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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v CELTICSMay 30, 2008Kevin GarnettPaul PierceDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Six Q. Paul, can you just talk about your mindset going into the fourth quarter down ten points. You kind of like took over the game there. PAUL PIERCE: I just wanted to just keep my poise, just start thinking about the previous games where the game was close in the fourth quarter, and just wanted to make sure we got a good shot every time down. I thought this was the best game we played, the best fourth quarter we played, especially now going into the fourth, all series, all playoff long. We kept our composure, we got the ball to the right people, we knocked down shots. My teammates, they just did a great job of looking for me when I got in position to score, and without these guys, hey, where would I be? Q. For both you guys, just talk about your emotions, finally getting to a place where you've been dreaming about being for a while. KEVIN GARNETT: We was talking about it on the way in here. It feels good, obviously. You know, we were still talking about things we didn't do right in the game, but for the most part we've been enjoying it. We have a big test ahead of us. We know that the total goal is not done. But it feels good, feels real good. We're just emotionally drained. Paul had a real good game. I thought he did a great job of imposing his will. I think he had a big three-point play that was just huge for us. He was just huge for us all series when we needed him. But right now it's a good feeling. It's kind of surreal, probably hasn't even hit me yet because we haven't slept in about four days, going on five days now. Going to The Finals I'm just hoping to get some sleep. But it does feel good. PAUL PIERCE: My mind is so everywhere I forgot the question. Q. Your emotions right now, finally being here. PAUL PIERCE: I'm just happy to be a part of this, man. It's been a long process. I could write a whole book on my emotions right now. But I'm just happy to be in this position, still with the Boston Celtics. It makes me think about a year ago today what I was doing. To be in this position with the same team going to The Finals, it's nothing I can really put into words. Q. You guys would not be here if not for the defense you played all year, and you've turned an offensive team into an defensive team. When did this start? Did this start as soon as you got together in September? It's something you stuck with all season long, obviously. KEVIN GARNETT: I think day one, man. I think with the guys that required -- especially when we got E House, Pose, a lot of scoring. It was immediate, you could tell that right off the bat. But Doc said it, took us on like a little duck tour, myself, Paul and Ray, and he said for us to win, we know we can score points, that's pretty much what it is. But we've got to be defensive, and the more and more we worked on it, the more and more we fell in love with it. There's days where we want to ring Tom Thibodeau's neck, but he keeps us intact, and the more and more we saw the results, the more and more I think we fell in love with it. It's our backbone now. We look at ourselves night in and night out, we know we can score points. We've got to move the ball and execute and that type of thing. But our backbone, we have to play defense and we have to be connected, all five guys. PAUL PIERCE: Like Kevin said, from day one, the commitment, and then once -- I thought once the top players, me, Kevin and Ray bought into what we wanted to do, it just flowed through the rest of the guys. It seemed like every day we looked forward to playing defense, looked forward to getting into defensive drills and it was a lot of intensity. I thought, hey, we're going to have fun because we've got guy that can score the ball, averaged pretty much 23 their whole career. So we thought scoring wasn't going to be a problem. We had to sacrifice something in order for us to win, and we've got to go out there and play D every single night, and it's been every single day. Even Kevin has made sure of it, I've made sure of it. Every single day we never got bored with the process. Q. Can you talk about the range of emotions you felt from that moment where you had that three-pointer waved off and you drew a foul, and then to the point where you induced Maxiell, I think it was, to commit a foul to get you guys in the shooting position? PAUL PIERCE: You know, I was a little upset at the call, but hey, I knew that things wouldn't go our way being that we were on the road and trying to go to the NBA Finals. I didn't expect calls tonight. My whole mindset going in there, if they made a bad call on me, I was just going to get back and suck it up and try to get it back. So just going into the game mentally, after watching the Spurs game, Lakers game, it seemed like, hey, they let them play for the most part, and that's just fine with me. That was my mindset going into the game. I didn't let it frustrate me like probably in the past. I probably would have lost my poise, lost my cool, got a technical. But that would have been selfish of me and taking away from the team. So I just wanted to brush it off and just keep playing. Q. We've seen a lot of video lately of the three of you at that press conference where you all were together holding up the jerseys. When you think back on that moment, when you bring stars together it can go one way or the other. What was the process for the two of you and Ray to all come together and come to this moment as opposed to the other way around? PAUL PIERCE: I'm going to say the communication from day one. Once we figured out Ray was coming and myself, KG was going to be there, we all talked and talked about what we needed to do, and that's when it pretty much started. The second we got to training camp in September, we all said, hey, let's meet in September without the coaches and come together and just start playing with each other, starting to get to know one another, and I think all that stuff really helped us. But the communication from the jump and just kind of knowing each other partially throughout our careers just really helped us. Q. Kevin, take that path from what he said. You get to the middle of the season, and how did you get from everything you did during the regular season to this point in the playoffs? KEVIN GARNETT: I think I'm going to add on to what Paul said. The communication between the three of us just from the first day was just phenomenal. You could tell there was chemistry there. The three of us have been knowing each other throughout all of our careers, and it just hasn't been a "hi" and "bye" type of thing. I've been knowing Paul since I was a kid. Him and Ray, they been knowing each other, and it was a really up-front conversation. We talked about scenarios, we talked about what we can be potentially, and then Doc later on added more structure and coaching and more of a mental influence into it. But for the most part, the three of us said that these guys are not going to follow if we don't give them a reason not to follow. We came in and we've been working since day one. I can definitely say that, that it has been a process. You guys see some of the finished product, but we do debate and we do debate strongly, but we consider ourselves very respectful of each other, three professionals that know that in order for this thing to work, we all have to give something up. And I think we all not just talked about it, but we've been about it. Q. Paul and Kevin, Celtics-Lakers, could you discuss what that means to you guys and what you think it means to Boston sports fans who are listening right now? PAUL PIERCE: It means everything to Boston fans. To me, I think that's what pretty much got me started in basketball, growing up in Los Angeles, watching the Lakers and the Celtics, and it's ironic, just being a Celtic, growing up, now you're playing against the Lakers in The Finals. As a kid, I hated the Celtics (laughter). I'm going back home to play against my team that I grew up watching. It's a dream come true, man, just thinking about it. I think that rivalry really revolutionized the game of basketball, and now I'm a part of it. KEVIN GARNETT: I mean, this is my first Finals, my second or third Lakers-Celtics game. I'm looking forward to it, all the things I used to watch on Sunday, that big plate of food in front of me watching the Lakers and Celtics play on Sunday, Hubie Brown and Dick Stockton doing the game. I remember that like it was yesterday. Fire going, I'm gonna grab me a seat right in front. Mom telling me, "Don't get too close to the TV, it'll kill your eyes." I remember it like it was yesterday, man. I'm looking forward to this. Q. Paul, you've been with Rajon from day one. He made the biggest basket of the game tonight, your last basket. Could you discuss the growing confidence everyone has had in him, watching him develop, specifically his shooting game. PAUL PIERCE: Just for a guy who wasn't really heralded coming out as a lottery pick, only in his second year, you know, I really didn't know too much about Rondo when we drafted him. But just being around him, knowing that his hard work, his ability just to stand up to the veterans and not get rattled, I mean, he's come a long, long way in his maturity as a player. That's just the work he's put in, and he's able to listen. I think that's the key for him. He listens to the guys and he goes out there and puts the work in. This just being his second year, I mean, he's no longer a young guy; he's a grown-up veteran now. Q. P, you've been talking a lot lately about understanding how close you guys are to something that doesn't come along every day. It seemed like you came out in the fourth quarter with that kind of mindset? Did you take it to a different level in the fourth quarter? PAUL PIERCE: I think that was my mindset. I thought, this is 12 minutes, it's a tremendous opportunity, and I didn't want to let this slip away. It was right there, and Lord knows I didn't want to go back to Boston for another Game 7. I wanted to be a little more aggressive, but at the same time be smart. The shots were there, I was a little surprised at some of the open looks I got at the driving lanes, but hey, I took advantage of it. I just wanted to try to impose my will. Just being in that position six years ago and letting it slip away. I didn't want it to slip away again. End of FastScripts |
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