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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v MAVERICKS

May 24, 2006

Dirk Nowitzki

DALLAS, TEXAS: Game One

Q. Dirk, you all had three turnovers down three at the stretch. Do you feel you let this one get away?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, the last couple of minutes, I thought everything went wrong that could have gone wrong. We couldn't get a stop. Nash made a couple big shots. Diaw makes a tough turnaround and on the offensive end. Our execution was horrible. We didn't even get a shot up until all the way at the end until Devin made the shot to get up, get up a point. But just obviously not what we were looking for.
And so obviously very disappointing loss. Tough way to start the series with a loss at home. But, you know, we knew they were a good team and they never give up. And they showed it again today.
Q. This was played at a pretty quick pace. Can you guys keep this pace up throughout a series?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I think so. Like I said, it took us a little bit at the beginning to adjust from the pace from last series to this series. And you know they had a couple of leak-outs early and just had layups and layups on us. But I think once the first quarter was out of the way, I think we were fine.
And we got some stops we needed. Got a nice little cushion down the stretch. But then like I said their execution was terrible the last couple of minutes. I think the pace was fine. We were right there. And we just couldn't get the job done in the last couple minutes.
Q. Dirk, how would you rate your team defense against Steve Nash and Steve's play the last three minutes?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, you know, he got open a couple times, made some big shots, and that's what he does. He's a two-time MVP, and you know he makes his teammates so much better. And, yeah, he played tough down the stretch. And I thought we made a lot of defensive mistakes, obviously.
But, you know, we'll watch the film tomorrow and you know it's always, the playoffs are a game of adjustments, and we'll see what we come up with. But like I said saying all that, we made a lot of mistakes and we still should have won the game.
Q. Can you talk about the play of Devin Harris, how impressive he was tonight?
DIRK NOWITZKI: He was big. I thought he was a little nervous at the beginning. But then he really found his rhythm. He took it to the basket hard, finished. He made some big shots. He made the shot with five seconds to go. He really looked confident that he could finish for us and that was great. I mean he had a couple great games for us in the San Antonio series. And you know he's still a young guy. Still learning. And he'll be heck of a player in this league.
Q. Dirk, despite the loss tonight, you've really elevated your play and kind of reached another level of your game and it's now being recognized. Do you think at all about what your play and what the play of Nash and other guys has done for the sort of the internationalization and the way people view European players?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, not really. You know, I don't really think about all that. You know once I'm on the court I'm trying to help my team win. And that's about it. It doesn't matter where you're from, Africa or from China or from Europe, it doesn't really matter, once you're on that court you're trying to help your team win, and it's been a great eight years so far.
And we're working on winning the championship here in Dallas.
Q. Dirk, those three turnovers in a row, you didn't really touch the ball much on either of those possessions was the idea to get the ball in your hands at some point on those possessions?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Let me think. Yeah, and the one actually was, I don't know what that call was when Devin got that offensive foul. I didn't even see the play. I didn't see what happened. But I was supposed to post-up on that play and make something happen for myself or for my teammates. And that was a tough whistle with the minute left.
Q. Can you talk about the last play.
DIRK NOWITZKI: With the -- yeah, obviously we wanted to stay with their shooters, they're very, very dangerous. And Boris was big all night. I mean, he really took advantage of the switches. He got into a lane. I mean he had, what, 34 points in about 13 layups. I mean, he lived in the paint.
And, yeah, he was big for them. And he really improved his game so much over the years, and he's fun to watch. So for some reason he's always killing us already in the regular season, and we gotta find a way to slow him down a little bit.
Obviously he hurt a little bit that we lost Josh. He's one of our primary defenders out there. So we'll see what his status is for next game.

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