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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICS

June 10, 2008

Doc Rivers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Three

Q. Can you talk about what they did with Paul and Kevin to basically get them out of their rhythm?
DOC RIVERS: I just thought they were more aggressive. I thought they ran more, Kobe was really live off of Rondo. Something they did in the last game, as well. But he was more aggressive of it. You know, I think we moved the ball great. I thought Paul and Kevin for the most part had some decent shots, but give them credit, I thought they were the more aggressive team all night for the most part. So to me that was the reason.

Q. Can you discuss Sasha Vujacic's performance, how he helped the Lakers?
DOC RIVERS: He was huge. I thought he was the biggest part -- Kobe was fantastic, but I thought Vujacic was the key to the game. I've said before, we're going to have to win a game when Kobe Bryant plays well. That's just -- we know that. But when that happens, we have to shut off the other avenues. I thought we did a great job with Gasol, thought we did a great job of Odom, but Vujacic, he was aggressive, and he deserved what he got.
I thought, again, he was more aggressive than the guys guarding him.

Q. As hard as the Lakers played, they were having a lot of trouble making shots. With that in mind, was this kind of a lost opportunity for you guys?
DOC RIVERS: Well, either that or they should have blown us out (laughing), one of the two. The good part of the game, you're right, is that our defense was pretty good, not great, but it was pretty good. Our offense was not. When Paul has a night like tonight and Kevin has a night like he had, and it was a two- and four-point game all game, I looked at it as opposite of that. We had a chance to steal a game here when our guys were off. I thought Ray was fantastic tonight. Guarding Kobe is no easy task, and still, to have the strength to play defense or to score was big.
The foul problems hurt us, clearly, tonight, as well.

Q. 5:43 you guys were only down three. What did you think about the position you guys were in at that time and what went wrong the rest of the way?
DOC RIVERS: You know, I liked our position. I liked our position the whole game. They came out the beginning of the game and hit us with a blow, and we were tied at the end of the quarter. Going in at halftime, we felt good about the game, came out to start the third. I thought we moved the ball extremely well at one stretch, and we were scoring. Then I thought we got away from that a little bit. I thought we went to that "I'm going to win the game for us" mode instead of just trusting the offense and continuing to move the ball. They made some big shots. Kobe made some big shots, bottom line.
I thought the biggest play of the game, though, was Luke Walton's drive. I think it led to a three. I think that was the single biggest play of the game.

Q. Phil was just in here and he said that he thought Kevin ran out of gas. What do you think of that?
DOC RIVERS: Well, I'm just surprised he didn't whine about fouls tonight (laughter). I don't know if Kevin was tired or not. Bottom line is we just didn't play well as a group, and it wasn't just Kevin. I thought as a whole -- I told our guys, listen, you had a chance to win, but don't be delusional. That team attacked you, they were the aggressor. They why they went to the foul line, and they deserve it. I told them I don't want to hear about Coach Jackson complaining and that's why. No, that was not why. They played harder, they drove to the basket, and they deserved to go to the foul line. If you play harder on Thursday and you attack the basket, then you will go to the foul line.

Q. What do you think that Paul and Kevin -- besides play harder, what do you think Paul and Kevin can do to match up now?
DOC RIVERS: Well, they'll be fine. We'll make some adjustments, and they'll be fine.

Q. In the third quarter the ball went in to Kevin in the post, and it seemed to change the game, and then it got away from you. Why?
DOC RIVERS: Well, it just happened. We didn't want to. Obviously we wanted to drive. I thought the one thing they did is really started pressuring Eddie to the point where we couldn't get into the offense for the most part for that one stretch. You know, Kevin went out of the game is the main reason. We rarely played 12 straight minutes, but with Paul in foul trouble we basically had no choice. So that little three-minute stretch when he was out of the game is when the game changed. But we really had no choice. He needed a blow, we gave him a blow. When he came back in, we went down there, we just didn't get anything out of him.

Q. Can you talk about the play of House and Posey off the bench?
DOC RIVERS: I thought both of them -- Posey is great every night, gives you great energy. I thought Eddie House gave us a great lift tonight. I went with him because when Rondo went out so early, I thought go with Eddie, we may come back with Sam because at the time I didn't think Rondo was coming back, and I just needed someone to stretch the floor to take them out of their double-team. So clearly Rondo was the guy that obviously they decided they were going to live off and live with whatever he makes. What Rondo and our team has to do when that happens is we have to make more plays through Rondo when that happens, and I think Eddie did a good job of that. But Eddie was terrific.

Q. Regarding Rondo, was his health the reason he wasn't in down the stretch?
DOC RIVERS: No, Eddie was playing well, and that was it. I just thought Eddie gave us -- stretched the floor better for us.

Q. How is Rajon?
DOC RIVERS: I don't actually know. I didn't ask. I'll find out -- turned his ankle. Eddie told me it was re-taped and it was fine.

End of FastScripts

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