|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v MAVERICKSJune 1, 2006Avery JohnsonDALLAS, TEXAS: Game Five COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Well, this was a good win for us to tonight. I thought we had a lot of energy. I thought we got off to a good start tonight. We were pretty aggressive. You know, scored 36 points in the first quarter, and our defense was pretty good. We had a big let-down in the second quarter. But, again, these guys, they battled. This is the Western Conference Finals. Teams are evenly matched. And, you know, we had an outstanding fourth quarter, which we haven't had in a while. So, again, obviously Dirk, you know, had a big game with the 50 points. But, again, we had a lot of contributions from a lot of guys. You know, guys like Adrian Griffin, you know, he scores -- he doesn't score tonight, but he had seven rebounds. And DeSagana Diop, you know, getting him back in the lineup and him giving us a lot of energy. So just a good overall team effort. Stack with 38 big minutes tonight. Josh Howard. And, again, we did some nice things tonight. But, again, the game was right there nip and tuck for a while and we were kind of able to get away from them. Q. Coach, what did you have to do to make your adjustment on Tim Thomas because he was hitting those threes and trying to take over the game? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah, Tim was really good tonight. He got away from us a little bit. You know, made ten 3-pointers tonight and six were his. If you were to tell me Tim were to go six for eight from the three-point line and score 26 points and Nash would have 20 and 11, we would still win, I would take it. Q. Coach, obviously Dirk is the big story, but the underlying story is DeSagana Diop. Does it seem like his confidence is really starting to pick up now that these games continue to go forward? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I think the beauty of it is, you know, when we cut his minutes down in the last series, and then when he came back for Game 7, he looks a little reenergized now. And he had that broken nose, and he was in bad shape coming into this series. And he didn't get on the court that first game. But he seemed to have recovered from the broken nose and just learning how to, you know, deal with that now. And he's doing a lot of little things for us. And for him to be able to play 29 minutes, you know, at this pace, boy, we need it because we need his interior defense in a bad way. Q. Coach, when they had the two technicals in the fourth quarter, was that kind of a momentum change for you? Did that change anything for you guys? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: You know, it's a part of the game. I got one -- I thought it was a goal tending call -- basket interference call in Phoenix. So I got hit with one. And tonight they got hit with one. We got hit. So, again, it's a very intense series. This is two teams that are really warriors, that are going at it. Everybody wants the prize, you know. Everybody, they have scouts that scout and know all of our plays and we have scouts and coaches and players and everybody wants it and nobody is going to give in. And they got away from us the last game. We were fortunate to get away from them a little bit this game. But who knows what's going to happen from game to game. That's just how great of a series this is. Q. Avery, you might have kind of answered that question about the let-down in the second quarter. I mean, are you concerned that the team may lack a killer's instinct at times and put the team away when they have a big lead? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Well, okay, lack of killer instinct at times. We are playing against the Phoenix Suns and we are one of four teams playing. So what happens in this situation is, it's hard to have a quote, unquote, killer instinct, because when you're beating a team, they're not just going to let you blow them out by 30 in the regular season like that may happen and you go on to the next city. It don't work like that. I hope we don't give up when we're down. They're not going to give up when they're down. They can score in bunches. All right? And we were able to make some shots tonight. So it's not really putting anybody away with a big lead. Obviously they beat us by 20 the last game, and kind of got away from us, but that's a rare deal during this time of the year. Q. Avery, I know you've seen Dirk do a lot of great things but that fourth quarter, the way he just took over, have you ever seen him just put -- just take a game in his hands like that, especially given the context of the last game and -- COACH AVERY JOHNSON: You know, it was pretty special what he did, and, you know, he was disappointed, you know, with the last game. And I'm not going to tell you everything that went on behind the scenes. But we were all disappointed. Q. Coach, can you just describe your approach on Nash tonight? COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah, just give him about seven different looks, and one of the looks that we gave him, Tim Thomas showed us don't try that one again. So we'll throw that pick-and-roll defensive scheme out of the -- out of our play book. Q. Thanks, coach. COACH AVERY JOHNSON: Thanks.
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
|