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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v MAVERICKSJune 1, 2006Avery JohnsonDALLAS, TEXAS: Game Five Q. Avery, it seemed like going into the San Antonio series your players are charged up and fired up to take on that opponent, seemed like you played with a certain swagger and confidence throughout that series. Do you feel the team is playing at that same level emotionally against the Suns in this series? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Yes, we're in the Western Conference Finals. You know, you better have a swagger. There's only four of us left right now. You know, we had to fight some of that celebration-type spirit in Game 1. We finally woke up and were fortunate enough to win Game 2 and win Game 3 and now it's tied 2-2. So we have a lot of respects for the Suns. It's not like we feel because we beat San Antonio we won the championship. I don't think so. We still have the swagger. Let's give Phoenix some credit for coming out in Game 4 and playing well. Q. Avery, you've talked a lot throughout the course of this series about a certain lack of intensity or lack of focus that you're still waiting for the team to reach. Do you think that that has something to do with the number of people in terms of players between the two teams that are friends and hang out together and are really buddies off the court? Do you think that figures at all? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: No, I don't think so. Q. How happy are you that Dirk's mad and what do you think that's going to affect tonight? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: I just think overall our team is -- you know, we had that concerned look on our faces this morning. We had a good focused shoot-around, quiet, which is normally good. So they know what they're up against. But, again, right now we just gotta come out minute by minute, every play, every quarter, and play at a high level. We were fortunate enough to win Game 3 without playing very good offense. Had pretty good defense. Game 4 we didn't have good offense or good defense. So hopefully we can bounce back. We normally do, especially after bad losses. Q. Avery, how do you see Devin's progression during this series and do you think he's learning anything going against Nash? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah, it's a tremendous learning experience for him. And a lot of the stuff that Nash is doing is some of the same stuff that I face when I played against Stockton years ago. Zoning off of him a little bit on defense. Just gotta figure out how to make the defense pay. So it reminds me of the same thing, because I wasn't -- I was the guy that liked to get to the basket, obviously like Devin, and Stockton was a guy that zoned up a lot. You just gotta figure out how to make him pay and obviously Stockton was very crafty offensively and same is Nash. So it brings back a lot of memories. Q. Can you just comment on the suspension and your thoughts about that? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Very disappointing for all the obvious reasons, very disappointing. Q. Do you feel it's a little too harsh? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah. But, again, you know, in that situation, DJ thought that he could assist the coach's family, but I hope somebody would have grabbed him before he went and took the two or three steps or whatever he did. So very disappointing. But we're all one big family. We're in it together. Q. Looking forward, you know -- COACH AVERY JOHNSON: I'm only looking at tonight, Eddie, gotta look at tonight. No forward. How can you look forward, you know, when you're in the fifth game of the Western Conference Finals? There's no looking forward. Q. Have you had a chance to talk, I'm sure you have, with Jason and what maybe he's going through shooting-wise in this series? Do you expect a breakout game out of him tonight? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: I think more than anything he has to stay aggressive. We spelled out to Jason from day one what his role is, and it's not to be an assist man. You know, it's to be aggressive offensively and play your game, and, you know, play it inside and out. And outside and in. The same thing we've asked Dirk to do this year. You know, move your game around. Don't be so predictable on offense. So hopefully he can, you know, just mix it up a little bit more, but if it wasn't for Jason Terry, I don't know if we even would be here. Q. One consistent thing in this series so far has been Josh Howard getting off to good starts. Is that concerted effort continuing? I know he said it jokingly before, maybe we should get on the ball more often since we're 23-0. But has that now become a focal point in your mind? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah, he's always a focal point. You know, sometimes obviously depend on what night it is, it could be focal point, you know, at a high level. Just depends. But Josh is a very critical part of what we do offensively and defensively, and obviously we try to find ways to get him the ball, because when we do normally something good happens. Q. Coach, back to Jason, are you saying he's been a little too predictable in this series? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: I'm just saying he needs to mix it up. I think there are times, you know, where he's just thinking too much. He needs to just go out and play his game and do what we've asked him to do, and you know he will do it. He's a guy that's a big-time player, and all of the big games that we've had since I've been here, he normally really comes through. So we're hoping the same thing, that he just will be aggressive. Thanks.
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