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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICSJune 6, 2008Doc RiversBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. Coach, you did a pretty good job of keeping them from getting much in transition. Can you talk about that, even though you had, I guess, 13 turnovers. COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, it's obviously a key for us, rebounding and transition D. I thought we did pretty well. I was a little disappointed in the first quarter -- or first half obviously. It doesn't say it on the stats as far as transition baskets, but we allowed them to get in their early offense because we didn't get back and down and ready defensively in the first half. I thought we did a better job in the second half obviously. In the last five minutes of the game I thought we regressed a little bit. It's a point of emphasis, clearly. Q. Just some housekeeping stuff about Paul and Kendrick. How did they appear to you today? COACH DOC RIVERS: Not great, so we'll just see, would be the answer. Perk, you know, I think it's a high ankle sprain, which is never good. But he'll be ready for Sunday. And Paul, we'll see. Q. I mean, you're never comforted by a fact when a guy is injured, but are you comforted by the fact that you have at least a couple extra days? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, it helps. Obviously it's nice not playing until Sunday. That gives both of them time to heal. I expect both of them to play, honestly. I just don't know how much they can give us yet. Q. It seems as though you would say that your team didn't play its best game last night, but you still got the win. What does it say about the quality of your team? And also, what did you tell your team with that thought in your mind? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, that was the first thing I told them. Obviously we're extremely happy we won the game, but we're better than that. I thought we missed a lot of good shots last night, as well. And I know they scored 88 points, but I think we can be a better defensive team than we were last night in stretches, more in the first half. I thought the second half was terrific, absolutely terrific. But in the first half I didn't think we were as good as we've been. I didn't think we ever established a great offensive flow. We scored 98 points. We had 3 for 12 in transition when we had numbers, and I think five of those were turnovers. But we had numbers. So we can clearly be more efficient, and so can they. And we know they will be, as well. Q. Back on Paul, what did he tell you this morning? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, he didn't have to tell me a lot. I talked to him, though, and just watching him walk, you can see he's -- it's tender, it's still, it's swollen a little bit. You know, no structural damage, which is good news. Q. He had a test? COACH DOC RIVERS: Yeah, so pretty much in that way we're good. Q. What are you going to do with him today? COACH DOC RIVERS: We're not going to do anything anyway. We're going to watch film today and shoot free throws. I don't think he could play today, to be honest. But you know, he'll be ready by Sunday. Q. Would you reveal to us your entire defensive plan for stopping Kobe? COACH DOC RIVERS: Absolutely (laughter). Q. Is it like the two regular season games you had success? I mean, is it, quote, important enough to devise a whole thing, or is this kind of different over what you did the first two games? COACH DOC RIVERS: We really don't change a lot. We're just a solid defensive team. We're a help defensive team. We try to load to the ball. Clearly we have special players we give more attention to. You know, like he said in the interview, he did miss some shots, and we understand that. I look at it the same way -- in some ways, we're not playing them the same, but in some ways of LeBron, we're going to have to win a game where he has a great game. We have to count on that. But you know, we just have to keep staying solid defensively. We don't want to over-help. We want to be in the right positions. We want to try to contest shots. But it's not just Kobe, we want to keep everybody out of the paint with a bigger emphasis on Kobe. Q. Did Paul have to go to the hospital or anything else last night to get a further checkup? COACH DOC RIVERS: I actually don't know the answer to that question. Our team doctor is here. We have all the gadgets here as far as I know. I'm assuming we do. So I don't know if he had to or not. I never asked the question. Q. And also, Paul said after the game, someone was asking him about getting treatment in the locker room and those few minutes he was out, and he said, man, it can't be over like this. I think God just sent this angel down. You're going to be all right. You need to go out there and show them what you've got. Phil showed a little skepticism toward that today. He said, I don't know if the angels visited at halftime or what, he didn't even limp when he came back out onto the floor. I don't know what was going on back there. Was Oral Roberts there in the locker room? COACH DOC RIVERS: Whatever it takes (laughter). Whatever it takes. All I know is he came back out on the floor and played, and I'm good with that. Q. What do you think of any skepticism toward his injury? COACH DOC RIVERS: Oh, I don't care. Aren't we skeptics anyway now about everything? So what the heck; let it begin (laughter). Let it begin. Lee Harvey Oswald did it (laughter). Q. It was real fierce when Pierce came back on the court and got those two three-pointers. It sort of changed the mood in the arena. Did the team get a lift from that and did that sort of define the game? COACH DOC RIVERS: I think it turned out to be. I honestly felt the defining moment of the game was when he went off the floor. I thought it was. I thought our team got a different sense of urgency when he left the floor, and when he joined back in, the urgency had already started with our group and then he just added into that obviously when he came on the floor. It was a great emotion there for the fans. Players, I think they were pretty much into it already, but they were extremely happy to see him, don't get me wrong. And then he made the shots, which was the icing. Q. Just on Kobe, I mean, you have had success. Are you ready to take credit for it, or is it three times lucky? COACH DOC RIVERS: No, Kobe is a great player, so we're just going to show up again Sunday expecting him to be a great player. He's tough. He's tough. If it was easy to stop him, he wouldn't be a great player. We expect him to be great. Q. I know you're a student of the game and of the history of it. Game 2 with all the adjustments, and I know every game in the playoffs is a must-win game, but what kind of significance is it at this point? COACH DOC RIVERS: Well, I just think each game takes on its own life. If you win Game 1, especially if you're the home team, in Game 2 both teams have a heightened sense of urgency. Obviously no one wants to go down 2-0 and then the home team doesn't want to lose home court. Or especially in this format go out there 1-1 and have three games in a row there. The one thing I don't like about the 2-3-2 format is that you fight all year to get home court and you don't have Game 5 on your home court. I think that gives both teams a heightened sense of urgency. Game 2 is always the better game of the first two in my opinion. End of FastScripts |
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