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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SPURS v LAKERSMay 25, 2008Kobe BryantSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Three Q. Kobe, what was different out there tonight after winning by 30 just two days ago? Was their defense that spectacular? KOBE BRYANT: You know, we feel like they did some things defensively that bothered our rhythm somewhat. I think as I said earlier with us winning by 30, I think it was the case tonight, they played solid defense, but we missed a lot of easy ones, a lot of shots that we normally make inside the paint and caused the territory. Q. Can you talk about Manu Ginobili, two games he had in L.A. and tonight he just really flipped the switched? KOBE BRYANT: It was all the Argentina flags that were out there. Felt like home. (Smiling). He hit a lot of big shots, he hit one shot that just made me laugh. It was right in Sasha's face. It was just great defense. The guy was -- he bounced back the way that I thought he would. He is a phenomenal player and he had a spectacular first half. Q. Nobody is surprised that Manu came back and did something, but what he did, the dimensions of it and shot after shot, 3 after 3, does that surprise you a little bit? KOBE BRYANT: No, no. I have seen him do it before. He did it in the last series, too. He gets extremely aggressive, starts knocking shots, playing with a lot of energy. You know, played well, with a nasty looking fingernail. That thing is disgusting. Q. What do you think happened to Pau and Lamar tonight, as much as you have relied on those two guys tonight. Obviously a pretty big struggle. KOBE BRYANT: I think they missed a lot of easy ones. The shots that they normally make didn't fall for them tonight. I don't think it is something they should get too discouraged about. Have a good day off tomorrow, work on some things and come back Tuesday ready to knock those shots down. Q. You got on a pretty good run there in the fourth quarter there yourself and it didn't seem like you guys could stop them from answering. What were they doing differently on offense at that point in the game? KOBE BRYANT: I think it was just a step slow defensively. Obviously they wanted to add some more speed to their offense and more motion, wanted the offense to be a little more dynamic than it was in the STAPLES Center. I think they did a grade job on that. They put us back on our heels and weren't able to elevate our defensive energy to match the speed of their game. Q. What do you guys need to do now moving forward to the next game? How do you recapture that energy? KOBE BRYANT: Just step up and be ready to play. It's a good experience for us to play against the defending champs and have them kick our butts the way they did. I think we grew up a lot tonight, and we have to understand the sense urgency and type of energy that we have to play with and come back on Tuesday ready to do that. Q. Kobe, as a team, they were 8-for-17 from the free-throw line. How disappointing is that? KOBE BRYANT: It was disappointing. You have easy opportunities like that, you want to knock them down. It is what it is. Q. The way you stepped up in the fourth quarter, did you need to start that a little bit earlier? KOBE BRYANT: It doesn't matter. Whether I made buckets or don't make buckets, if we can't get stopped, it doesn't matter. We had a point there we cut it to I think 12 or 9 or something like that and we couldn't get stops. So whether I go off for a 20-point quarter or 15-point quarter, whatever it is, we have to still get stops. I think tonight that was an area we were lacking in the most. I can't remember how many points we gave up the last game. Tonight we gave up about 100-and-something points. So we have to do a much better job on that end. Q. Is the home-court thing blown out of proportion? Or is that real this year? It seems like everybody is winning at home, nobody is winning on the road? KOBE BRYANT: I would say it is blown out of proportion, but tough for me to make that argument looking at the record of home teams versus away teams. For us, we believe we can win anywhere. It is not here nor there for us. I think tonight we just -- San Antonio just played better than we did. I don't think it was anything -- I don't think the home court had anything to do with it. I think we just fell a little bit flat. Q. What about their defense, did it seem like they were doing things differently, keeping you guys out of the paint and shutting off a lot of passing leans for you? KOBE BRYANT: I felt like we got in the paint. We just missed a lot of bunnies, a lot of easy ones. It just rolled off the rim. End of FastScripts |
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