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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICS

June 15, 2008

Kevin Garnett

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Five

Q. You were in foul trouble all night, the whole team was. How much of that had to do with Kendrick Perkins being out?
KEVIN GARNETT: The foul trouble you mean?

Q. Yeah. It seemed like it put a lot of pressure on the whole team.
KEVIN GARNETT: A little bit. Whenever one of your key guys goes out -- Perk is a big part of our team, not just from personnel standpoint but from a chemistry standpoint. We have other guys who can fill his shoes, but that's the reason why guys start, it's the reason why defense flows the way it does. Like you said, we were in foul trouble from the jump and it put us on our heels for the game.

Q. You played next to Perkins for most of this season. How much did you personally miss his physical presence there?
KEVIN GARNETT: Well, like I said, man, that's the reason why guys start. Perk is a physical guy, he plays the post better than anybody in this league. That's what he does. When you lose a key guy, you're losing something.
And what he brings, not just defensive presence, but rebounding, he can score with his jump hook and turnaround, just his presence.
But with all that, man, we still had a chance to win this game. We let it slip right through our hands.

Q. Talk about just how much did the fouls affect your game tonight?
KEVIN GARNETT: Never could really get into a rhythm. I was playing on my heels the whole night. I thought Pau had a real good game. He was aggressive, I thought he had a real good game. I thought they had a big impact on the game. Sasha coming off the bench, those guys were very aggressive tonight. That's what it was, man. You try to put them in situations to be aggressive, too, but with the fouls you can't really do that.

Q. How do you feel about your play throughout the series?
KEVIN GARNETT: My play tonight? It was trash. I played like garbage tonight. I can do better and I will.

Q. I mean overall in the series.
KEVIN GARNETT: Well, I thought Paul had a good flow tonight. Series-wise, myself, just trying to get myself, my team an edge, trying to close this thing out. I always say there's always room for improvement. But tonight is what it's about, it's the present, and it was terrible. I've definitely got to do better.

Q. Can you talk about the expectations are hugely in your favor two games at home. Is there more pressure on you, or is that a total misnomer at this point?
KEVIN GARNETT: No, our focus is take this thing one game at a time. They're going to play well at home, the crowd is behind them. Like you said, now we're going home. Hopefully we can close this thing out at home. But the onus is on us. I don't think there's any pressure at this point. I think we've definitely got to win in Game 6 and come out and set our feet in the cement, so to speak, and establish something early and stay with that.

Q. Is the word pressure overused under these circumstances too often?
KEVIN GARNETT: I wouldn't use pressure. You know, if you like using it, then you can use it (laughter). But for the most part, like I said, the fouls had us -- I had myself in disarray and I know I anchor this defense right along with Perkins, and he was out tonight. My presence on the floor has to be there night in, night out. I've got to be smart. Playing a good player like Pau, man, I'm competitive. When I see a chance and opportunities to get the ball, I try to do that. But tonight wasn't that night.

Q. You mentioned letting the game slip through you guys' hands. Those two free throws you missed late, is that going to haunt you for a while?
KEVIN GARNETT: It will definitely haunt me into tonight. Those are free throws I know I can hit. Again, that has to go with flow. Instead of just relaxing a little bit.
But I'll take them again if you put me in that situation, I'll have the confidence to knock them down.

Q. Anything specific Lakers did tonight to throw you off the game? Like you say, you played like garbage. Anything specific they did? And on the back end of the question, the wheeling of the Champaign into the locker room, any emotional ramification from that, wheeling it in, wheeling it out?
KEVIN GARNETT: Well, the second part of your question, I didn't even know Champaign was in the building. My focus was on the game. I didn't know that they had it wheeled in or wheeled out or whatever. That wasn't even the focus. The focus was to win this game and deal with everything else later.
The first part of your question was rhythm. I thought I should have attacked more obviously with the schemes and stuff, patience, but I thought Paul had a great game tonight. We still had opportunities to win this game, period. I make the two free throws, that's tied up, and who knows what it is. But there was a different scenario tonight, and the Lakers were a better team tonight.

Q. You say you played like garbage tonight, but you did manage 14 boards, so can you talk a little bit about that? And then also, what Sam Cassell gave you guys off the bench and what Farmar gave the Lakers off the bench.
KEVIN GARNETT: I guess I'm just so upset with my play, that's all, because defensively I know I'm more sound than that. For whatever reason, it was what it was. I'm not going to sit up here and bitch and moan about how I played in the game. At the same time, I know my presence on the court has to be there for us to be a dominant team, even though we have guys out there that can get it done. I have to be on the court.
When it comes to reviewing my play tonight, I really felt like it was garbage. I really felt like I was selfish and being competitive one-on-one with Pau in the match-up instead of actually taking a breath and taking a step back and playing defense from a more sound and mental standpoint.
Like you said, I'm not perfect, I'll try to get better and try to apply the things I didn't do tonight to the next game.

Q. You're so close but still so far. What are your kind of emotions right now, and what would it mean for you to wrap this up in a place that is really dear to you in Boston?
KEVIN GARNETT: The focus is to win the next game. I haven't even thought about the other things. I just want to play better and put more of a stamp on the game and more of a presence on the game. That's really what the focus is for me right now.

Q. And just talk about going back to Boston.
KEVIN GARNETT: It's going to be -- you know what it is. It's going to be like coming into the amazon, into the jungle. I look forward to going home and playing.

End of FastScripts

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