	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: NUGGETS v LAKERS

May 28, 2009

George Karl

DENVER, COLORADO: Practice Day

Q. Make the adjustments, what adjustments do you want to make?
COACH KARL: I'm not going to tell you.

Q. Come on.
COACH KARL: Just don't have a seven-minute stretch where you make one shot. That would be my biggest suggestion.
They're zoning us more than they ever -- whatever we call it, our black defense. And there's more possessions last game that they were kind of more in the zone than a man-to-man principle.
Usually when they're in the zone, you've got to move the ball better. Last night I think we forced the shots a little bit too much.
Offensive, sometimes offense -- I was proud of our defense, we were pretty good. We didn't get as many transitions. We didn't get on the court as often as we did in Game 4. But it's a 4-point game. What did we shoot in the second half? I don't even remember. So I'm pretty proud of my team. I like their heart. I like their spirit. I like their learning curve as the series is going on.
I don't think we're losing anything. We're not as experienced as the team we're playing. But we're staying right with them.

Q. How is their heart and spirit different from last year when you got down 3-0 and lost that game, and now again in elimination, how do you feel --
COACH KARL: Got two wins in the pocket. You've got two wins of confidence in the pocket and you have the home court advantage where you're going to.
A lot of ways, in your analysis, you're saying LA did what they're supposed to do. My challenge is now to make it a seven-game series. And with the help of the fans in Denver and the little tricks, little tune-ups, I don't really want to have to come back to LA but I think I'm going to have to.

Q. Do you feel --
COACH KARL: We're going home after 7.

Q. Do you feel with Kobe, to take your chances, at times?
COACH KARL: Last night they stretched us a little bit on our double teams. I think what happened when we got stretched, and Gasol become playmakers, and we did a pretty good job most of the series keeping that out of the series. And I think we can make that adjustment tomorrow.

Q. Anything more dangerous than Odom and Gasol getting to play those roles, is that a given?
COACH KARL: What do you think? I think everybody knows that Odom's game was the reason they won, the biggest reason they won.
We had some defensive screw-ups that gave up layups more so. It's saying now, if you are going to mess, you don't give up a layup, jump shot. Last night baseline on the catch was very effective. 3-point play. They were down 4 I think it was when they ran the same play three or four times and got it again. I might strangle someone if it happens tomorrow.

Q. Going into the biggest game of the Nuggets career, on the point play will it be Chauncey Billups?
COACH KARL: Chauncey is a stud. Just love being a part of who he is. And he's a great competitor. So many winning intangibles that coaches just love to be a part of. Coach Smith used to call it savvy, has his basketball savvy.
It's not about anything except winning. It's not about making shots. It's not -- it's all about winning, and it's great to be around a guy like that.

Q. Having said that, would you like to see him shoot the ball more in the fourth quarter?
COACH KARL: Of course. But, again, if they're going to put two guys on him, I wouldn't want him to force that shot. So on the video I was a little disappointed that we didn't get more shots.
But I think one of the adjustments is we're playing around on them, and they're not letting him have the double team, I mean the pick-and-rolls, they're giving them 2s and pick-and-rolls.
And Chauncey's not going to force the game. And I don't think that's necessarily, that's one of the stats you guys get real turned on by. But I think Chauncey, it wasn't necessarily that Chauncey played poorly last night.

Q. Chauncey probably more than anyone else on your team has the experience not to let things that you can't control affect him like the officiating. Do you think some of the less experienced guys are maybe allowing that to shake their focus a little bit?
COACH KARL: Shake, define -- yes. (Laughter).

Q. How do you go about chasing that or not letting that become a factor?
COACH KARL: Every game officiating, at the beginning of the game, it's back to 0-0. It's back -- the blackboard has been erased. It's been cleaned and washed. We just want to -- we're hoping and we believe that we're just going to go out and officiating won't be a problem.

Q. What about it, you have to leave the officiating to the officials.
COACH KARL: Yeah. We're all human beings, we're capable of that.

Q. Do you just go around and do your defense, do what you're supposed to do, play the game on the --
COACH KARL: Hit in the back of the head, knocked on your ass, how do you -- you're human beings. You react to the people in authority. Referees are the ones who have the authority to control the game in the way they want to control it.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH KARL: I mean, I'm not -- I don't think we lost the game because of officiating. I don't know that I ever said that. It's just there's a frustration when you're playing at this stage, at this level of intensity, this level of reward, of the big games. And it's just hard.
I mean, it's hard when you're a competitor and you lose, you feel pain, and then you feel anger because of some of the things that you don't have control over, too.

Q. Dahntay said it's the savvy, the poise when you're out there playing?
COACH KARL: Different teams. You guys are almost like saying like you gotta have savvy and poise to be a championship team.
I mean, you think the Detroit Pistons had a poise that the San Antonio Spurs had? No. There's difference in passionate, intense players. We have some guys that are emotional. Maybe a little too emotional.
But for me I'm not going to take -- I'm not going to tell them to stop that, because I think it stops them from becoming a competitor.
And right now we're competing on the best stage at a pretty good level. I think the Lakers know we're there.

Q. What's the philosophy of staying the extra night as opposed to flying straight back after the game?
COACH KARL: Ask Phil Jackson. He knows. I saw him in the playoffs, in the Finals, why we lost to them. Fatigue. It's called the travel fatigue. The travel hangover. And when you go to bed at 5:00 in the morning, it kind of hangs with you. (Indiscernible).

Q. There's no concern on the flipside of having the guys spending an extra night in LA?
COACH KARL: Not this year.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297