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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v MAVERICKSMay 29, 2006Avery JohnsonPHOENIX, ARIZONA: Practice Day Q. Talk about your team a little. COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Overall, but obviously when you go back and watch film, we still had some malfunctions and they just didn't make some of their shots. So we're not going to sit here. Sometimes stats are a little misleading, and we think compared to Game 1, which was, you know, pretty bad, our transition defense has improved, but it wasn't flawless last night. Sometime when we didn't get back, they just missed a few shots. So it keeps us pretty focused. Q. Avery, what were some of those malfunctions? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Well, in transition, it's the idea of guys just wanting to run to the basket and not run wide versus this team. When you play against this team, you gotta run wide. You gotta have vision. They have one of the best ball movers in the history of the game in Nash in the way he can get the ball up with both the dribble and the pass. So you gotta have a lot of vision, and you gotta have a lot of communication. And I think we've gotten better at it, we just need to continue to improve there. Q. Can you talk about some of the improvements you had to make? You wouldn't tell us exactly what they were a couple days ago. What were some of the things you worked on for Game 3? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Well, you know, I think pick-and-roll defense is a huge deal for us. Just trying to get in position where we can stay matched up as much as we can, and try to take cutoffs and passing lanes and take away threes and it's just not an easy job. So we're constantly trying to evaluate where we are because the pick-and-roll game, with them running 60 or 70 pick-and-rolls a game, is a huge part of their game. So we gotta just make sure we're in position there. And also be in position to rebound, because, you know, there were some situations where they got some offensive rebounds on us. Q. Avery, can you talk about Josh's impact on the team last night? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: I think the games when we can have him out on the court, we have seen this year that he's been a big asset for us, and this series was a big concern because first we didn't have him last year when we played this team in the playoffs, and playing the center against this team is very tough. So he's been able to come out and be able to change ends of the floor pretty quickly, for a five man, and be in position and other times to help us around the basket when we get beat on penetration. So and also be able to get four or six points on offense because sometimes they don't guard our centers that much. So that's been pretty good for us. Q. Coach, you talked about the last playoffs that you made some mistakes, and you've been a coach here now a year, this is your second time around against the Suns, where do you think you've improved the most and grown the most as a coach? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I think for me just not coaching every play is, you know -- last year you want to coach every single play, and it's easy to really magnify the bad ones. So and then they start to tune you out a little bit. So I just think I try to pick my spots a little bit better, and realize that they're doing a lot of good out there sometimes more than bad. So just trying to be more positive. Q. When Dirk's rebounding the way he's rebounding on the defensive end, what does that do for your pace, maybe his own offensive rhythm because (inaudible) a lot of times? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Gotta try to rebound, because again with teams playing smaller guys on him, they're not going to allow him to get wide-open threes, and when they're denying him the ball in the half court, the next best thing is to try to go in there, get offensive rebounds. So we try to make that point now for I would say a little bit over a year. And that's what scorers do. He and Stack sometimes when they can't get the ball they'll find other ways to score, and getting some hustle points in there is a good way to do it. Q. Coach, how have you been able to juggle playing time for a lot of big people like Damp and Diop and this kind of thing? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Right now we don't have minutes for everybody. And in this series it's kind of hard to play all of your centers. So we've had to do other things, and, you know, give Damp some credit. You know, last year in this series where he had some struggles, you know, give him some credit for being a man about what we're doing right now. You know, it's easy to criticize him. Maybe one of you guys need to do a story on how he's accepted a lesser role. Maybe I need to read that in some of the notes. Q. Can you talk about last night's hustle -- being underrated as a hustling team, has that been a gradual process? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Again, I think for me I was a hustler when I played because I wasn't as gifted as some of these guys. So I think that means a lot to me, and they know it. And that's what I've asked them to do. Really get out there, hustle, be a scrappy team. Sometimes teams not as talented as we are, they get a little bit more credit in the hustle area, but why not be talented and have the type of team we have and be recognized as a hustling team.
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