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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 4, 2009

Phil Jackson

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game One

Orlando Magic - 75
Los Angeles Lakers - 100

PHIL JACKSON: For whatever it's worth, I told these guys it doesn't matter whether we win by 60 or 6 in this game. It doesn't have anything to do. It's just one win. We've got to try to go out and establish that again on our home court on Sunday.

Q. The way you designed this on a chalkboard, it played out to the backboard and the court. Did you expect to have this big of a win tonight?
PHIL JACKSON: Certainly not.

Q. Can you explain how it happened? Was it just the veteran players were so energized?
PHIL JACKSON: Things just didn't go right for them tonight. They didn't get things in rhythm and they didn't get things in the paint that they normally get, and those situations change the complexity of the game. The first half was nip and tuck right up until the end of the second quarter. We were able to come out and play with a different type of an attitude the second half.

Q. Can you describe Kobe's will and what you saw from him, especially in the second and third quarters?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, he had the smell, and he found kind of the angle what he wanted to do out there on the floor and carried that game into the second half, just carried the game his way. I thought we went there a little bit too often, but he said, "keep coming back. I'm okay." So we did.

Q. What kind of defense did you put in your game plan tonight?
PHIL JACKSON: We were trying to stop penetration. That's what you always do every single night, try and stop penetration. They have a variety of ways of doing it, especially with as many guys as handle the ball, Alston and Jameer and obviously Turkoglu. But we were able to stop that part of the penetration fairly well tonight. Their inside game, which was a big part of their game, we were exceptional tonight on that. A lot of fouls for Dwight, but nothing really in the lane.

Q. Defensively Lakers, you must have been pleased with the effort. It kind of reminded me a little bit of how your team lost that first game to the Rockets in that you had some time off and you went from the Utah Jazz who weren't really getting to you defensively, then you switched to a team that had a much different mindset. Do you think that might have been in play with the Magic tonight?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, I don't know if I can explain it in those terms. Things turn on a trifle in this game. There were a couple plays that kind of changed that up. They had a five-point lead in the second period, they were kind of rolling against our bench mob out there, and we made some changes, called a time-out, and it flipped, the switch flipped all of a sudden. And these guys went from that five-point deficit to a ten-point lead.
But there were a lot of little things that happened, tipped balls, missed shots. They had some wide-open threes they didn't hit. We got some rebounds that were good, solid plays. We had more offensive opportunities. Those things happened for us.

Q. You've admitted that the Magic probably could not have played worse in this basketball game. Can the Lakers play better than what they played?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, you always think they can. You always want to see that. Here's two teams that came in The Finals that have a total of 17 turnovers for the game, which is a limited number. So turnover-wise it was a tight game.
Our exceptional part of it tonight was Kobe's drive. I think he didn't shoot great, 16 for 34, but his energy in the game carried it.

Q. What did you think of Bynum and the match-up against Howard?
PHIL JACKSON: He had some times out there that I thought he played him really well. He did a good job defensively to try and cover the screen roll. Offensively he had some opportunities that he converted on, which we like. There was a couple plays that he could have probably powered through for some lay-ups that didn't happen for him, but those are going to happen.

Q. Are you surprised Howard shot the way he did?
PHIL JACKSON: Certainly. This is a guy that's a veteran 50 percent shooter, 60 percent shooter. Something that happened is he didn't get dunks, and that's a big part of his game.

Q. How often does Kobe surprise you? I know he's had four or five of these 40-point games in the past, but does it ever surprise you when he pulls out a game like this?
PHIL JACKSON: I think I've said no before many times when you've asked me that. He's known to play big in big games.

Q. Kobe said earlier in the playoffs that there is no such thing as momentum, you have to remake it game after game. How do you sustain what you saw in terms of energy tonight? What can you do between now and Sunday?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, there's two days off between these games, so it's a big opportunity for them to reset themselves and get themselves back in form. For us it's always -- coaching staff, we always think the team that has to make the adjustments has the advantage. We have to find a way to anticipate what they're going to come back and do against us, see what we can do to eliminate the mistakes we made tonight, and play even better defensively than we played tonight.
I think offensively there's some things we can learn about this team.

Q. What are you going to tell the team and what are you going to work on over the next two days to have the best chances of winning again on Sunday?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, most of it is the intention, their intention, what they're looking for is what I think you have to find as a team. To know the mindset of what's going on with their basketball club. They're a really disciplined team and you have to know where they're going with the ball when they start out, and that's what I think we're looking to do.

Q. Can you talk about the decision to double Dwight on some of those defensive possessions, and how you felt it was effective?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, if we were in the territory we knew we wanted to come help on him. We got a couple opportunities to come back and snap at the ball or keep him from having rhythm to get into the basket. But for the most part, we had mostly good individual defense in situations that he either lost the ball or didn't make a shot on it.
The rest of it were fouls. 16 times at the foul line is quite a bit.

Q. You said before the game that you didn't necessarily change your defensive game plan to account for Nelson. Did you see enough from him tonight, he had four assists in the first few minutes, to maybe game plan for him a little bit going forward?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, I think he had an effect in the ballgame. I think he came in, he was effective in penetration and finding guys. It looked like he was back in the format of what he wanted to get accomplished. Obviously his shooting wasn't quite there, although he hit a couple shots, but we anticipate he'll be out there more.

Q. I'm just curious, you're so serious tonight, are you playing some mind games and trying not to get everybody a big head after this win?
PHIL JACKSON: Thank you. Thanks a lot for lightening this up.

End of FastScripts

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