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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 10, 2009

Pau Gasol

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q. What can you take from last night's loss considering they shot such a high percentage to win and still only won by four?
PAU GASOL: We've just got to understand that we've got to continue to work hard. We can't bring our head down because we lost the game, that they really played well. It should be motivating, should be motivating to us to go out in Game 4 and play even harder, make a couple adjustments so they don't get certain looks out there, you know, make sure we contest their shots, most of their shots at least, and then we continue to play our game.

Q. Should you have gotten more shots last night? You didn't get a lot of looks.
PAU GASOL: I don't know. I mean, I got what I got, and that's what it is. Should I have got more, should I have got less? It is what it is. It happened the way it happened. I was effective with the looks that I got, and I hope that I get, I don't know, the same or more next game. I mean, I can't really control all that. Just try to make the right play and try to be aggressive when I get a chance to, and that's just the way it is.

Q. Can you demand the ball, I don't know if that's the right word, but is that in your nature? We've never seen you really demand it. Can you do that? Is that allowed in this offense? Are you not allowed to do that?
PAU GASOL: I try. For the most part when you get the big men in the offense first you become a passer because there's a lot of cutting, a lot of cutting from the wings, a lot of cutting from the weak side, so there's always something going on unless we decide that we're going to be in isolation for the guy on the post. Some of my looks or half of my looks in the post are going to have some action going on around me, and it doesn't really allow me to attack the way I would like to.
But that also gives us motion in our offense, and it gives us energy and flow. So it's something that has worked for us, and I'm a good passer, I feel comfortable passing the ball, I'm a willing passer and I want to get my teammates shots and lay-ups. It's fine with me, obviously. Like I said, I'm all about winning, I'm all about being effective and contributing, and that's what I'm going to do.

Q. Can you talk about preparing each game. You start out guarding Rashard Lewis and end up banging with Dwight at the end. How do you prepare for those guys and the challenge that each player presents for you?
PAU GASOL: Yeah, it's tough, because it's so different, the two players are so different. Your positioning on the floor and your movement on the floor is totally different. With Rashard you have to be really aware of him at all times at the three-point line and fight him in transition because he runs well. Both players run well, but they run to different spots on the floor, so you've got to make sure you find your man and you're really active. You've just got to be active. With Rashard you've got to be ready to move your feet when he catches the ball on the perimeter because he's probably going to attack you if he doesn't have the first look. He's a pick-and-pop player. He's a player that you have your work cut out on defense, but he's more of an outside player.
With Dwight you really have to keep a body on him, run with him, because he's always trying to catch it deep, always trying to put you in the hole, because that's where he's most effective, so you have to expect that. At the same time, you have to work around him, move your feet a lot because it's hard, you're probably going to lose the battle of body to body. He's a tough cover, too. You've got to box him out every single possession, and it's challenging. But at the same time, that's what it takes. We're in the NBA Finals, and I'm a guy that steps up to the challenge, and it is a challenge. I'm definitely happy to do it.
So far it hasn't been all that bad. I think it could get a little better. We're going to need a big effort from everybody the next game because we're trying to really get -- we're trying to get a win here. That's the bottom line. We have an advantage in the series still. Nobody has won a game on the opponent's court, but we want to be the first ones to do so, so we can get a big advantage in this series and get closer to our goal.

Q. Which one is the toughest?
PAU GASOL: Like I said, it's hard. They're both tough in different ways. One is more physically tough, and the other one is more moving, motion tough, because you have to stay with him at all times, you have to find him at all times and he moves around. He doesn't just go to one spot that you can control. He's a guy that, like I said, you have to be really aware of him, because if you lose contact with him, he's going to find a spot and get it up real quick. He's got that quick, high release.
So as I said, they present a challenge. That's why they're here. There's no other way to look at it. They're not here just because the teams that they play, they just let them beat them. It doesn't happen that way.

Q. It's not often when he gets a chance like Kobe had last night that he doesn't come through in the clutch. Are you surprised when Kobe is not Kobe in those kind of situations?
PAU GASOL: Am I surprised? I guess you could say that, because most of the time he is effective and he does finish well. That's why everybody talks about him being a clutch player, which he deserves and earned. He's very effective in those particular plays.
But I've seen him, played with him now for a year and a half, and I've seen him a lot of times finish well and help us win, and some of the times not. It's just the way it is. You've got to give credit to defense, also, and there's a lot of guys that are good defenders out there and put good pressure on him, and he's going to have to make a decision because that's what he loves to do, we like him to do, and he's good at. The last game didn't really go that well, but we expect the next game to be a different story.

Q. On the subject of you getting more touches and scoring more, I believe in the Denver series this subject came up and magically the next game you got more touches and more points. Do you expect that same thing to happen for Game 4 now?
PAU GASOL: It kind of came up every series to be honest with you. It came up a little bit in the Utah series but we did well and we were winning, so it was cool. It came up in the Houston series, and when we had those big games, Games 5 and 7, we did go to the post more and it worked out and we won well. Then it happened in the Denver series. Again it worked out, it went well. Hopefully it will continue. It's just got to be a part of our offense and emphasis, a conscious effort that this works, okay, let's make it work a little more often, because it's given us a good plus out there. I'm ready always to be there and compete and deliver, so that's what I like to do.

Q. Kind of an international question: Can you talk about what The Finals mean throughout Europe and in Spain? I know you talked about watching it when you grew up as a kid. How important is it now in Spain?
PAU GASOL: It's huge. I think it's a huge event worldwide. Since the NBA has become more international, I think it's even bigger, because we've got people all over the world really watching The Finals, and a lot of kids watching us play and dreaming about maybe one day being there.
It's really fulfilling as a player when you're in it. You want to focus on what you've got on the table, but at the same time, if you stop and think a little bit what's going on around it, it's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing, the situation and the spot that we're in today. That's why we've got to make the best out of it and make sure we complete our dream. That's what I'm here for, to try to accomplish it.

End of FastScripts

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