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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICSJune 4, 2008Luke WaltonBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. What have the last few days been like? LUKE WALTON: We're trying to keep it low-key for the last few days, but being here and seeing all the fans around and the Celtics jerseys hanging around, it's a great feeling. Q. Do you think the team may be emphasizing the fact too much that they have the two wins against you in the regular season? LUKE WALTON: Who's emphasizing that? Q. The Celtics, maybe thinking that they have -- LUKE WALTON: No, we're not thinking that at all. Like you said, that's a totally different team. We know that -- we were watching tapes on those games earlier, and as players you can sit there and see what a better team we are now than we were back then. That 0-2 thing has no effect on us at all. Q. They've established that they will be double-teaming Kobe. Is that something that will help you or not? LUKE WALTON: Yeah, it's definitely going to help the team in the fact that it is tough to stop Kobe without double-teaming him. I don't see them doing that throughout the whole series, especially down the stretch. You know, it's obviously going to result in less open shots for us throughout the game, but the ultimate goal is for our team to win. So if they decide to not double Kobe and he can go for 60, let him go for 60. Q. How important is it to try to get a win here in Boston? LUKE WALTON: Very big. We feel good about the way we've played on the road during the playoffs. We've had tough challenges playing in cities like Utah and San Antonio and Denver, and we've been able to win in all those cities, and it's going to be just as tough, if not tougher, to try to get one here. But we feel confident about that, and our goal right now is to try to steal one of these two games and get home-court advantage when we head back to LA. Q. Have you spoken to your father yet regarding The Finals? LUKE WALTON: No, we've exchanged a couple messages but we haven't been able to reach each other yet, but it's a lot of fun right now. Come tomorrow it's obviously going to be all business and about trying to win. But more in the off-season it's going to be fun to sit down and have dinner and tell stories about it. I'm sure he's got a lot of love for the city here and a lot of love for the organization, but you've got to go for blood first. Q. They're playing a lot of things over and over on ESPN, the '87 Finals -- LUKE WALTON: It's awesome. It's some of the best basketball of all time. It's really what got me involved with the game was back then going to The Garden with my dad and watching the Lakers and Celtics play, and I've got videos of all those old games. I watch that stuff all the time. Q. What do you remember about the series between the Lakers and Celtics? I know the first one maybe you were super-young, but '87, do you have any memories of that series? LUKE WALTON: I just remember always wanting to see the Lakers make it and see the Celtics beat them because we loved the Celtics. It was two of the greatest teams ever put together, and now it's funny that I'm playing for the Lakers and we have the best record in the West, and the Celtics have the best record in the league. So it's going to be a really fun series. Q. But your dad hasn't 100 percent told you he's rooting for you? LUKE WALTON: I'm assuming, but he hasn't come out and said it yet. I wouldn't be shocked if he came out and said something different (laughter). End of FastScripts |
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