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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAGIC v CAVALIERS

May 24, 2009

Mo Williams

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game Three

Magic Â– 99
Cavaliers - 89

Q. Was the elbow a cheap shot? And how did it affect you as the game went on?
MO WILLIAMS: Most definitely. Most definitely. That was the second time. If you can recall, we played -- we dove out of bounds in Cleveland last game, gave me the elbow then, you know. This is the second time. Most definitely.

Q. Mo, how did it affect you -- your play?
MO WILLIAMS: It didn't affect my play at all. Yeah, my head was ringing, but I had worse stuff happen to me in performing the game. It didn't affect me at all.

Q. Did it intensify you to go out -- did it make you more aggressive coming back out to the court because of the foul?
MO WILLIAMS: It didn't make me more aggressive. At the time I was heated, and it was two minutes before halftime. So it had me -- gave me enough time to regain my composure, come out for the second half. I don't think it did anything for anything.
I think their defense was more to it. They're closing out hot to me. If I do make a shot I can hear Stan on the sidelines saying get up on them, get up closer, get up closer. So they are trying to make an effort to not give me open looks. You know? And first couple games I was rushing my shot a little bit. I calmed down today, made some shots.
Second half wasn't, you know, what I wanted shooting-the-ball wise. But you got to give them credit defensively. I just got to watch tape and regroup and come in for Game 4 and get one to tie this thing up and regain home court advantage.

Q. Can you just expand on that a little bit? How difficult has it been in this series to find your shot and give LeBron some support?
MO WILLIAMS: It has been difficult. It has been difficult. But at the same time, you know, I get a feel for looks, too. Today I knocked a few down. But I get -- I doobied over for a second, I see a guy running at me full speed. At the same time you got to give them credit. Sometimes they made me rush my shot. Sometimes I feel like I need to, you know, get a big bucket, take some pressure off Bron, you know.
And they're closing out to me hot, and they're packing in their paint on Bron, trying to keep him from getting to that basket. And I think that -- I think that Game 4, you know, it's going to have to be a collective group, not just myself. I think I'm going to have to, you know, defer a little bit, not rush shots, not force shots. I think it just has to come from a collective group, what we have done all season, instead of having just to be myself being that guy.
I think all you guys that followed us all year know that we do it collectively as a group. It wasn't just Bron and Mo. I think that's what we got to get back to, playing Cavalier basketball.
These three games, we won one and we felt like we should have won the first one. But every game, it wasn't a comfortable Cleveland Cavaliers game, even though when we was playing well, the spurts we was playing well, we was aggressive and guys was helping Bron collectively, not individually.

Q. You guys have tried a lot of different things defensively this series already trying to --
MO WILLIAMS: That's part of Cleveland Cavalier basketball that I'm talking about. We just got to get back to what we doing. I think we giving guys too much respect personally. I think we get back to what we do defensively on the basketball floor, because at this point -- at this point of the game, man, these four teams, we're here for a reason. We're here for a reason.
So we -- we giving these guys too much respect. They are a good basketball team, but so are we.

Q. Can you elaborate? You just said "too much respect." What exactly does that mean in terms of when you're --
MO WILLIAMS: Coming down the court we already at a disadvantage because they create so many matchup problems for us, and it is evident. It is no secret. We know it. Everybody know it.
And we're playing hard. We're playing hard. We're rotating the way we do. But when you are in a position that you have to double guys, it is going to put you at a disadvantage and you got to give up something.
You got to give us credit, man, we're trying things that we haven't tried all year. We are putting in the effort. We are putting in the effort. It just -- it is just that one stop that we need, and some kind of way they get fouled. They shot 51 free throws today. That's a lot of free throws.
Throughout the playoffs we have been a team to dominate the free throws. And they are shooting a lot of free throws. I'm looking at the stat sheet and see Hedo go 1-11. But he still has 13, 10, and 7. You know, that's a solid game even though he didn't shoot the ball well. You got Dwight that shoot 19 free throws. And you have Rafer played well.
I mean, everybody played well collectively, you know. Then you look at us, you know, I'm 5-16. Z is 3-10. Delonte shot the ball okay. But their bench, their wild card is Pietrus. It has been like that all three games.
So they're getting what they need from the bench. And Gortat, he does a lot of things out there that's not showing up in the stat sheet. I think they're getting what they need, and it's amazing how we're still in games at times. And I think y'all know why. It is No. 23.

Q. Mo, you said most definitely it was a cheap shot at the very beginning. Do you have a history with Anthony Johnson?
MO WILLIAMS: Not at all.

Q. As the series goes on --
MO WILLIAMS: Not at all, not at all. It is the playoffs, and things get hectic. Things get emotional. It is over and done with. I'm going to continue -- I got bigger fish to fry. I got to go and figure out how I can make some shots and get open looks. I can care less about anything Johnson -- he plays 12 minutes a game. I could care less.

Q. Mo, you guys won 66 games this year, but the Magic have had more success against you guys than anybody. Why is that?
MO WILLIAMS: Matchup problem. I can't say it enough. I mean, they got Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis, 6'10", one guy handling the ball like a point guard and one guy shooting the ball like a shooting guard. That's tough. I don't care who you are playing against.
It is a tough matchup. You got -- and then -- outside of that, Z got to bang with Dwight. Z is not in his younger days anymore. You got a bouncy 7-foot guy, athletic, for some reason he is making all his moves this series. That's even tougher. That's even tougher. So, I mean, we had to go down and double him. And now you open it up for -- in those situations where Rashard hit a big 3, that was a big 3 he hit to put them up 8, I think. That's tough when you got to give that up when you don't want to.
But you put yourself in situations -- well, we have to, we have to cover for each over. That's what we do. We cover for one another. We just don't let -- we feel like one guy is going good, we are going to help him. We are going to rotate and we do a good job of him. But you don't have that one guy to say "shoot the ball," and we can live with that. It makes it tough.

Q. Can you talk about your strategy on Dwight, sending him to the foul line instead of letting him go in the paint.
MO WILLIAMS: It was a great strategy until he started making -- what he made? 14-19 free throws, and made some big free throws. If he's clinging them off the backboard, I mean, it will work to perfection.
Unfortunately for us and fortunate for them, he made them. There was some of that doo, doo, doo, back in. And you can't do anything about that. You can't do anything about that. You can only just hope he missed free throws.
I think two free throws for him -- for him making two free throw; a whole lot tougher than him making a dunk or a lay-up. So we'll live with those odds. We are going to put him on the line. We are going to force him to earn those two at the line.

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