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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 11, 2009

Phil Jackson

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game Four

Los Angeles Lakers - 99
Orlando Magic - 91

PHIL JACKSON: We came out of the locker room at halftime with determination. We thought we played really poorly. We got hamstrung a little bit in the first half with our guys getting in foul trouble, all of our bigs, and we had to play soft and we were soft and consequently got behind. But they mounted a really good challenge in the third quarter. They were tired fourth quarter but got back in the game and Fish made a tremendous shot, a big shot to tie that game up and give us some momentum to win that overtime game.

Q. Could you talk about Fisher's big shot, was that designed for him to make that shot? And then to come back with another big shot in overtime?
PHIL JACKSON: The overtime shot was obviously a planned thing, but in regulation we knew that they had a foul to use, and I thought if we took it half court that they'd probably immediately give a foul when we were coming out to receive the ball, and I wanted to set them hopefully at edge so we could advance the ball, and told Kobe, "If they double you, throw it ahead because they may be coming foul early. They had one to use, and just go get it."
And Fish's game, he went after that shot and earned it.

Q. What would you say was the turning point in this game? You had a 12-point deficit at half, you come back, you erase it. Third quarter you go up by four.
PHIL JACKSON: That was part of it, but I thought the real turning point in the game was Kobe took that rebound away from Howard and was fouled on it. That just kind of showed the grit that this team has tried to develop over the last year, to come back from circumstances that are dire or being down.

Q. All the armchair critics are saying Fish is too old, too slow, he's lost his shot. You have always been his staunchest defender. What is it about him that gives you confidence to put him out there?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, it's character. We've always said the character has got to be in players if they're going to be great players. You can't just draft it. It's not just about talent, it's about character, and he's a person of high character, brings that to play, not only in just his gamesmanship but also his intestinal fortitude.

Q. He was over .500 from the three-point line before that point --
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, first half was a difficult one for him. We just kept saying, go back the next time and find a rhythm in your shot.

Q. One more win and you'll be in a place all by yourself. Would that mean anything to you to have ten and be in a place by yourself?
PHIL JACKSON: That's obvious that every championship is so dramatic and so hard-earned that each one singly stands out, but multitude, two handfuls is ridiculous. I know that. That would be something.
We really don't want to talk about that because I was just in there reminding these guys of the 2000 championship when we had the 3-1 lead and Indiana came back and trounced us in the fifth game of the series. And they're just a proud team. They don't get this far unless they're a game team, so we have to be very prepared.
So we're not going to think about anything except trying to get that win.

Q. Kobe came out very aggressive in the first quarter again. Was that by design or counter to design? In the second half it seemed like you guys played off him.
PHIL JACKSON: Had to. They were doing a really good job at sending people and having angles, making it difficult to get passes. But obviously the first half, he put his imprint on the game, carried the team early and got us going. It was by design.

Q. By your design or his?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, we started by going inside. We always want to go inside. The way we try to start the ballgames, get the ball into Pau and start attacking inside first, so teams have to pound and hold their perimeter.

Q. A lot of people speculated that Fisher wasn't your type of guard, smaller guard, younger guard. How did he win you over and stay in the rotation for you to bring him back a second time?
PHIL JACKSON: He's persistent. He's just a dogged player. He's not blessed with great speed. He's a good athlete but he's not spectacularly fast. But he has a certain sense about him, knows what's going on on the floor, can organize a team, not afraid to go away from Kobe when sometimes Kobe is asking for the ball and he knows better, and I need a guard like him to do that.

Q. Can you talk about Pau tonight, his defense on Howard, and more generally his toughness from a year ago until now.
PHIL JACKSON: You know, he was taking a lot of blows out there, went down a number of times and got hit in the face. Had to kind of sustain that.
Labels, whatever they were about him being soft, we know that he's a very resilient and persistent and stays with it. He's got a certain intensity and fire that's all his own. Different, but it's all his own.

Q. What is your philosophy when you're leading by three? How much time do you foul, or at what point when you're up?
PHIL JACKSON: Depends upon the situation. Sometimes early and sometimes under five seconds. That's really kind of the key that we have when we want to do that. But we've also fouled early just to make the team start over again and have to reset.

Q. What did you think of Ariza's third quarter? He was scoreless at the half and had 13 in the third.
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, a struggle for him tonight, defense and offense. Turkoglu had a great first half and Trevor came out and just found something out there, made a big shot when the clock was running down for us, kind of a loose-ball situation. He really carried a lot of energy for us the second half. We needed everything he could give us.

End of FastScripts

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