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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 10, 2009

Phil Jackson

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q. After reviewing the tape of the game, what do you think about the Laker defense last night, obviously giving up 62 percent shots, but is that Orlando hitting tough shots or defensive lapses on your part?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, I've gotten through the first half. I haven't journeyed in much farther. We get called to duty quite early here. Don't spend time until 5:00 in the morning. I'm not the kind of person that wants to watch late at night anyway. It's disturbing enough as it is to take a loss in the playoffs.
We'll look at the second half. I think there's a lot of things we could improve on. But you've got to give credit where credit is due, and they hit shots.

Q. At the end of the Game 2 you had said there were some stretches where Kobe had tried to do a little too much. What did you feel about yesterday? Were there some of those stretches at the same time?
PHIL JACKSON: I think he read the defense all right. The last play, obviously a turnover, we're not happy about that, and the second to the last play where he tried to cross over and they closed the gap on him. That happened once before. They're trying to do that. But I think he's reading the defense and he knows what's coming ahead of him. He's not going into it blind or a situation where he is just being strong-minded. I think that's important, that he stays flexible in those situations and sees the options.

Q. You saw a lot of Rashard Lewis when he was in the Western Conference. In what ways has he evolved in your perspective as a player?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, I think this system suits him really well. I think it's a system where a lot of options, catch-and-shoot options or opportunities to drive the ball in open space, and it seems to fit his style of play, I think, really well.
But he's developed a post-up game, that although they gave him opportunities before, that wasn't really his expertise. I think he's grown as a player. Here he is 11 years in the league already.

Q. You've been around these Finals a long time. When a team like Orlando, first time in with this bunch, gets a win under their belt, what do you think that does for them in terms of confidence for the next game? What do you fear or what is your outlook on that?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, we're not at all fearful about anything, but we do think that they would get confidence off their bench or their also players, Alston and Pietrus were the ones that hurt us last night, and that home crowd and the ability to make mistakes and play a little freer gives them confidence. We have to take that back, find a way to squeeze that back. So it's the guys that they rely on that have to do the scoring for the whole game.

Q. How do you take that back?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, we have to defend those guys. I thought that we were playing a little bit lax. Obviously Rafer got an 11-point quarter, the majority of his points in one quarter, but I thought Pietrus, we could play better defense on him, do a better job shutting him down. He made some tough shots on the post, I know that. He made an opportunity dunk on an offensive rebound. Those are things, not much you can do about that. You have to play that game and use your rotations. But some of the close-outs, we have to be better on those.

Q. Obviously they were very good last night, but even in the second half of Game 2 I think they shot 50 percent. Is there something specifically your defense is slipping that you're seeing that you guys are not playing as well over the last six quarters?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, what they do is they execute well, and when they execute well, they give you an option. You either have to jam up the middle and hold up Howard, or else you have to give up an outside shot. Those are things that you have to make a choice between. It's always about penetration, and if you get a team that's making penetration either off the dribble or the pass, you'll be in jeopardy. We have to slow that down, at least limit it at some level.

Q. Have you noticed any fatigue in Kobe which is one of the reasons maybe he didn't play at the beginning of the fourth quarter last night? And if so, could this be a result of him playing basketball for the last three years year-round?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, you know, there's always an accumulation thing. But I think just the travel and the amount of games, here's the third game in five days that we'll have tomorrow. I told the bench, players, our guys today that we're going to have to go out and get in rhythm here, get a practice in. It's more than just shooting exercises and drills, because we're going to need them tomorrow again at some level. I held onto Kobe's minutes a little bit in the fourth quarter because I wanted him to finish strong.

Q. If they get into rhythm, does that help him pace himself energy-wise? What has to happen for him to be able to have a tank at the end?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, I think him having to take the brunt of the offense on and create shots for himself, I think that takes a lot of energy. And then defensively, things either happen because of it, or offensively he needs to have a break on the offensive end at times to kind of cushion his game a little bit.

Q. It seems after teams make a lot of shots or miss a lot of shots, coaches will come up after the game and go, sometimes you make them, sometimes you miss them, it's that simple. Considering all the strategies you do to create shots and stop shots, can it be as simple as sometimes you just make a lot of them and sometimes you just miss a lot of them?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, it's a group feel usually, and it's a rhythm that a team gets into that makes those things available. Some of it is about getting squared up and having looks and facing and passes being appropriate as opposed to passes are off timing and off target. Sometimes it's about the group feeling the energy about, yeah, we're in rhythm now and we've got to make these shots, backs against the wall, we have to start playing at a level that's a higher level than we have. Those things all weigh into that type of atmosphere that says, it's time to go, it's time to make shots, it's time to play.
I think the team I was on in '72 had the record for the best half in the game at 71 percent versus the Lakers in 1972. It was the first game of the series and the only game, by the way, that we won in that series against those Lakers in '72.

Q. The fact that the Magic set a pair of records last night and you guys were still in the game until the final seconds, is that encouraging? And with Dwight Howard in the middle and all the three-point shooters, do they represent one of the most extreme versions of the inside-outside game that you've come up against?
PHIL JACKSON: That last question, yes, I think so. They're probably the most threatening at that. But San Antonio has been doing that for years. Houston was doing it in the '90s, that Hakeem Olajuwon team that they had that splayed the three-point shooters around, an inside game with like one guy and Robert Horry sitting on the side in his rookie, sophomore season as a player. This has been around, and this threatening three-point line has been a real factor for some time in the playoffs in many ways.
The first question, ask me that again.
Q. They set a couple records, off the charts, and you guys were there anyway.
PHIL JACKSON: Well, that's part of it. We said to ourselves, just give yourself a chance to win this game because we know the energy is going to be high, the crowd is going to be encouraged, and obviously it's going to make a difference in their bench play. The players have had struggles up to this point. We feel like we've played well enough to win. We're not disappointed in how we played, but we are disappointed in the loss.

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