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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 9, 2009

Stan Van Gundy

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game Three

Q. Apparently Phil Jackson thinks that should have been called basket interference on Courtney's play. Do you think it should have been?
STAN VAN GUNDY: Look, I'm not going to get into calls. Calls didn't decide that game.

Q. You were in college at Brockport, and you are still to this day the leading free-throw shooter in your school. Have you done anything the last three days to help your players concentrate in free-throw shooting?
STAN VAN GUNDY: The one thing you have to understand about my free-throw shooting is in four years I probably got to the line 120 times. I wasn't good enough to get on the court most of the time. And I was playing for my father, okay (laughter), so that tells you how good I was.
And when I was there, I certainly wasn't beating anybody off the dribble and going into the paint and drawing a lot of fouls. So while I appreciate that, I was an awful player. No, I have not done anything differently with our guys in terms of free throw shooting lately at all.

Q. Well, you were 152 for 171.
STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, there you go. I played four years, 171 free throws, there you go. That's not a lot of free throws. I got screwed on a couple calls, though (laughter). It probably should have been at least 175 free throws. I remember two distinctly where I got fouled.

Q. Flying back across the country, how much chance you have to work with your team to change anything you want to change?
STAN VAN GUNDY: Actually we have played -- everybody is a little different in their approach. We have played most of the playoffs -- our Cleveland series, just like LA's Denver series, there were never two days in between. We really didn't practice at all during that series. We did all our work on game day. We did film on the days in between, and when we had flying days we didn't do anything and then we did it all on game day.
NBA players are very, very intelligent. I think it's the thing that is overlooked more than anything about them as a group and that they get the least credit for. And in a one-hour walkthrough in a film session, you can make adjustments and they can pick them up and do them. So there's plenty of time to prepare and do what you want to do.

Q. There's some coaches this time of year that don't like to make a lot of changes in lineup. You've talked a lot in these press conferences about not being afraid to make changes. Why are you that way and how do you think that's worked out so far?
STAN VAN GUNDY: First of all, a lot of them for us in the postseason was sort of dictated by necessity - both suspensions and Courtney's injury, and then we were into the Boston series and we didn't change. But it wasn't a long-standing lineup with J.J. so it was fairly easy to make moves. And I'm like every other coach quite honestly. I would rather never change a lineup or a rotation, but at the same time, when you have a feeling and really have a strong feeling of what would be best for your team, give your team the best chance to win, I mean, you've got to do it. And I think any coach would, too. So that's precipitated everything we've done.

Q. You mentioned after the last game your guys got ample looks, good, open looks last game --
STAN VAN GUNDY: I didn't really say that. I said we got better looks. They're still doing a very, very good job defensively, and obviously 20 turnovers, we've got some -- I just want to make that clear. I didn't say we had ample looks.

Q. Obviously removing the turnovers, as well, if you were to get roughly the shots you were getting last game, if you were to know that now, would you feel pretty good about your chances here coming out of the last game?
STAN VAN GUNDY: I don't know. You know, I think that if you eliminate the turnovers, probably. In terms of the shooting, I thought our shots were better in Game 2 than Game 1. But you can't eliminate the 20 turnovers from that equation. We need to play the game a lot better offensively than we have in either of the first two games.
And again, I want to be clear. We have to play it against a very good defense. I think they're doing an excellent job defensively, so we need to play the game at a higher level.

Q. Do you think Courtney has taken a lot of undue heat the last couple days for Game 2?
STAN VAN GUNDY: Well, he hasn't taken any heat from us, and I haven't read or heard what you guys are writing or saying. I'm not one to say I never read the newspapers, but I certainly haven't the last two days. I haven't had time. So I don't know what you guys are saying. I really have a hard time answering that.
That shot was not an easy shot, okay. It was certainly a good opportunity with six-tenths of a second to go. You're just hoping to get an opportunity, and we got one. But that was not an easy shot. And he hasn't taken any heat from us.

Q. Phil was just in here talking about that, and he said that it was goaltending by Pau because of where his hand was on the basket. What did you get from that?
STAN VAN GUNDY: They already brought that up, and calls didn't decide that game. I don't think his hand being there or not being there had anything to do with the shot going in or not. You know, you're just not going to -- you're not going to get a complaint from me on that call.

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