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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v MAGIC

May 16, 2010

Ray Allen

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game One

Boston Celtics 92
Orlando Magic 88

Q. Ray, was it Ray Allen or the coaching staff that had you going to the basket about nine times in the first half?
RAY ALLEN: It was just the plays that I had. I knew they were trying to force me away from my shot. So just watching film all week, the last two days, for that matter, they were playing me so high over the top when I go to the basket, I have to keep my head up and make sure I look for the ball. I got my shot blocked two or three times. So I had to make that adjustment.
But for the most part, you know, the shot is not there, I have to drive it. I have to make a play. That's what I was very aware of early in the game.

Q. Ray, can you talk about how funny momentum is. They won eight straight but you had such good play in Cleveland it carried over into this game?
RAY ALLEN: There's a lot to be said for repetition. We talked last week in Boston after being in Cleveland and having to go back to Boston. We had those four or five days off before we played again. It's tough anytime you have to sit around. Sitting around, especially at this time of year when you know you have a pretty good formula for how you have been playing basketball and everybody has a great rhythm. So we definitely were on the luckier side of the equation knowing we had just came off two days ago.
So we just have to continue to stay sharp. Just however they come out next game, we have to make sure we make the adjustments ourselves.

Q. Ray, how important was it to come in here after -- they have not lost in a month and a half. They had won 14 straight. How important was it to come in here and show them they are not invincible?
RAY ALLEN: Well, the playoffs for the most part, the first round for all of us watching, there were a lot of series that went 4-0. And every team talks about going 4-0, sweeping, because it's something you want to do. I know a couple of franchises hadn't done it in their history. You look at the rest on the downside of it. But there is a negative to it.
We were aware what they were doing. Not to mention they're the ones that put us out last year. So it's a process. And you can't go into it thinking everything is going in your favor, because the next day it can turn. And for us we just have to stay humble and know that we have to continue to work regardless of what the circumstances are.

Q. Can you talk about kind of going up a couple of times and taking punches? It seems like that's been the theme of the postseason, taking the punches and absorb it and letting it go. Especially in Cleveland when you had a shot and didn't finish out.
RAY ALLEN: There's a point in the season I guess really it was when we started the playoffs, Doc wrote on the board "resolve." He said we have to have resolve if we want to go where we want to go.
You know, there's a stretch in the season where we know each other so well, we've been around each other for a couple of years now, that we were becoming less patient with each other. When things went awry in any quarter or any game or we lost a couple of games, we kind of -- we were getting on each other a little bit too much. We can take it. But we respected each other. When we started the playoffs, that's what we said. Teams are going to hit us, they're going to attack us. When somebody scores on us, which they will, we have to get the ball out and take it back down there and score on them. Nobody can hang their heads. We can't have bad body language. We've done a great job with it. We always remind ourselves. You don't want to regress back to where you were, especially when you lost a couple of games at home.

Q. Ray, in each of the last two regular seasons against the Magic, you guys led the Magic by 11. 51-40. Today you had the nine-point lead. Jameer hit eight quick and cut the lead quick. You guys went 17-2 over the next three-and-a-half minutes. Was it in your mind what they had done in the regular season and coming back to win and how important is that run right there?
RAY ALLEN: We remember that -- we talked about it yesterday, the games we played; they beat us three times in the regular season. I think it was the last time we played here we were up. Even in Boston when we were down, you know, we came back in the fourth quarter. They're a team that you can't give them any light when they're down. They have such great shooters on the perimeter. Dwight, you know, he's so powerful in the post. So they're going to go on a run. They're going to make shots. We couldn't rest. You turn your head one moment and somebody gets a three up in the air. For us we have to continue to stay humble and know they're going to find a way to adjust to what we've done at the end of the night and know we can never rest. From one game to the next, from one quarter to the next.

Q. Ray, just wanted to ask you, just curious how did Dwight Howard's remarks going into this series saying that they would win, not that they could win, but that they would win, how did that play in the Celtics' locker room? And did you derive any kind of motivation from that? Is there a fine line between confidence and overconfidence?
RAY ALLEN: Well, there's a lot of things I believe that I can do and a lot of things I believe I will do. A lot of times I just keep it to myself, and just quietly work on them and prepare for myself. And even for this team. As a team we feel the same way. We know what we want to do. We know what direction we are trying to head in. We don't need to put it out there. We'll show it every day in practice and put it out there on the floor every day. I don't think anybody on this team knew or paid attention to his comments, or even anything that they say for that matter. Because for us it's about what we're doing and we're focused on fine-tuning our offense.
Yeah, we watched their plays. But for the most part I think the media aspect of it we try to stay out of it. It doesn't do us any good. We're focused on what we need to do as a team and individuals.

End of FastScripts

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