	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 FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 14, 2009

Stan Van Gundy

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game Five

Q. With the loss the other night, how prepared is your team to come out with a big performance to win this game tonight?
COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, I think they're prepared. They're in a good frame of mind. It's going to come down -- I've said this every game. It'll come down to how well we play. But I think guys are in a very good frame of mind. I thought practice yesterday was very good, I thought the walk-through this morning was very good. But we've got to play well.

Q. Talk about the Achilles heel, which would be the free-throw shooting. How much have you worked on that, the team, as far as their shooting the free throws?
COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: You're not going to change that in a day or two. We're not going to spend ten hours in the gym and shoot a million free throws. That's something that improves over time. And again, I said, I think it was to John Denton, on the way over the other night, he asked how upset I am about that. The free-throw shooting can be frustrating at times. It doesn't upset me. It's not a lack of effort or execution, and it's not a lack of work. Dwight's free-throw shooting has improved significantly, especially in big situations over the course of the playoffs, because he's really put in the time, he's worked very, very hard on it. They didn't drop the other night. Hedo has always been a pretty good free-throw shooter, even in the clutch. They didn't go in the other night. That's not something that I concern myself with a whole lot.
It's unfortunate. It happens. That's just not something that upsets me really in any way.

Q. Obviously the opponent and the match-ups have something to do with how well you play, but how would you compare how well you've played in this series with how well you've played against the Cavs?
COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: You hit right on it. It's so hard to make those comparisons. I think from game to game within a series, you can say, well, we played better tonight, we didn't play as well. From series to series it's really tough, just because of what you hit on.
The match-ups are so different and things like that, it's really tough to say, okay, we're shooting a lower percentage or turning the ball over more; is that us or is that them? That's almost impossible to know for sure. I mean, you can evaluate it either way. I don't know. I really don't.

Q. But is there a level of frustration with how well you've played in this series?
COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, no. The frustration is that the first game, I think, we did not play well at all. I think that was pretty clear to everybody. They played very well, we didn't play well at all. The other games, I don't think we've played poorly. I mean, those games have been right to the wire, they've been very, very competitive games, all three of them, and we've only come out on top in one of the three. We certainly had chances to win the other two, but they had chances to win Game 3, also. But I don't think we're getting badly outplayed in the last three games. I think that's pretty obvious, too.
They're a very, very good team, and I think actually the last three games we've played pretty well.

Q. Given that, then, in your mind what should the score of the series be right now?
COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: It's 3-1. They're ahead. That's what it should be. Look, I mean, I say this all the time, I don't want it to be clichÃ©, but even in the regular season, I say the same thing, you are what your record says you are. I mean, what it should be, what it could be, I mean, we could be done right now. We could be done. They could have won Game 3. We could be up 3-1, it could be 2-2. What it could be is basically anything, but it's 3-1. What you deal in is reality, and we've got to get ready to play tonight.

Q. Before last game you were remarking that the stories are already written, and you even gave us the two angles for that night's game. I was wondering if you could update it for tonight's game.
COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: I'm not going to update it (laughing).

Q. I was wondering, a lot of people in this room wouldn't have thought you were a championship-caliber team even a month ago, and I was wondering if after how you lost Game 4, is there any part of you that thinks we're not there yet, and I've got to convince these guys that they are? Is there any holdover from the other night?
COACH STAN VAN GUNDY: No, I don't think so. I've said this for every situation we've been in for four series. I don't think confidence is a problem with our guys. I mean, some nights we play better than others, but we have bounced back from about everything, and I don't think their confidence has been affected at all. I don't think it's a problem in looking at them. I did do something I don't normally do between Thursday and Sunday. Normally I wouldn't even see them on Friday at this time of the year. We did bring them in, and I told them, because basically I just wanted to see them. I wanted to look in their eyes. I wanted to see. But I pretty much saw what I expected. They were ready to go.
First of all, Patrick Ewing talks about this a lot, and when I'm talking with him, because he's the only ex-player on my staff, but players bounce back quicker than coaches do. And that's a necessity. At times, and every coach is different, and I don't think I'm even bad in this regard, but at times you'll get on the plane after a road loss or something and you'll have been on the plane 15 minutes and they'll be laughing and joking up front. Some coaches really get upset about that. I'm not really bad at it, but sometimes you're thinking, "Man, we just lost a game, how can they be like that?" But it's a necessity for players. They've got to be able to bounce back to play in this league and in this competitive situation and in this series, and I think our players have done that well throughout the players.
I mean, I think, again, sort of back to -- and I'm saying this very much joking around, but talking with Mark about the stories already being written, as soon as we don't come through in one of these situations, then it's going to be they couldn't rebound from Game 4, they couldn't bounce back, the whole thing. And I joke about that because we've bounced back so many times. If we get beaten, it's simply going to be because they outplay us. It's not going to be because our guys can't bounce back.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297