong and how we didn't execute the right way.
You still have to be positive and we're still up 2-1, and hopefully get one tomorrow.

Q. Is this series like a street fight where you don't want to give them an inch because of the talent they have, you're afraid they can come back and punch your lights out?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Obviously they are a great team, or otherwise, they wouldn't be here in The Finals. Obviously we would love to sit here right now and say, we're up 3-0. But they did an immense run at the end of the game. Dwyane was great to win the game for them.
Now it's a series. It's a dogfight. You know they are going to come fired up tomorrow to even up the series.
And I thought yesterday, we didn't really come ready to play from the start. We fell behind, we were backpedaling pretty much the whole first half, and tomorrow we have to for sure correct that and be ready to play, and hopefully what different outcome.

Q. How would you describe Josh Howard, if you were telling someone that doesn't know him, and also, if you could describe that last play of the game last night?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, Josh, you know, he's a great all-around player. He's probably our best defender on the perimeter. He's a great athlete. He's long. He really worked on his shot in the last couple years. He can make the in-between shot. He can make a three now. He's really a great slasher. He gets to the basket. He's a great finisher around the rim. He's a great rebounder for his size. He does a little bit of everything for us and he's very important.
The last play, which one, when we had a second left? Well, with one second left, we ran a little lob play we worked on. And I thought the pass was actually right there, and Josh was almost right there, but Dwyane made a heck of a play and got his hands on it. It was unfortunate, but I guess that's not the play where we lost the game.

Q. In the fourth period, you played the five position and you were going small. Are you very comfortable playing the five position?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I think at that point, we needed a basket and you know, we just went small at that point. It doesn't really matter. I played a lot of five during my career. I played some small four before. It doesn't really matter. I think I can adjust on the fly and know what my job is. So it just wasn't enough to win the game yesterday.

Q. What about in the fourth period, James Posey was the only Miami player who played the entire stretch, and he blanked Josh Howard. How big was that?
DIRK NOWITZKI: He did what?

Q. He shutout Josh Howard in the fourth period.
DIRK NOWITZKI: I don't know. I think offensively, we didn't really get much done down the stretch. I mean, we were all kind of shut down as a team, you know, and missed a couple shots. We turned the ball over once or twice, actually, with a minute left, we had a big turn at the top of the key. We just weren't great down the stretch but I don't think anybody was shut down.

Q. You said that you had trouble sleeping last night. When you have a situation like that where you miss a free throw or a bad shot and you do have trouble sleeping, what are you doing and what are you thinking? Are you tossing and turning? Are you walking the halls? What were you thinking last night?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Obviously it didn't help that the room service took about three hours because they were a little overwhelmed.
You know, obviously, tossing and turning and playing things over in your head; what could you have done different. And usually, you know, I approach every free throw the same and maybe you know, I was overconfident. The first one felt so great and it went right through that maybe I was relaxing a little bit, or, I don't know, and then I kind of short-armed it and hit kind of the front of the rim and rolled out. So you know, it was definitely a tough one to swallow. But, you know, hopefully I'll be in this position again and make it up.

Q. Boris Becker is covering you. He's followed your career for some time; have you followed his and how long have you known each other?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, obviously I've followed his career, he won Wimbledon when he was 17 years old. He's probably one of the greatest athletes Germany has ever seen. I've known him for a couple of years now, I traveled to Wimbeldon the last couple of years and got to know him a little bit. It's been great. I'm watching and following his career, all the games, all the wins. It's great.

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