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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: NUGGETS v LAKERS

May 20, 2009

Phil Jackson

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day

Q. Last night an example of what you were talking about earlier about getting, dialing on the energy because of the preparation?
COACH JACKSON: Yeah, I really think that it was a game that exhibited just holding on, trying to stay close, working hard, looking for our opportunities and finding them at the end of the game.
Fans gave us a good boost and we needed the home court advantage that night.

Q. Pau really got an adrenalin charge after he drew that charge on Carmelo. Seemed like the last few minutes was a really different game for him than the previous 45?
COACH JACKSON: Yeah. We had to -- I think they saw the end in sight at that point. And they were just working so hard.
I think Kobe and Pau played an awful lot of minutes for a game in which we go back at it tomorrow night. So today recovery is really important for them.

Q. What do you want out of your front line, Lamar, Pau, Andrew, versus the other front line?
COACH JACKSON: You know, we have really a mobile group of guys, an active group of guys that can do a lot of things, off ball and on ball. Drew not so much. He's got to be a power player in there and he's got to be a big guy that makes them feel small, uses his size against them.
But Pau and Lamar can be active enough to do things out on the floor to change the game up so they can play away from the basket, pass the ball and dribble the ball, handle it.
So they have to be really mobile and have that attack idea but not get tied to playing the game that Denver wants them to play. Get in and muscle and try to muscle the ball and someplace we just have to be much more mobile and active.

Q. So it's funny you said that you have to be -- wasn't much time for preparation, you'd have to just kind of go on guts and emotions. Is there any type of preparation between Games 1 and 2? I mean, pretty quick.
COACH JACKSON: Yes, it's fresh in their mind and physically they've got the -- it's in their bones right now so they know exactly who this team is now. Now it's adjustments between taking advantage of what they give us, and they're going to make their adjustments the same way.
Obviously we did a great job with their bench as far as scoring goes, and we want to have an option there that we hold.

Q. How does it work when Kobe wants to switch defensive assignments like he did last night? Does he just do it and then you say okay, or how does it work?
COACH JACKSON: Well, you know, we talked about the variety of the defenses we were going to have to play and matchups that we're going to have to use. And got to the point in the game where Trevor was having problems staying out of foul trouble. Got in foul trouble in the third quarter.
And Carmelo continued to stay hot and Kobe made that switch and we went right back to how we play normally with him taking on a tough guy and us having to help him out in situations where he needs help. Gave up a lot of weight to Carmelo, exhausted him a lot last night.
But he did the job we had to have done to win the game.

Q. That initial matchup with Kobe on Chauncey, is that how Chauncey has started games? What's the thinking initially going out on the floor?
COACH JACKSON: Just to have presence out there so that we would have the idea of what we wanted to present to them was we're not going to allow Chauncey to take advantage of this game right off the bat. Use screen rolls and set the table for the team. We'd like to make something else happen, what can we do? We've got Carmelo going like crazy. (Laughter).

Q. Pretty amazing guy in the game. That's how you controlled the boards and when you've had success pretty much any time you've won this post-season you win the rebound battle. What would you say how it makes the game easier for you to control?
COACH JACKSON: A lot of that has to do with shooting. If you don't shoot well you hope you can be in position offensive rebound which we were fortunate enough to do last night.
But if you shoot well you don't have those opportunities or the same number. We have to rebound. They're sending an extra big guy to help defend Kobe. They're stepping out on screen rolls, making switches on cuts. And we have to take advantage of the fact that we have some big guys in there that can use their height and find a way to get the ball. So that was fortunate.

Q. When you look back at the film of Trevor Ariza's play with 30 seconds left -- he talked afterwards about wanting to do something because of the night Carmelo had. Do you think that play was predicated on that or was it just a great athletic read to see the lob?
COACH JACKSON: He's the guy who is going to look for opportunities to get to the fast lane, get into the passing lane and find the ball. I thought he made a big steal in the third quarter. He didn't get the basket on it. He gave it to Fisher who got a layup out of it.
I thought that was another sequence that changed some of the momentum that Denver came out of the locker room at halftime. So Trevor really had a frustrating night, but he made two plays that were very instrumental in helping us win.

Q. Were you concerned that the tough defensive assignments that Kobe takes on would wear him out if you needed a 30-point or 40-point effort from him on the other end?
COACH JACKSON: We're concerned about how much energy he has to expend out there. I thought he got tired in the first quarter and got some rest for him inside of a minute and a half or so just so he would have that and the five-minute timeouts that we have at quarter ends with ESPN running the show.
So we knew that he needed a break. He looked like he was gimpy at that point. Not gimpy, but fatigued at some level. So we know that happened. That's going to happen.
But that's the mark of great players; that he has the ability to come back and play with energy, that he has a resource or finds things out somewhere.

Q. Carmelo, as strong as he is and keeping the ball as well as he is now, are you going to be hard-pressed to find anybody that's going to be able to play him?
COACH JACKSON: Yes, he's a problem matchup. We'll throw a number of people in this way and try and make it difficult for them and hope that he doesn't have that stroke as fine tuned as it was last night.

Q. Can you talk about Fisher and what he brings to the team and how he has changed over time?
COACH JACKSON: You know, Derek, his -- he's a leader by -- his local leadership I think is great. He's a spokesperson to the team in what's important to us, what the focus should be.
A lot of things that are (indiscernible) say all the time, emotions, expressions of the game, he gives a real essence to it. He's got a great way of presenting it to his players or his teammates.
I know there's been a lot of talk about his play so far in the playoffs and he got going last night after kind of a contested layup and a 3 afterwards. And we're looking for that little spark that he can give us, those plays. Those defensive plays that he makes take away his charges that he gets. Those are the things that kind of make our team.

Q. You saw obviously what Chauncey did in Detroit in the finals, and a lot of people have talked about the Nuggets success they made of that deal. Is it accurate that he's the new quarterback for them that's raising people's games, or what do you see?
COACH JACKSON: You know, he's putting the ball in places where guys have an advantage. A lot of these, Martin, Nene, Carmelo feed off what he can do and how he can put the ball in their hands. Smith, we kind of were capable of holding him back a little bit last night, but that's another play, kind of feeds into and generates offense from.
But more than anything else, he's the guy that takes on the big shots. He hit two 3s down the stretch against us last night. And that's the thing we're wary of, prepared or trying to prepare ourselves for.

Q. Extremely competitive, two point (indiscernible) contentious during practice. What's the concern you've had, if any, over the last year with how they've handled them?
COACH JACKSON: You know, the one thing you want is that it doesn't go from practice to games. And there's not a point which their preference or their competitive desire might sully their professional attitude. And we've had to warn some players this year that they're not doing the right thing. They're not playing ball the right way. And that's not unusual. You have those situations during the year and they happen.
But with younger players a lot of times they're looking a lot for their own opportunities rather than acknowledging the team's preference. And this is where Fisher and Bryant come into play, and Pau and Lamar as guys who are veterans really know there's a right way to play this game and we have to do it that way.
And it's helped them. We had a little incident on Sunday where, you know, Sasha didn't have a shot a couple times down the court when he's open and then he took a shot that was an air ball, just something that he wanted to do and all the guys off the bench lit him up when he came off the floor, a timeout immediately after that play. Just to kind of let him know that you're going to get your shots. We're going to find your shots, just don't get anxious about it just because somebody misses on an open opportunity.
On the other hand, we talked to our guards, our lead guards that there are guys you have to continually understand that they're out there for that reason, to carry that thread, and these players are aware of it.
So we have to keep pressing that point. That's what you try to do as a coach.

Q. Were they effective last night?
COACH JACKSON: Every one of those guys come off the bench hit a 3-pointer. Maybe Josh Powell didn't. But every one of those guys came off each other in various places, that penetration and kicks, Lamar and Luke and Sasha, and Shannon and Jordan all hit 3-pointers that were instrumental in keeping these guys in the game.

Q. (Indiscernible) a lot of veterans on your bench, is it a shift in -- especially during early (indiscernible) in the series?
COACH JACKSON: Yeah, that and the fact that we were drafting 28, 29. That's some of the reasons.

Q. Are there things that Trevor does for you that maybe other players can't on the line?
COACH JACKSON: Well, there's just this speed that he can play the game at that affects how opponents have to play, be careful about the ball and he has, he's playing passing lanes and those types of things.
But we need him because we need the ball to get out ahead to him on the floor so we can get run-outs and get to the basket and early opportunities in the game so we have that punch in our offense.

Q. Can you talk about the effect Chris Andersen has? Seems like he's become a more complete player.
COACH JACKSON: Yeah, he's fit in really well with them and given them a major role out there. Made some real nice offensive moves and they found him where he's at. And it's just important defensively he got those blocks, and they're always critical of defense in this team. The Nuggets have a really good ability to find a way to block shots and defend the basket that way.
I think we'll see effectiveness as we go through the series being more pronounced. But last night I thought he had a really good performance.

Q. Is he somebody that you have to worry about now more than seasons past?
COACH JACKSON: We don't worry about him so much. We want guys to be aware of where he's at, what his strengths are so that it's not standing around watching the ball while he's tracking it down or driving to the basket and unaware of the fact that he's lurking somewhere ready to get off a shot.

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