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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 6, 2009

Hedo Turkoglu

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day

Q. You guys had a couple days now to think about Thursday. Is it beating yourself up, or do you think about it as just one game?
HEDO TURKOGLU: I think it's just one game. If you look at it overall, we didn't do the stuff we did all year long, plus the playoffs. We did okay in the first quarter and up until the end of the first half. They had the lead, and they had a good start on third quarter. We just couldn't respond.
We had some open looks. We couldn't make it, and we didn't do a really good job on defense. It's just one game that we all didn't do anything that could help us to get back in the game.
We just put that behind. We talked yesterday. We watched film today. We're going to practice. We're going to prepare ourselves. We've been a strong responding team the whole year long, so hopefully we're going to have a better effort tomorrow.

Q. Was there any jitters considering most of you guys had not played -- internationally you've played on some big things, but your team had never played at this level, jitters, nervousness, atmosphere, all of that?
HEDO TURKOGLU: I don't think we were nervous. I mean, we started good in the game, and like sometimes a player, like you don't have answers in a certain situation. They were making shots, they were making play after play, and we just didn't do a good job of defense. We allowed them close to 60 points in the paint. They did a good job of Dwight, making us to take those long shots. If we don't make those kind of shots, they get the rebound and they attack on the other hand, and if you don't do a good job on defense, you saw the result.
We talked about what we did wrong, and hopefully we're all going to be prepared for it. I know besides a couple guys we haven't been here, but we're not happy just to be here. Why not make history about it and be the ones to win the championship? We're going to go for it and do our best to be get the championship.

Q. You talked about having answers or not having answers. What answers do you think that you guys have now about defending Kobe Bryant that you might not have had in Game 1?
HEDO TURKOGLU: I mean, we have a great coaching staff. They've been really preparing for this stuff, not just for Kobe, for all the other guys. But especially with Kobe, we have to just make his job harder, especially we can't let him do stuff like he did in the first game. Whoever gets a chance to guard him, he's just going to get the ball a little further from the basket, and if we need to, we're going to come and try to trap him and make him give it up and let the other guys make a decision, either shoot or drive.
Those kind of situations, we're just going to wait and see how it goes during the game, and like I said, every day -- that's the good thing about the playoffs. You have a few days to prepare and get ready for next game. We've been doing that so far and we're going to work today on any situation that can come up during the game. We're just going to go for the flow, how it goes during the game, and we're going to be prepared.

Q. I know Coach Malone has been doing a lot of work on defending Kobe. How helpful are the rules that he's been giving you for that?
HEDO TURKOGLU: He's been huge. Like I said, they've been great all year long on, Stan and all other guys. I know they were going crazy, watching teams all night. We talked about it yesterday, yesterday before we got here and we watched film, and now we're going to practice and work on it, so hopefully we'll be prepared and do a better job.

Q. You were 3 for 11, 3 for 12. Your stats have been down a little bit. Are you in a slump?
HEDO TURKOGLU: On my assists, I'm just trying to make the decisions, find my teammates, try to get them the ball when they need. I will overcome it and I believe that. As long as I'm getting them the ball when they need at the right time, all I have to do is just wait and make them shots.
On the other hand, I'm not worried about my shooting at all. I have a lot of confidence in myself, and I know I'm going to respond better in the second game.
As long as I'm being active obviously and just playing my game, I think it'll be all right. It's just the one game. I didn't shoot the ball well, but I was kind of active and I did a good job. They are long, athletic, so like I said, I've just got to wait and see how they're going to guard me and read the situation and try to attack.

Q. What has it been like going against Trevor since you did go against him a lot in practice? He says he picked up a few things from you. What has it been like guarding him? And did you give him all your secrets?
HEDO TURKOGLU: He's been a great defender all his career. He's long and he's athletic. He's just trying to give me a hard time, and he was trying to deny me not to get the ball easy and trying to put a lot of pressure. Like I said, I just have to read the people guarding me and just go from there. If he's putting a lot of pressure on me I have to drive get them in foul trouble, give me some space and I can read and try to find my teammates. I've been good about those situations, like those kind of good defenders guarding me. I've just got to wait and see how they're going to guard me, and I have to just be aggressive, just make them do their job by putting a lot of pressure and me being active, not trying to be passive and just giving up the ball.
As long as I'm playing my game, be the facilitator, look for my shot, look for my teammates, I think I'll find my rhythm, so I'm just going to go from there.

Q. Do you think one guy has an advantage over another since they were former teammates and they went at it in practice for a while?
HEDO TURKOGLU: I mean, I suppose we kept some things, but still, it's been a couple years. Every time, every opportunity, every year you get better. I improved myself in France, and he did, too, so it depends how you do your game and how you make your stuff. We're really just being active. He picked up something, and he tried to do, but like I said, I've been guarded by good defenders, so I've been always reading the situation how they're going to guard me. So I'm just going from there.

End of FastScripts

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