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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: NUGGETS v LAKERSMay 24, 2009Phil JacksonDENVER, COLORADO: Practice Day Q. On a day like today, where you're expending so much energy, what's the most important thing for you to do? COACH JACKSON: How to make free throws (Laughter). We worked at that. That's something we can do without expending ourselves. Q. Not to laugh about it, but that is very serious? COACH JACKSON: Yeah, we had a really hard time staying in the game just by lack of creating free throws. The first half was particularly difficult for us because we were 9 for 17, a little better in the second half. But it's critical. These little things are critical elements in these playoff games. Q. I'd like you to talk about Game 4, the stranglehold on this team; it will probably be more difficult than Game 3? COACH JACKSON: Well, you know, years ago in the playoffs, the team that loses comes back with a desperate energy and they come back with the ability to make adjustments that are critical to their game. And it just takes a few things. These games come down to very small elements. So we have to go out and match that energy that they bring to the court, which will be important for us tomorrow. Q. Carmelo only had three points in the second half last night. I'm assuming you're picking up a little better effort tomorrow night, right? COACH JACKSON: Well, you know, you can't slow when you're on the bench. That was our best defense against Carmelo last night was that we kept him on the bench for the majority of the second half. Q. Is that by attacking him defensively? COACH JACKSON: Well, inconsequential things that happened to him. Got an offensive foul. Had to take a foul because someone got on a break-away situation. Those are fouls that you get just playing the game the right way. Those are things you couldn't afford, basically. But we're going to try and put pressure on him. We're going to hope that we keep him -- he's trying to take on Kobe as a defensive player. That's going to be an element, that he's going to have to play hard and play well. And we'll make him work hard at it. Q. You talk about coaches have to lean on their stars on the road. Can you talk about the luxury of having Kobe in a situation like that? COACH JACKSON: Yesterday it was both Kobe and Pau. Kobe wanted to go back in the game. We had a timeout. I thought it was too soon, because I thought he was expending a lot of energy. He looked tired at the end of the third quarter. Billups walked up into a 3 and he was not prepared for it and it's not like him. So he came back. And I said, "That's too many minutes for you to go out and play the level of play that it takes." He said, "No, we have to grind it out. I'm okay, I'll go through it." But you could see that he was fatigued at the end of the game. It really did stretch him out. So we do have to watch our minutes. But last night Pau was the guy that gave Kobe the break during the fourth period where he could get some things accomplished in the post and take some pressure off him being the scorer all the time. Q. Can you compare Kobe down the stretch of the post game with Jordan? COACH JACKSON: There's some comparable things. There's even some things we do in our offense that are similar, because same offensive situation. So Kobe as a kid watching a lot, he's familiar with it. He knows how to do it. But their strengths are a little bit different. But there are similarities. End of FastScripts |
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