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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 3, 2009

Dwight Howard

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day

Q. You were very happy after clinching and getting to The Finals. You mentioned that there were even tears. Coming to this, what is your motivation? I know the Lakers are playing from a position of pain from having lost last year. What is the main feeling coming into this?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, we want to come out and play. This is the chance of a lifetime to be playing for the championship, and this is the furthest that a lot of us have ever gotten in our career.
Our motivation is greatness. We want to be a great team. We want to be considered as a great basketball team. This is a great opportunity for us.

Q. Basically I'm talking about as far as the Lakers' perspective of pain, is there a concern that getting caught up in the spectacle of it that there isn't maybe the steel drive, or do you know the team's character and that's there?
DWIGHT HOWARD: I don't think we're too much caught up in being in The Finals. We understand the magnitude of the series and we understand what it means not only to ourselves but our city. Like I said, we want to be a great team so we're not caught up in the media and everybody hyping it up. We just want to get on the court and play and have fun. That's all I'm concerned about is going out there and on the floor, having fun and getting the job done.

Q. Stan has been self-deprecating about all this saying it's the match-up with him and Phil, saying Phil has won more rings than he's won series. What do you think of the coaching match-up in this series?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, obviously you have two great coaches. You know, they're different types of coaches. I'm sure everybody in this room can tell, Stan is more of an outgoing, in-your-face-type of coach, and Phil is more of a laid-back coach. You know, they're two different styles, but their main objective is to get their teams motivated and make sure they're well prepared for battle.
I really enjoy watching a guy like Phil for what he's done for our game. I was sad the first time he left because I was a big Bulls fan and Lakers fan growing up a little bit. So to see him back is fun to watch.

Q. What do you think it is about Stan that makes him the right coach for you guys?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, he knows how to keep us humble. He does a great job of mentoring us but also motivating us and letting us know that what we have to do to be great is we have to get on the court every day and work hard, and he's going to make sure that we are well prepared for any task that's put ahead of us.

Q. Everybody is picking the Lakers to win the series. Everyone wanted to see Kobe-LeBron. Do you think you guys have been overlooked for a while during all this?
DWIGHT HOWARD: We've always been overlooked. We was overlooked in the first series against Philly, we were overlooked against Boston, were overlooked against the Cavs, and we're still overlooked. So we understand that. We don't want to be a team that everybody picks to win, because I think being on a young team, once everybody starts saying, okay, you're this and you're that, sometimes you tend to forget what got you there. So for us, everything we see, everybody picking against us, it motivates us. It drives us to do something greater.
You know, I like our chances of winning this series, and I think it comes down to who wants it more, the team who defends better. For us if we defend, rebound and run, we should have a title.

Q. I know you've been asked this a lot, but Patrick Ewing is sort of your mentor. Anything in this playoff run that he's been able to guide you with?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, the first thing he said is take advantage of this moment. He said that he only had a chance to play in one NBA Finals, I think, and the next one he was hurt. So he knows that this opportunity does not come around very often. He just said to have fun and play because you never know what could happen. That's what I've been telling myself for the longest, just playing basketball in general, I don't know how long I'll have a chance to play. In one second my life could change.
You know, I totally understood. What he was trying to tell me is take advantage of this moment to be playing in The Finals because you never know if you'll ever have a chance to do it again.

Q. When Kobe was in, he was talking about you, and he said that he had learned that while you were a fun-loving guy, I can't remember if he used the word goofball --
DWIGHT HOWARD: He used "goofball," I saw him (laughter).

Q. But he said you're a real competitor now, and just before the playoffs he comes out with that cover, too much fun. Do you like that that's what the world thinks of you and do you have to show otherwise?
DWIGHT HOWARD: There's no need for me to prove anything, but I think everybody sees me as a fun-loving person who wants to have fun. I think some people take me laughing and joking on the floor as I don't take the game serious. Kobe said, and you can ask my teammates and my coaching staff, I take basketball and my life very serious. But at the same time I have to have fun. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be playing basketball. I know millions of guys who wish they had a chance to play basketball in the NBA. I'm going to make the best of what God has given me. He's given me a chance to play basketball and play at the highest level, and a lot of people take me laughing and joking and dancing and all that silly stuff as me not being serious about what I do.
But basketball is one part of my life. I'm always going to be that silly person. Growing up, my dad was the same way. He felt I played too much on the court, I laughed, I joked. But if I lost the game, I was the first one crying and telling him what I needed to do to get better for the next game. I realized that's the way I am. Otis was the same way. He realized that okay, Dwight is going to have fun, he's going to smile and joke but he's going to get the job done. He tried to stop me from smiling on the floor, and it's not going to work. It's not going to happen. Basketball brings too much joy to me and everybody who watches me. So there's no need to be out there trying to look mean and tough.
Even if I tried to look mean and tough, everybody in here would laugh and say, that's not him. So it doesn't work.

Q. What did you learn from Kobe, if anything, during the whole summer Olympic experience? Anything about commitment, working hard, anything that you took from him?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, he's a closer. Every game that we played in the Olympics he did an excellent job of closing teams out. He's very competitive. He wants to guard the best player on the team. He wants the ball in the fourth quarter. Even if he had to guard Yao Ming, he would have tried to do it. That's just how competitive he is.
The biggest thing I would say that I learned from watching him is that he doesn't take any possessions off, especially on the defensive end. For me, I just tried to put that in my game. This year was probably one of my best defensive years that I've had since I've been here.

Q. As a team are you guys looking at defending Kobe as a similar challenge to defending LeBron? And what are some of the similarities and differences you see there?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, I think LeBron is more of an attacker, and Kobe his mid-range game is probably the best in the league; he can shoot the ball extremely well, which is different from LeBron. LeBron wants to attack, get to the rim, finish or kick it out for shots. And Kobe, you know what Kobe can do.
I would say they have the same killer instinct, but Kobe, his game is ridiculous. Like George Karl said, Jesus couldn't guard him. He's pretty tough.

Q. If Jameer is able to play in this series, what would that mean to you guys? And how concerned are you about the long layoff?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, we understand that Jameer has been out for a while. He's rusty. He hasn't had a lot of experience in playing. But I think the one thing that he things to our team is he's fearless. When he's playing like that, when he's playing with no care in the world and he's not afraid to do anything, then that's when everybody on the team, they follow behind him.
I think that would be a great thing about having him back. But I just want to make sure he's healthy first.

Q. Can you just take us back to the emotions that you were feeling at the end of Game 6 knowing that you were going to reach The Finals? And then also, how do you contain and control those emotions and you get ready and prepare for your first game?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, I would say after the game, and during the game, I was very emotional because everything that I worked for and I was in the gym, weight room, track, whatever, is starting to pay off. Being able to say I played and went to my first NBA Finals at 23, all that stuff was in my head during the game. When I got home, woke up the next morning, I really had forgot about the Eastern Conference Finals. My focus is on the NBA Finals, what I needed to do as the captain and leader of my team to get everybody ready for what's ahead of us.
I was very emotional after Game 6 that night, fourth quarter. I woke up the next day -- actually I would say after we took the pictures and held the trophy, I went to the locker room and took off my hat and the little shirt they gave us, put it down, and I told the guys, you know, this is only one step for us. We did a great job of getting here, had fun, but tomorrow and the next day get ready for business because this is a whole new ballgame for us. We can't go in thinking about, oh, we won the Eastern Conference Finals. We've got to go in with the mindset of let's win the championship.

Q. You can make this a specific toward yourself or as general as you'd like, but there is one thing that's different or that bothers you about playoff officiating, what would it be?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Say it again?

Q. If there's one thing that's different or bothers you about playoff officiating, what would it be?
DWIGHT HOWARD: Oh, nothing. The officiating has been great. It's been consistent since day one. Officiating has been great (smiling). My favorite ref, Steve Javie, he actually gave me some pointers on how to make my free throws. They actually worked the last game, and he reffed the last game. Steve did a great job. I think the League should look into having Steve at all our games.

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