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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: NUGGETS v LAKERS

May 21, 2009

Kobe Bryant

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Two

Denver Â– 106
Los Angeles - 103

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Can you talk about -- I don't know if you heard Phil say that that fourth quarter play when he took you out and just what was going on, did you need a mental break at that point?
KOBE BRYANT: No. No, he took me out because I had four fouls. And I was only out for a couple minutes. But they went on a little spurt there, which hurt a little bit. But we're a deep team we should be used to playing without me on the floor for a few minutes.

Q. Kobe, took out a 13-point lead in about three minutes in the half. A, is that disappointing and, B, did it take something out of you guys?
KOBE BRYANT: It was frustrating, but this is what they do. Denver is an explosive team. They can make up very, very quickly. They can go on runs very, very quickly. Just gotta pay attention to them. No personnel.
Kleiza hurt us in the first half. He came off the bench. In Game 1 we kept their bench points down. He came in for them and gave them a big boost.

Q. What makes this series so different in comparison to last year's first round series which you won 4-0?
KOBE BRYANT: Every year is different. Bounce of a ball here we're up 2-0. Bounce of the ball here they win Game 1. So every game sometimes depends on the bounce of the ball and they were able to get this game tonight and we'll go up to Denver, see if we can't get Game 3.

Q. So far it seems pretty evenly matched between you two; obviously the scores suggest that. Is it just going to come down to one or two possessions of execution for this series to complete? Is that how you see it going?
KOBE BRYANT: It's going to come down to stops. And tonight came down to free-throw shooting, really. It was a free-throw shooting contest and we caved first, simple as that. And neither team was really getting any stops. We were both fouling, just going to the free-throw line the last three whatever minutes of the game.

Q. What do you guys need to do to keep Chauncey off the free-throw line?
KOBE BRYANT: Gotta do a better job staying in front of him. A lot of his production comes from screen/roll action. We have to do a little better job of corralling him and containing him.

Q. The Nuggets felt they let one get away. With the big lead you had in the first half, did you feel like you let one get away?
KOBE BRYANT: Probably returned the favor. It's playoff basketball. There's no way -- a win is a win period. They came here to do what they needed to do. They have home court advantage now. Now it's time to go to Denver, see if we can do the same.

Q. They have a pretty strong home court, pretty loud, intense?
KOBE BRYANT: We're not the best road team in NBA for no reason.

Q. Do you think you and Melo are beating up each other in this series?
KOBE BRYANT: No, I don't think so. I mean, it may look like that, but we're just both doing what we have to do for our team. My team requires me to put points on the board, so does he. So we are just playing our games.

Q. George said they changed their defensively philosophy on you in the fourth quarter or down the stretch. What did you notice they were doing?
KOBE BRYANT: Just denied me the ball. Tried to trap me. They made plays out of that. Really it's no big deal.

Q. Last play you were a decoy, did you want the ball in that situation? Did you feel like the play should have been called for you?
KOBE BRYANT: I always want the ball. I want the ball every play. You know what I mean? That doesn't change down the stretch, for sure.
But Fisher has also made big shots. So he had a good look. Nene made a great play, jumped in there, got a piece of the ball. But we've seen Derek knock those shots down how many times? So I can live with that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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