|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICSJune 7, 2008Phil JacksonBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. If Kevin Garnett is playing off Lamar, is that similar to what he was doing for Minnesota when you guys played with him in the West Finals in '04? And what is the answer? COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, somewhat, but you know, Karl Malone had made that resurgence back. He was still healthy in the Houston and Minnesota series, and you couldn't leave Karl alone. You had to play him from 18, 20 feet in. He's been a real good defender for them all season. This is not unusual. We just have to figure out a way how to use that to our advantage, and we will. Q. Is part of the plan tomorrow to get Pau and Lamar maybe more active, maybe more touches down low? COACH PHIL JACKSON: You know, we haven't focused on that. We think that that's all part of what we do, and so guys available will do that. That hasn't been like a major focus of what we're going to do. But we will, there's no doubt about it. Q. Would you like to see a little bit more from them tomorrow? COACH PHIL JACKSON: Yes, I think so. But more than anything else, Kobe, he's got to play the kind of game -- if he takes 26 shots, he's got to have the kind of game he has. The results through production is very important in basketball. Q. You're known for your travel reviews. Your thoughts after a few days here in Boston? COACH PHIL JACKSON: It's very green (laughter). Boston Commons, the Public Gardens, very green. Q. It seemed like back in the '80s there was a lot of hatred between the two teams. Do you see any rivalries today in the NBA or is there a hate list, period, here in the league? And why do you think that might be? COACH PHIL JACKSON: We have rivalries, you know, in our conference for sure. I don't think there's the same hate kind of factor, type of stuff buildup. I think we've evolved a lot in that regard. I think a lot of that is due to coaching. Both Doc and I are members of Positive Coaching Alliance, PCA, which is a national organization to honor the game and bring honor to the game by dispelling that kind of thing and respecting your opponent is one of the first virtues, the first aspects of being a positive coach. And when you do that, you don't downplay your opponent, you give them the respect they're due, and I think that's an honorable position to be at. I think a lot of coaches are at that level. I mean, we're all looking for weaknesses and foibles and places that we can attack, but we still understand that these players have gotten to this position for a reason, and competitive zeal has been one of them and their abilities and athleticism has been others. So I think there's that. I think the idea of free agency, the people changing teams, I think international players, although the Celtics, I don't think they have an international player, do they, on their team? I think we have five or six guys, international players. I think that takes a little bit away from that, too. I think it's a healthier aspect, of course. Jack Nicholson hasn't weighed in in this series, and we have to wait for him to spice up the crowd. Q. Relative to the other three rounds, does the 2-3-2 format change the importance of Game 2 at all? And if so, why or why not? COACH PHIL JACKSON: It's all about momentum, and basketball is about playing those momentum swings the best you can, whether you have two five-minute periods that you play basketball, first and third quarters. Now that we've interjected so many timeouts in the game. So those are long periods of time. Everything else is a three-minute burst of energy. It's all about those momentum -- how many of those periods can you carry on your side, and can you carry that into the next game. So really, that doesn't matter. The mentality, the positive mentality we hopefully create with our players is about gaining momentum, and no matter where you're at you're going to continue to win, you're going to find a way to win. The duration of three games on one court, those have always been tough to maintain. We've had -- I mean, I've had teams that have been on the road and won three games in a row, but I can't ever remember winning three the other way around as a home coach in The Finals. Those are always tough. I've lost three to Detroit. I think that's the first time it ever happened that a home team won three in a row in 2004. So we went there anticipating that we were going to come back at a 2-2 level. We never found a way to answer, and Detroit was the first team I've seen in this setup that's been able to carry those three games in a row. So that's obvious, the fact that things happen that way. We want to get the first game we can get, we want to get the first quarter we can get, we want to get the first momentum turn we can get. Q. What are your remembrances of Jim McKay, who passed away today? COACH PHIL JACKSON: I didn't know that, but yeah, the Wide World of Sports, that was our introduction to sports in America in the '60s and the '70s. Covering, I guess, the Munich Olympics was probably the most memorable thing that you can remember about Jim McKay. I guess I remember him more than anything standing on some ski slope with snow falling around him and covering some downhill ski somewhere in the world, whether it was the Olympics or not. The amazing thing about seeing sports from other parts of the world that changed kind of our view of sports and our world experience of sports. Q. Your comments yesterday about Paul Pierce, have they made it any tougher for you the last couple 24 hours? I've gotten a lot of emails about the comments. Have you heard from Boston fans that made it any more difficult the last 24 hours? COACH PHIL JACKSON: No, I hope they take that in good stead. Q. On the same subject, you've been coaching marquee teams for a long time and you've been having your fun all the time that you've been doing it, and you had some consequences like when you said what you said about Sacramento and they showed up with cowbells for about five years after that. Are you surprised how seriously people take everything you say? Do you mean it in more jest than people are picking up? COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, we really should have a lot of fun about this; this is sports, after all. These are fun and games. Yeah, I kid the NBA about taking the fun out of the Finals, but this is still fun. We try to make this fun. Q. Do you have confidence Kobe will be able to bounce back tomorrow after the 9-for-26 the other night? COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, he's been an unstoppable force in this game. He usually doesn't have two games in a row that are bad. He comes back and play better. So we anticipate that's going to be a pattern. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|