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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v CELTICSMay 24, 2008Kevin GarnettPaul PierceDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Three Q. Can you just talk about that fast start you guys got off to. PAUL PIERCE: We wanted to come out real aggressive, kind of take the crowd out of the game. We know Detroit is a good home team, and if they got off to a good start and got the crowd going, it was going to be a tough start for us. I think the main thing was to get the lead early and we was able to do that. Unfortunately we got early fouls on Kevin and Ray to set us back, but I thought the bench came in and did a good job. PJ Brown and Sam Cassell held it down until these guys were ready to get back. KEVIN GARNETT: Pretty much what Paul said. You know, I thought we came out aggressive early, ball moved from strong side to weak side. I thought we took shots when we had them. I thought defensively we were connected, we all talked. We were aggressive on both ends. That's how you've got to play against this team. I thought second half I thought they brought the pressure. Third and fourth quarter I thought the refs let them get away with a lot of ticky-tacks, forceable fouls and stuff like that, but that's their reputation, put pressure on you and foul here and there. Had some turnovers there in the fourth, but for the most part we were still aggressive and were able to pull the win out. Q. Paul, you had referred to the dilemma you guys had on the road as being a monkey on your backs. Do you feel like you finally lost that? PAUL PIERCE: More like a gorilla. You know, the whole time throughout this, we didn't feel like we hadn't won a road game. I said before the game, I told the guys, hey, during the regular season we were the best team in the league on the road, so let's go out here and try to show them. Everything that happened before is behind us, this starts right now, zero-zero. That's the way we came out from the start of the game. Q. Kevin, is it a relief to finally have this thing taken care of? KEVIN GARNETT: I mean, any time you win it's always good, whether it's at home or on the road. But I mean, the reason we're here is not just from one win. Tonight we took care of business. It's always good to win on the road. I'm sure we're going to watch tape and fix some things and come back and try to get another one. Q. Both of you, please, the interior advantages, you guys seemed to take advantage of it tonight early, the dunks, and just going inside a lot more. Was that kind of a point of emphasis? PAUL PIERCE: Definitely. It's pretty much a point of emphasis every time we come out, but definitely tonight because we feel like Kevin has an advantage on the post every night. When he has the ball, especially in isolations, we want to get the ball to him and take advantage of opportunities. I thought Perkins did a great job today when they set Ray up on Chauncey for double-teams and he got to the spot. That's what we talked about at shoot-around today, helping out Perkins and helping out Rondo, and showing them things to do for these guys during the double-team. And Perk was able to duck in to get to the open spots and so was Rondo and took advantage of their opportunities. KEVIN GARNETT: I thought it was pretty balanced tonight. Posey gave us a big lift. I thought Sam's minutes were real key minutes for. During the run in the second quarter there. I still think we can do a better job on Stuckey and control him, Maxiell, we have to. But for the most part, man, great effort. And then we've got to turn around and try to duplicate it. Q. Both you guys, halftime you guys had a big lead but you're playing a really great team here. What's going through your mind and talk about the challenge of getting this one closed. PAUL PIERCE: Well, what was going through my mind is let's not rest on our laurels. Let's try to push the lead up. Don't expect any calls in the second half. We've got to be the aggressor because when you've got a lead like that, especially on the road, it's going to be tough because the Pistons are going to come back. I said to Rondo, look for Chauncey to get going. Look for Rip Hamilton to try to get going. Those are the things that you have to look out when you have a big lead like that, that the stars try to show up. And I thought we did a great job defensively. We knew the Pistons would make a run. They made a run and we was able to counter it for most of the game until we put the game away. Q. What's your mentality now? KEVIN GARNETT: Mentality is that this game is over. Doc is going to get us recentered, going over what we did wrong in this game, but the mentality is to be aggressive come Game 4, continue to get the ball moving. I thought we was very balanced tonight. Stay aggressive on both ends and continue to communicate, don't expect any calls because we're on the road, and try to minimize the balance. You know, when they've got Sheed and their starting five are all in double digits, they're a tough team, plus with Stuckey coming in. So we've got to continue to try to somehow duplicate this. Q. Kevin, can you talk about what it was like for you to have to sit on the bench with those two fouls and then watching your bench guys play? KEVIN GARNETT: Miserable. You know, whenever you get fouls called on you, it takes you out of your aggression a little bit. Obviously when I came out, when guys come out you try to tell them what you see. You try to contribute any way you can. Time-outs, I thought I was very talkative, and then when I got back in there I tried to be as aggressive as if I had never missed a play. But it is what it is, man, when you're getting in foul trouble, you try to figure out what you're doing wrong and adjust to it and continue to be aggressive on both ends. Q. And what was it like to see the bench guys? How do you think that they did when they made that 10-0 run? KEVIN GARNETT: I'll tell you, it was good to see Sam get some. I know he can help us more. Posey, good to see guys get a rhythm. PJ. We root for each other on this team. It's no different from when those guys got in, Glen Davis. It is what it is. It was a good effort on the part of everybody tonight. Q. Chauncey Billups has been struggling pretty much this whole series. Do you guys think he's still injured out there? KEVIN GARNETT: Chauncey Billups, if you told me he was injured, I wouldn't know. How hard he's coming off pick-and-rolls. The other night he was stroking threes. He had his one-on-one game going. Paul can tell you this, probably one of the best one-on-one and one of the strongest point guards in this league. I don't think anybody is 100 percent at this point. Only he knows how his health is, but for the most part, as the opposing team watching him, he doesn't look too injured. Q. Did having yesterday off help rejuvenate you guys? PAUL PIERCE: I think the loss afterwards rejuvenated us, man. We were upset about giving up the home court. I think it just kind of -- you saw it on everybody's face after the game. Some way, somehow we were going to try to come out and get this win. The day off has been great, especially for me, I have a lot of aches and pains, so anytime I can get off and I can get treatment, it's always good. Especially we played most games in the playoffs so far, so it always helps. End of FastScripts |
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