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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKENDFebruary 17, 2008Chris PaulNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Q. There was a lot of sentiment for you to win the MVP. You didn't look like you were actually going for it. CHRIS PAUL: No, I was trying to win. I wanted to win. This being my first All-Star Game, I wasn't look to try to win MVP or anything like that. That was the last thing on my mind because I don't feel like I scored enough to win MVP half the time. But I just wanted to win, and unfortunately, we didn't. Q. How nervous were you before the game? CHRIS PAUL: Man, I was, oh, I couldn't eat. I couldn't think about nothing, man. Me and Brandon Roy was sitting there talking. I mean, when we were on the bus on our way to the game, we were like little kids. Stomach was turning, I don't think I could keep any food down or anything like that. Totally different from anything I've ever experienced playing on the USA Team or anything like that, because this is one of the biggest stages, if not the biggest, as an NBA player. Q. Just talk about the fourth quarter how wild that was. CHRIS PAUL: Man, the fourth quarter was crazy. We talked about it coming out of timeouts, let's pick up the intensity. I think we were down 13 going into the fourth. We took the lead a few times. But Ray Allen was unbelievable in the way he shot the ball. You saw that last dunk by LeBron. I mean, we had two people on him, but that still wasn't enough. Q. You guys were down 16 in the third quarter, what do you think the key to the comeback was to take the lead? CHRIS PAUL: We picked up the intensity a little bit. It's an All-Star Game, but we're all competitors out there. We want to win. We never wanted to lose by 20 or 30 or anything like that. But I think we stopped them a little in transition early in the game. They were getting out, getting lobs, dunks every time down. We started playing a little defense and executing on offense. Q. Is this everything you kind of imagined it, to be here in your hometown and the way you played? CHRIS PAUL: It was more. It was more. The game, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if I would play five minutes, ten minutes, anything like that. Amare Stoudemire tried to bet me, told me I'd be the first one to shoot an air ball. I'm actually thinking about all those different things when we're playing, but I think the total weekend was a success. Especially with the community efforts and the people of New Orleans coming out and getting excited about the NBA, and the way the NBA reached out to the community would be something I think I'll never forget. Q. Can you talk a little bit about that moment before the game when you and David addressed the crowd and what that meant to you? CHRIS PAUL: It meant a lot, because the All-Star Game millions, millions and millions of people were watching. And me and D West are two people that feel very strongly about bringing New Orleans back. When you go around and see people still homeless in those tents, and still just trying to make it and things like that. So to talk to not only everyone here in the arena, but the whole world and let them know New Orleans is back, and it's still a rebuilding process was something that I was very thrilled about. Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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