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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS v PISTONSMay 21, 2007Richard HamiltonDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game One Q. I'd just like to ask you what you did defensively to hold LeBron down, and what kind of job you thought that Tayshaun did primarily. RICHARD HAMILTON: Well, I think that coming into the game tonight, LeBron is a big part of what they do, and we can't just depend on one man guarding him, so what we try to do is play him as five. When he tried to go to the basket, guys did a great job of helping out. One of the key things is guys didn't shoot no free throws. Q. It seemed in the first half that everybody was deferring to you, was that the plan? Obviously you carried the team in the first half offensively. RICHARD HAMILTON: Not at all. I think in the first half, you know, I just seen that we had a lot of wide-open shots but we was also turning the ball over. We had 11 turnovers. I just wanted to try to keep the team in the game, try to offensively and defensively. My guys did an excellent job of setting screens and creating a play and making a play. I was just hoping second half we'd get on track. We stayed in the game, once Sheed gets going, one Chauncey gets going, then I like our chances. Q. What did you guys talk about at halftime because you came out on a 17-to-6 run. That really changed the momentum of this game. RICHARD HAMILTON: Well, we wasn't really trusting each other. Like I said, the first half we was keeping the ball on one side of the floor, they was trapping Chauncey and we can't swinging the ball quick enough. Second half we had to pepper the ball. As soon as you got the ball, if you ain't got a shot, give it up and make a cut. We had a lot of wide open looks coming into the second half, and I think that was the key. Q. Could you talk a little bit about Chauncey down the stretch. Earlier on he was struggling making shots but when you guys needed some buckets he was able to deliver. RICHARD HAMILTON: The one thing that I love about Chauncey, regardless of how the game is going, he can be 0-for-20, I know in the last three, four minutes of the game he's still the same player. He's never rattled, he's always, "I want to make the great play. " He's still the one to lead us, so I have no worries. Those last couple minutes is a new game for him. Q. Give us a description of what Tayshaun's wing span is like and what it's like to face that. RICHARD HAMILTON: Like I said, Tay is 6'9" and over a 7'0" wing span. He's long. The great thing about him, he's quick, he's athletic, he can get to the ball real quick, make up a lot of ground real quick. We try to use that to our advantage. Q. Were you surprised that LeBron passed up that last shot and passed the ball to Donyell Marshall? RICHARD HAMILTON: Well, it was a great play. I think if he doesn't make that play, then he had a guy running out on him, they brought Donyell Marshall in the game for that point, to try to get a three-point shot. We knew that. We kind of made the mistake of allowing Donyell to get a wide-open three-point shot, but it was a great pass. Q. Just talk about the defensive effort in the second half. You guys seemed to really ratchet up the defense. RICHARD HAMILTON: Well, we just had to knuckle down a little bit. We was allowing them to do what they want, our bigs got in foul trouble, we had a lot of offensive rebounds and we knew that coming into the game. We tried to limit the opportunities to get one shot and hopefully try to rebound and push it, and hopefully make our defense feed our offense, and I think we did a good job of that. Q. You get Game 1, how important is that, and do you feel like you escaped with one here today? RICHARD HAMILTON: Well, we didn't play our best by any means necessary. We came in the locker room after the game and we felt as though we didn't play well at all and still got a win, and that's great. I love that. I'll live with that. If our defense can win games, then I love our chances. If our offense and the ball ain't going to go in sometimes, that's expected. But when our defense wins game, I'll live with that every day. Q. In the second half it seemed there was a conscious effort for you guys to try to get Chris Weber into a flow, a lot of passes to him at that point. Talk a little bit about that aspect of the game tonight. RICHARD HAMILTON: I think in the second half, I told Webber at halftime, I said, "Be aggressive. When I come off a screen I'm going to find you and you can attack. Go right into your move." And I knew with me coming off of screens that they wasn't going to keep allowing me to keep coming off and shoot, so I knew I had to make a play. He's got great hands. No matter how fast or how slow I throw it to him, he's going to catch the ball. He made the plays, and we needed that in the second half. End of FastScripts |
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