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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICS

June 10, 2008

Kevin Garnett

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Three

Q. How does the team have to react now that you've lost your first game of the series?
KEVIN GARNETT: How do we what?

Q. How do you move forward the next two days?
KEVIN GARNETT: We have to defend. I thought they came out with a lot of energy. They tend to be aggressive from the giddy-up. You could tell right away they were trying to establish home, which was what you're supposed to do.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about how you guys have been able to hold the Lakers starting front court for three games, and also whether or not you, Allen and Pierce have to be stellar performers in the same game to take control of the series?
KEVIN GARNETT: You know, we're a defending team. Obviously that's our backbone. They can score. Kobe is doing everything Kobe does. We tried to get the ball out of his hands later on, but for the most part we were trying to keep everybody in check. I thought Sasha came into the game with great energy. As far as the three of us, we have to continue to be aggressive, make plays.
Obviously tonight myself and Paul didn't have the best night as scorers offensively. But defensively I thought we were very sound, very disciplined. Obviously we got down the first half, took that blow, came back, made a run of our own.
This game was never out of reach for us. So if you pull the positives out of it, that's what you pull out of it. Kobe is going to be Kobe, but we have to keep everybody else in.

Q. Can you explain why you and Paul had such off games? Was it something the Lakers were doing defensively?
KEVIN GARNETT: I wouldn't necessarily say that. I think at times myself, I can't speak for Paul, but rushing shots, hyped about the game, composure. I don't make any kind of excuses for bad games. You know, I think for the most part shooting-wise, I had a pretty awful game. But as far as energy and grabbing rebounds and trying to block some shots, I thought I was active at times. But for the most part, hey, it's not a perfect game.
I know at times we make it look easy, but that's the great thing about this league; we have some more games to play, and I'm sure I'll get better.

Q. It seems like every time you took the ball to the basket something good happened to you or to your teammates. Why didn't you do it more often?
KEVIN GARNETT: You got the perfect answer right there. Hell, if I knew that, I would have done it. Obviously in the course of a game you try to mix things up. I know I do. I've got Pau on me. He's very long. It's not like he's easy when it comes to being a defender. Tried to give him different looks and tried to mix some things up is what I'm basically trying to do. But for the most part, I watched this game. It's not one of my better offensive games, and I'll make adjustments accordingly. But you're right, I probably do need to take the ball to the basket a little more.

Q. Do you think that you guys need to be cautious about being too aggressive in Game 4?
KEVIN GARNETT: No, I think too aggressive is not even in the vocabulary. I think we need to come out aggressive, establish something early and go to it. I thought tonight's second half we tried to establish the post and some other things, but we were already running uphill, so to speak, in the sand. With a good team, a great team like this one is, you can't spot a team points, especially in their building.

Q. You are familiar playing with the best basketball team all year, but don't you think the biggest problem you have is closing out games? It happened a few games before the playoffs, it happened today where you were at some point in control of this game.
KEVIN GARNETT: What I don't understand is we're playing good teams, and I know we do have stretches where we defensively lock down, but these guys play good, too, and they are professionals and I thought they did a good job of turning it on, hitting shots, making shots when they had to. We won that game. I think some other games I can't even recall right off the top. I know at times we make it look like these teams are slouches, but they're not. They're very good teams in respect to that. That's what it is. It's a league of runs, and when you make runs, there's no exact time to know when you're actually going to make your run, but teams do make runs. When you're seeing is teams making runs, making shots when they're supposed to, being desperate at times, what you have to do is you have to cut those runs and then make a run of your own. I just want you all to understand, basketball in the NBA style, everybody is good. There's no slouch, no slouch players, no slouch coaches, no slouch teams. People make runs. If you can cut them, the sooner the better basically.

Q. You've worked your entire career to get to this moment, to The Finals. Now that you're here, how is this experience based against your expectations, and what is the pressure like for a team leader like you to be here?
KEVIN GARNETT: Expectation wise, you know, it's going to be difficult. You don't know the magnitude and the detail, but you know it's going to be difficult. You watch the game from a fan standpoint as a kid and as a child you watch it, and it's entertainment and you're enjoying it and you're rooting for your favorite team. But as a player it's about imagining what you can bring to make your team better.
I think you deal with a sense of pressure every night. Pressure is all about how you see it, though. I know every night you have to make the guys on my team better. I have to be the player I feel to give my team an edge every night. I don't really see it as pressure. I see it as every night I have a responsibility to my teammates and to myself, to the people that I represent, the Celtics, the organization, the city. Come out and give everything, and that's what I try to do night in and night out.

End of FastScripts

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