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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICSJune 8, 2008Kevin GarnettPaul PierceBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Two Q. Paul, can you just take us through what's going through your mind during that Lakers run and then when you're at the foul line and blocking that shot? PAUL PIERCE: Well, I was a little disappointed in our play in the last six minutes of the game. I thought we just weren't aggressive enough to put the game away. I thought we wanted the time to just run out, and we were -- myself, I was a little lackadaisical with the ball. It's a great win, but definitely a lesson to be learned in that last six minutes. But just down the stretch, we've got to be a little more aggressive. When I was at the line just concentrate on knocking them in. At the end we switched everything. That's why I ended up on Vujacic and I was able to get a hand up, and Pose got the rebound and was able to ice the game. We're happy because we won, but at the same time, we definitely learned a valuable lesson there in the fourth quarter. Q. Just talk about your game and how you felt physically tonight. PAUL PIERCE: I felt pretty good. I didn't really think about the injury because once I step on the court, it pretty much goes out the window. You hear the crowd, the adrenaline is going. Probably feel a little bit better now after the game now that I'm kind of winding down. But during the game it felt good. I didn't think about it, I just went out and played. Q. For both you guys, talk about getting a 2-0 lead going to Los Angeles. PAUL PIERCE: We did our job, we held home court, and now we can break it back with another win in Game 3. We're not settling on a 2-0 lead. We want to go out there and win two games in LA. That's our focus, and that's what we want to go out there and try to do. KEVIN GARNETT: As Paul said, all year long we've been taking each game a game at a time, and LA will be no different from that. Q. Paul, what does it mean to you to be able to compete for an NBA title against the Lakers in Los Angeles, against the team that you idolized? PAUL PIERCE: This means everything. It's a dream. Once you get to the NBA, your first dream is making it in the NBA, being a star, and then figuring out what's your next dream. It's a dream for me to go home and play in a place where I grew up, against a team I grew up with, with the Boston Celtics, with the opportunity to win an NBA championship. Couldn't have scripted it any better. Q. Why do you think you play well when you go to LA? Some players don't play well when they go home, you do. PAUL PIERCE: I don't know. I like the balls in LA. Q. Paul, the stuff that the Lakers were saying about your injury or whatever, did that upset you? Did it bother you? PAUL PIERCE: I really don't know what they said, really. Not at all. Not at all. Q. Kevin, they get down nine and probably halfway through the fourth quarter, Paul, you take a shot and you have a big put-back there. As you're watching the ball in flight, it's a pretty big basket at that point. If you could just talk about that. KEVIN GARNETT: When rebounds go up, these guys, Paul, Pose, Ray, they take a lot of threes in the fourth and Doc encouraged those guys to shoot. And when it goes up, my first thing is to get it in, and if I got a chance to go back up, go back up. If not, get it out, just get another possession. Just being really, really overly aggressive. The refs are letting us play in the middle. I was fortunate to go up there and grab it with two hands and then just came back down and put it in. The team that rebounds and obviously plays defense pretty much is going to have the upper hand in this series, we were able to do that. Q. Can you just talk about Leon and what he was able to do, taking advantage of the inside. PAUL PIERCE: He was huge for us. The bench is obviously going to be a key. Our bench has been pretty much overlooked all year. Nobody really talks about our bench. Nobody has really talked about them in the playoffs. We know what the Laker bench can bring, but we feel like we have the best bench in this series, and Leon went out there and proved it tonight. He was aggressive, we got him the ball, he had a mismatch, they tried to put a small guy on him. We feel like we can go to the guy. He's proven throughout the course of the year once he posts up, get him the ball. And we've developed confidence that he can get the job done. Q. To sort of go further on that subject, I mean, guys like PJ, a lot of the guys on the bench, they've been sort of questioned by some people as to how effective they are. It seems like it's been a point of pride to them to step up like this. I was wondering if you could talk about that. KEVIN GARNETT: Our bench is deep. We have a lot of experience on our bench. Obviously when you're in the playoffs, the rotation sort of gets shortened. But from PJ to Pose to Leon to Sam, even Eddie House, we have experience on our bench. Guys have come in and I think with the players that we have on the floor, us being play-makers, myself, Paul and Ray, along with Rondo, being play-makers, you can pretty much put a big out there or someone who is basketball sound and make plays, and those guys -- Leon is a scrappy guy, PJ is a scrappy guy, and they can also be aggressive in times we need them to. I thought Leon was really aggressive to begin with. For a moment, like Paul said, we flowed off him. It was good. But I don't think our bench wants any credit. Obviously it would be nice, but for the most part, our team is all about going out and doing what we talk about, night in, night out. We've just got to be consistent with it. Q. Either one of you, there was a point where you guys were up 21 when the energy level was so high, you guys were running around the court. Paul, you actually smiled and joked with an official. Now it looks like the demeanor has kind of changed, like you survived a game. Describe the demeanor after getting away with one. KEVIN GARNETT: I wouldn't say "survived." Like Paul said, we wasn't happy with how we ended the game. Obviously we've got to be a lot more aggressive come fourth quarter. I don't think we did some of the same things that got us the lead, and it's a live-and-learn-type thing. Hopefully we can apply -- not hopefully, but we will apply what we learned tonight and take it on the road. Never satisfied with just the immediate, but obviously we'll take this win, but at the same time we'll try to learn and apply what we learned in this series and different games, and that's what you see. The demeanor, we haven't done anything. We won a game at home. We defended home, which is what we're supposed to do. Now it's time to take the show on the road and try to apply what we learned tonight on the road. PAUL PIERCE: That was well put. What he said. Exactly what he said. Q. Both you guys are students of the game, but Kevin, this is for you: Back when you had your long playoff run with the Timberwolves that year, what did you learn that year that's helped you this year to get where you're at? KEVIN GARNETT: To enjoy it. You know, people that know me know I'm a little intense at times (laughter), and I take things a little probably too personally at times. But I'm feeling like this is my chance. So I'm a little relaxed, not that relaxed, but I'm a little more relaxed these days. Obviously I'm playing with better players and better IQs and better staff and that type of thing. So it makes being a player easy to where I can just go out and focus on what the team does versus individual. The one thing that stands out is enjoyment, so to enjoy every minute of where you're at because there's no guarantee you'll be back to this point. End of FastScripts |
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