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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICS

June 6, 2008

Kevin Garnett

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day

Q. I just wanted to ask you, how did Paul appear to you today? And were you kind of eager to find out how he would react after last night?
KEVIN GARNETT: I texted him last night to see if he was all right. Just checking with him, whatever, he seemed to be okay. Today he was bright-eyed like normal Paul Pierce, like we're used to seeing coming in. We talked about some things about last night, how we can get better, and other than that, I think he can answer that better than anybody can. But he seemed to be upbeat and normal.

Q. There seems to be some skepticism, especially on their side, about the nature of his injury. I mean, do you guys take any offense to the fact that they're questioning whether or not he was hurt, given the fact that he came back?
KEVIN GARNETT: (Smiling) I can't really -- he hurt. It's not up to them to approve or disapprove or to judge. The man got carried off the court. I mean, that's pretty significant. That's what it is. I don't know what they're doing over there. I'm focused on what we're doing over here. But he looked pretty hurt, came in and finished the game off. I know it don't look easy and he made it probably look a little easy, but at the same time, they wasn't over there seeing him grimacing, the massaging and on the bike and ice and that stuff. When you don't know what's going on on the other side, you just make up stuff.

Q. You were talking about how you guys could get better for Game 2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do you think you played? And after you give us that grade, what does it say about the team that you were able to beat a team such as the Lakers?
KEVIN GARNETT: I'm not going to put on a grade, numbers, but I think we can definitely improve I think in terms of defensively, a dialogue can build our -- a lot more continuous, a lot more amplified, if you will. We're trying to do more things during the course of the series, and defensively we know we have to be as one when it comes to communicating. Kobe got a couple pocket passes to Pau, got a couple of easy baskets down. We have to continue to rebound. During this series there's going to be countless times where we have to go in and be better. I don't think I have enough time to really go through all the points.
But at the same time, there's always room for improvement.

Q. But when you get to this level, it's very often that a team -- you have two evenly matched teams here. For a team that in your mind played not their best game but still gets the victory against a quality opponent, what does that say about your team and also the chances of claiming a championship where you can win and not play your best?
KEVIN GARNETT: Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you. I'm trying to tell you that both teams I thought played well. I think it's a feeling out kind of process kind of thing, too. We haven't seen each other for probably three or four months. It's like a boxing match, it's feel-out kind of thing. First night was just that. Now I'm sure both teams are going to make adjustments, as well, or as bad as we played, however you want to label it, that's always room for improvement. That's my point. Obviously to show you five plays that were great for us, he has another five that we can improve on. During the course of this series just like any other series you make adjustments and there's always room for improvement.

Q. One thing you guys have maybe strayed into at times is over-helping. Is that something you have to watch out for, especially when you're playing Kobe?
KEVIN GARNETT: I think Doc preaches -- he's big on not over-helping. But when you're out there, it's not a sense of over-helping. Our philosophy is we'd rather be early than late. It's very important weak side to be in dialogue and talking about guys cutting. This team is a very, very, very good passing team, very good back-cutting team. Attendance has to be up at all times. As a player you tend to think that you don't ever over-help. Coaches usually use that term more than players. As long as we talk and the dialogue is -- like I said, is amplified, we should be okay. But we have to, like I said, just cut off some of the easy baskets, make every possession very difficult for them.

Q. I understand you've got a developing friendship with Didier Drogba from Chelsea. Do you have any messages from him or any encouragement from the UK or other players or Didier in particular before the Finals?
KEVIN GARNETT: Not at this time. Jeff Twiss, our PR guy, usually gets those things, and I know when Didier was getting ready to play over in Russia against Man U, I sent him a good luck telegram, and he got it, and I wished him good luck. But up to this point I haven't spoken to him nor heard from him.

Q. Kobe said he got his looks and he just missed his shots. Are you buying that?
KEVIN GARNETT: I thought Kobe had good looks. Defense helps you miss some -- make some of those looks kind of long and distant at times. I thought he had really good looks at the basket. I thought he made some tough shots.
But I think at the same time it's 50/50. Maybe he only knows his capabilities of making shots over defenses and different types of defenders. But I do know, also, that you can miss shots, but defense helps miss those, too. If he said it, he said it. It's what it is.

Q. Did you feel like you did a good job taking away what he does best?
KEVIN GARNETT: I thought team-wise we did a real good job of communicating and setting up our wall, as we put it, in trying to control him. We're anticipating him being a lot more aggressive Game 2. I thought we came out and were efficient from the giddy up. Pau Gasol, we anticipate him being aggressive, but that's not going to stop anything we're doing defense. We're going to continue to talk and try to get better and hopefully get Game 2.

End of FastScripts

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