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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v CELTICSMay 28, 2008Kevin GarnettPaul PierceBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Five Q. Can both of you guys talk about the significance of getting Game 5 once again? PAUL PIERCE: It's a huge game. I mean, we don't get this game, we put ourselves in position to have to win another road game. We know how tough it is to win out there in Detroit. It's one of the biggest games that we played all year long. A crucial game at home, get the lead just to get some momentum, get the momentum back, and we knew it was going to be one of the toughest games of the series. We said that coming into it, that this is like a Game 7, and we responded. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. KEVIN GARNETT: What Paul said. We knew the significance of this game. You don't win this game, you put basically yourself in a corner. I thought we had good focus, good energy to begin with. I thought third quarter was big for us. We came out with a lot of energy. They made a run probably, I think, the late third and first part of the fourth, but for the most part you know they're going to make a run. You know they're experienced, and they've been in a lot of pressure situations. Now it's up to us to go up there and try to get one. Q. Ray had a tremendous game tonight and hit those two big free throws at the end. Could you both talk about him and why coming up big in this game, what it's going to do for him? PAUL PIERCE: You know, Ray is going to continue to be Ray, regardless of how he shoots. Just his presence on the floor alone is a great help. Tonight he just happened to have it really, really going. He was real aggressive pretty much throughout the game, and we're going to need that from him. If he plays like that, it's tough to beat us. Him, Perkins, everybody brought their "A" game tonight, and that's the reason why, because we needed it. If we don't get the efforts from a number of people, we don't walk out of here with a win tonight. KEVIN GARNETT: Ray is one of the big reasons why we're in position to do a lot of things this year. Both of us are happy for him because he was in a slump, and we kept motivating him, talking to him, and letting him know from a big standpoint trying to get him open and trying to get him some open looks and some easier looks. Like Paul said, I think he's doing a really good job of being aggressive and just being a three-point shooter. I think he's definitely coming out of being one dimensional. He's putting the ball on the floor, making plays. To add onto what Paul says, when he's playing like that, we're a tough team. I thought the ball moved from strong side to weak side tonight, and he was a big part of that. Q. When you have conversations with him, veteran to veteran, what do you say to him in these past few weeks? KEVIN GARNETT: I can't repeat that here. Too many cuss words (laughter). Q. Can you do the clean parts? KEVIN GARNETT: I don't have a clean version. The explicit version gets right to it. "Hey, beep, beep. Shoot the beep, beep." Right, Paul? "Beep." It goes something like that (laughter). Q. Can you guys talk about how nerve wracking the fourth quarter was and being able to hold onto the victory. PAUL PIERCE: Man, it was the longest fourth quarter out of all the games we played in. I was a little disappointed the way we played the fourth quarter, so I thought throughout the game we played well, but the fourth quarter is something we're going to have to go back and look at because if we get ourselves in this position again in Detroit, we've got to be able to close the game out a little bit better than we did tonight. Having a 13-point lead we knew they were going to be aggressive. Thinking about having the lead in the fourth quarter we've got to continue to be aggressive. I thought it was a little passive when they put out the traps, but you've got to understand, hey, that's the playoffs and it's not going to be easy. We've got to be a little bit more aggressive in the fourth than we were. I thought we just kind of let the time pass away and hoping that we were going to win the game. But we've got to put forth a better effort and better execution in the fourth. Q. I just wanted to ask you about the two trips you took to the foul line, one was in the first half when you were down six points, and those two free throws seemed to spark that 16-1 run that you had at the end of the first half and then the last two. Can you talk about what's going on in your mind in each of those instances, especially the last two. KEVIN GARNETT: You take free throws at the end of the game, you want to be poised, you want to be calm, you go through your ritual, how you shoot free throws and you let it go. More or less than that, you don't put any added pressure, you don't think about if you miss or make it, shoot it up, go through another one. You go through your little ritual and that's what it is. I thought tonight everybody was aggressive, and we've got to -- like Paul said, we've got to finish four quarters off and look a lot better. But you know Flip, he's very scheming, throw different things out and try to pick the pressure up, but that's what it is, man. Free throw is a part of the game, and I'm just trying to be as calm as possible. I thought, first half, man, free throws are free, so you think that you're out there and it's automatic, but sometimes it's not. So I was just trying to be real poised. Q. Just how much of the fourth quarter was fatigue? The starters played a lot tonight. How tired were you? PAUL PIERCE: I didn't really think about how tired I was. The only thing on my mind is getting a win, getting a step closer to being in the NBA Finals. I don't think fatigue is going to be a factor for the rest of this series. The guys physically for the most part are feeling good, and it's all about mental toughness right now. End of FastScripts |
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