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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERSJune 13, 2009Stan Van GundyORLANDO, FLORIDA: Practice Day Q. You always hear the cliché playing to win rather than playing not to lose. What does that mean for the laymen out there? And how might that play out for you guys on Sunday? STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, I think when you think about it off the top of your head, it means that you're playing not afraid to make a mistake, you're aggressive rather than tentative, things like that. I think that's the way we've played all year. I think we'll play that way on Sunday. I'm not worried about that part of it. Q. You've seen these guys do some amazing things this season, and now you have to do the ultimate amazing climb out of this hole. Have you talked about making history, to win the championship now since nobody has ever done it behind 3-1? STAN VAN GUNDY: You know what, not directly, but we've talked about two things. I think that, number one, a little bit different than just the pure you've-got-to-win-one-game approach, to me I think when you're in this situation, the key thing is do you still have a belief that you can win the championship. If you don't think you can go to LA and win the championship, then even though you're saying one game at a time, it's pretty easy to let go if things aren't going well. So I think you've got to first start with the belief that you can win the championship, and then from there, just like we've had all year, I tell them it's no different than the approach we've had all year, our goal from the beginning has been to win the championship, but then you approach your job one day, one game, one possession at a time. So it's no different from that. That's the first thing. And then we really haven't talked about the history thing, though today I got a story from my daughter's swim coach, who sent me the story of Greg LeMond in 1989 in the Tour de France. He had come from behind and then taken the lead and then lost it on one of the late stages, and people started to write him off. And at the end of the stage he looked beaten, and he and his wife were talking when they left, and they asked his wife what he had said, and he said, "It'll just make the story all that much better when I come back and win it." I'm not a big storyteller and somebody else had to give it to me because I don't know enough of them, but we did tell that story today. Q. Which team in this situation is more loose? You guys are usually, but the Lakers have the cushion, but you guys are in survival mode. STAN VAN GUNDY: I would say to that I think it's irrelevant. I don't think being loose, being tight, that's not going to have anything to do with it. I don't think our guys will play tight. We'll just play. Q. Phil is going to come out of this with either nine or ten titles whether he wins or loses -- STAN VAN GUNDY: That's pretty good. Q. Is that hard to comprehend? It seems to hard to win one. STAN VAN GUNDY: It's unfathomable. To me it's unfathomable to do that. Q. Obviously the fans have been on board during this playoffs. What does the last home game at Amway Arena mean to you and do you think it'll mean to the fans? STAN VAN GUNDY: Hopefully a lot. I think it'll mean a lot to our players and hopefully to the fans. I mean, unless you don't make the playoffs, which is at the other end of the spectrum, this is the only time you ever know that you're playing your last home game in an arena. It's either that, you're either in the NBA Finals knowing it's your last home game at the arena, or you didn't make the playoffs. That's the only way you know. This situation doesn't come up much. I think it's meaningful. I think it's meaningful to our players and hopefully to our fans, who I think have supported our team well but also have been privileged to watch this team in my opinion. Q. I know every series is different, but having been down against Philly, down against Boston, do those situations help you now at all being in this situation? STAN VAN GUNDY: I think so. I think it is a team that has gained confidence in these situations and knowing that you can come back and all of that. But it's a different team and a different opponent. I really think the issue is simply going to be can we play well enough to win? I don't think it's going to be any psychological problem at all. I don't think there will be a lack of confidence, I don't think we'll tighten up, I don't think it'll be any of that. We simply have to play well enough to win. Q. Is there a hangover today at all? Did you have to pick them up at all today? STAN VAN GUNDY: No, we brought them in yesterday, which is rare for me with two days in between. The only reason we did is because it was a 3-1 series and the loss the night before. We didn't watch any film or do anything else. Yesterday was one of those days where I just wanted to look in everybody's eyes and sort of try to get their heads right. I think when you're coming off a loss like the other night, the two best things that can happen would be either playing a back-to-back or having the extra day in between. I think it's good for us right now to sort of have a day, if you want to say go through the grieving process and now get your head right and come in. I thought practice today was very, very good, very, very focused. I think guys are in a good frame of mind. Q. Can you talk about how special it is for the Coaches Association to name Tommy Heinsohn as the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award winner named after Chuck Daly, and what makes Tommy special to be an award winner. STAN VAN GUNDY: First of all, and I can't speak for Tom Heinsohn, but it's got to be an incredible honor to be the first ever award winner named after somebody as respected in this business as Chuck Daly. I think most of us in this business, most of you out there, too, have great respect for him, so I think that part is a great honor. I don't know Tom Heinsohn at all other than what I've observed, but there aren't many guys with greater enthusiasm for basketball or greater ambassadors of the game, and certainly no one who is more devout and more loyal to one team than Tom is. In Tom's mind, let's face it, the Celtics have yet to foul in the entire history of their organization, and they have yet to miss a shot on which they were not fouled. But look, I think from the outside, if you're somebody watching, I mean, this is a guy who's done it as a player, a coach, a broadcaster, and as much as he is committed to the Boston Celtics, he's also given great credit to a lot of other people over time. I just think he's a guy who loves the game, loves the NBA, and someone that's very deserving of the honor. Q. You mentioned more than a few times about the team's resilience. Can you put that into some context for us, other groups you've seen, and how resilient are they, I guess? STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, again, I just think it's a list of what they've come back from. When they lost Jameer at the halfway point, they got written off a lot and were able to hang in and get 59 wins and win the division. And then a question about our fans earlier, there were some of the fans actually throwing those noisemakers at us, I'm serious, at the end of Game 1 at the Philly series. While I think they're a minority, we did have people throwing those at us, and then we're down 2-1. Then we lose the tough one to Boston here Game 4 and then go up there and finish poorly in Game 5, and then all you've got to read is the Celtics are 32-0 when they're up 3-2 in a series and then their record in 7th games, and we get through that. We win Game 1 in Cleveland but then when LeBron sticks the dagger in after Game 2, how are we ever going to bounce back from that? And we get through that series. So it's always been how are you going to bounce back? How are you going to bounce back? After Game 1 in the LA series we get thrashed, we lose it down the stretch, now you're down 2-0, how are we going to bounce back? How are we going to bounce back? The question gets tiresome with this team. We're either going to win or lose, but we're not not going to be able to bounce back, we're not mentally weak, we're ready to play and I think we'll play a hell of a game. Q. Rafer has said he had a couple good conversations with you in this series. What kind of conversations have you had with him in the last couple days? STAN VAN GUNDY: I really haven't spoken to him directly in the past couple days. I expect he will come out and play very well in Game 5, but I haven't had specifically -- I've talked to him, but I haven't specifically had a conversation with him. Q. Are you considering or planning any changes to your starting lineup for tomorrow night? STAN VAN GUNDY: No, no. Q. You think you've faced these questions of players all season, how mentally tough they are. Do you think this postseason forever puts that to rest, or do you have to keep -- STAN VAN GUNDY: No, it never puts anything to rest because whatever -- look, whatever people's perceptions are of certain players, certain teams, whatever, I mean, it's like they say about anybody with sort of first impressions, they just never go away no matter how many times you prove it to the contrary. And plus I always stand in amazement of a lot of people's ability to continue to have opinions that absolutely stand in the way of all facts and evidence. I mean, it's an amazing quality some people have to be able to ignore every piece of evidence and fact and still have their opinion. Q. What's the fact about this team? STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, I mean, I just went through it. Look at the number of times and look at what they've done. I think the thing that happens, and I think it's good in a way, but the players, teams in this, when you get to this series, will actually - well, if you're on the losing end of it - be subject to more negative thought than teams who have been home for two months, because you're the only two teams left and you're under scrutiny and the whole thing. So when you make mistakes at this level, those people end up getting ripped more than teams who win 20 games and those players. There's no problem with any of those players, they're all winners. But the guys who are here and lose in The Finals, then we've got to find something wrong with them. End of FastScripts |
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