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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: JAZZ v SPURS

May 27, 2007

Derek Fisher

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Practice Day

Q. Can you talk a little bit about last night? Was it more just an emotional conscious effort on your part, more Xs and Os?
DEREK FISHER: I think, you know, it is a combination of both. I don't think we were any less emotional or into the game than in San Antonio. Our intentions were there, we just didn't execute well. And the Spurs played very well on their home court.
I think last night is a combination of us wanting to come out and try to really protect our home court. But even with that, we got off to a slow start in the first quarter.
So it takes you back to the Xs and Os and executing and being more efficient and we got more guys involved. I think that really helped us.

Q. Do you see a difference rhythmwise for San Antonio when Duncan is off the floor?
DEREK FISHER: Oh, yeah. I think for any team in the league, when you take your best player off the floor, things just change. And not just offensively for the Spurs, but defensively. Tim oftentimes is the anchor for them defensively.
So whatever the situation is, whether he is just resting or he has picked up fouls, you have to try to take advantage of the time that he is not on the floor because his impact is felt on both ends.

Q. How impressive was Okur's defense of him?
DEREK FISHER: It was great. I mean, just making it difficult for Tim to operate. I know he picked up some fouls which cut into his rhythm in the game.
But Mehmet helped us win last night, and a lot of focus has been on his shooting or my shooting and that. I think last night was a perfect example of how you can still help your team and you don't have to make a shot.
You look at the Spurs, and guys like Robert Horry and Bruce Bowen, guys they don't depend on to shoot the ball a lot but they help their team win. Mehmet did that for us last night and hopefully he will continue to do it.

Q. How was the second quarter last night?
DEREK FISHER: We were farther behind at the end of the first quarter last night than we had been in the first two games. So we didn't put ourselves in a good spot looking at how we played in the second quarters before.
But I think Gordan Giricek's minutes in the second quarter, knocking down shots from the perimeter, I think he really got everybody's confidence going in terms of seeing the ball going in the basket. Everybody really started to feel good. Deron Williams' game continued to pick up during the second quarter. Jarron Collins came in and gave us some good minutes defensively. Paul Millsap was really active.
Our bench guys -- Matt Harpring with good baskets, had a foul basket that picked up Tim Duncan's third foul. So it was a combination of all those things in the second quarter that helped us.

Q. That second half, though, what was the biggest difference? It was a battle in the first half back and forth. You guys came out smoking in the second half. What was the difference?
DEREK FISHER: Well, you know, it seems as though we just kept playing last night. We didn't seem to get as distraught over bad stretches in the game or we had a bad first quarter. We didn't allow that to affect our second quarter.
We were still down at the half but we didn't allow that to discourage us coming out of the third quarter. Deron Williams and Carlos continued to push for us on our offensive end. And we got contributions from other guys. I hit a couple shots. We just kept playing.
I think our defense continued to be really active in the second half after really being active in the first half.
So I think they still shot a decent percentage, but 54 is totally different than 44, 45. If we can continue to cut into those percentages we have a chance.

End of FastScripts

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