	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v HEAT

May 27, 2006

Chauncey Billups

MIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Three

Q. Chauncey, 11 assists, that's not normal for you guys. Was it a situation of falling behind and having to go desperate and try to catch up?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: You know, we fell behind early in the game. They had the momentum. At that point we just had to kind of just do what was working, and once we finally got something to work with, we just had to keep on with it. We tried to get those guys the pick-and-rolls, it worked for a while. It picked up -- in the first half we picked up our pressure defensively and I thought took them out of their rhythm, and they came back out the second half and kind of reestablished themselves in the game. Once again, we picked it back up and we cut it to one with seven minutes left. We had some good luck when we cut it to one with McDyess, had a dunk. It was a tough play, but it was a good game.
Q. Can you just talk about the way Wade and Shaq combined to just be so strong offensively tonight?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: They had an unbelievable game today. Those are their two horses. That's who they're going to depend on to win the games, and today they came out and they were dominant, both of those guys, very dominant. We took a look at probably some ways to combat what they're doing because if they play that way the rest of the series, there's going to be some long nights for us.
Q. Tayshaun in your locker room and Flip just now were talking about how the most aggressive team has won all three games. I guess my question to you is going into Game 4 how do you establish that and then add to it to be aggressive?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: That's pretty much what it's come down to every game is whoever is most aggressive from start to finish has come away with a victory. That's one thing that we've got to keep in mind, that we've got to try to attack early in the games, offensively and defensively. We've got to be very aggressive, and hopefully we can get a win here on Monday.
Q. Coach Riley had mentioned taking away your aggressiveness with their defensive pressure. Did that seem to affect your game tonight?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: You said what now?
Q. Coach Riley had mentioned taking away your aggressiveness --
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Us as a team?
Q. You personally.
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Did that affect me tonight? Not really, not really. I mean, it's the first game of the series that I really hit some shots -- I felt pretty good coming into the game. We got some things that we wanted offensively. But they did a great job. They did a great job of holding everybody else down.
Today I had it going, but all for naught, didn't come up with a win, so it really doesn't matter.
Q. You were just talking about Shaq and Wade kind of being the horses. We've seen a lot of teams with duos around. Where would you rank Shaq and Dwyane in terms of being tough to play?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: Oh, they're extremely tough to play.
Q. Where would you kind of rank them in terms of other duos that you've seen?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: We've played games with of course Kobe and Shaq in LA, and it's very similar. Shaq, of course, is dominant as always at stopping forcing the post, and like Kobe, Dwyane is a phenomenal athlete. He slashes and he's athletic in shooting at the basket and shoots the jumper, as well. Like Kobe, he's a nightmare to guard, too.
Q. Considering how it could change in either direction, just talk about the importance for you guys of winning on Monday.
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: It's a huge game. It's the biggest game of the series pretty much, Monday's game. I know they know that and we know that. We've got to come in and play with a sense of urgency early in the game, and hopefully it carries over throughout the game. We're down 2-1 right now, and we want to go home tied up. We want to go home 2-2.
Q. You guys have been the best team in the league all season in terms of turnovers. What's causing all these high turnover games in the playoffs?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: You know what, I think we can get in a position sometimes just making bad reads, just making bad reads. When we get sometimes in transition, just making bad -- not attacking at the right times, and then attacking at the wrong times, too, attacking one on three and then come up with a turnover, trying to overpass sometimes and then come up with a turnover.
One thing about our team is I don't even have to watch our game, I can look at the stats sheet and I can look at turnovers and assists and know exactly what happens. When our turnovers are down, our assists are in the 20s, we've pretty much played a good game. Today you look at it and we've got 11 assists, 14 turnovers. We shouldn't even have a chance to win.
Q. Speaking of bad reads or whatever, are you guys maybe being a little overconscious of Shaq at the basket because a lot of times you seem to have layups, you and the rest of the guys, and dished out for whatever reason? Are you a little bit too aware of him?
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS: I don't know if we're too aware, but he's a force down there. You get in there, and -- my whole thing is when I can get in there and it's me and him, and being on the backside, if I can draw him and get him to jump in the air and drop it off to Ben, that's what I want, give Ben an easy look and get him moving, get him off the floor. He's still a great shot blocker. He's a force in there, so you definitely have got to know where he's at.

End of FastScripts...

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297