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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v MAGIC

May 16, 2010

Vince Carter

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game One

Boston Celtics 92
Orlando Magic 88

Q. Vince, can you talk a little about Boston's defense? What kind of problems they present you and how you can kind of solve that riddle there?
VINCE CARTER: They're relentless. They're very aggressive. They work on their strengths. They play well together. We have to be smart, continue to move the ball to the open man to get good shots. They do a great job of contesting, especially when you're in the paint. And it took us a while to figure that out. When we did, we played a lot better.

Q. Vince, what happened there in the beginning? Was it the layoff? Was it jitters?
VINCE CARTER: Not jitters, man. Come on. You have jitters when you go this far, you're not going to win many games. I think they came out ready to play. They jumped on us early. Offensively and defensively. And when you get down on a good team like that, particularly on the defensive end where we weren't getting stops, it's going to be hard.
We fought like heck to get back in the game. Unfortunately, when you're down that many points with about nine minutes to go when they defend like they do, it's going to be tough.

Q. Vince, it's been so long since you guys lost. A month and a half. What was the locker room like? You guys aren't used to that. What was the locker room like and how do you expect you guys to respond to it?
VINCE CARTER: Upbeat. We were just very supportive of each other. We're just glad to see everybody really buckle down and try to get back into the game. At some point in time we knew you can lose. It's going to happen. Our goal was to go out there and first off protect home court and win every game. Why think anything less? It didn't happen. So it's time to bounce back.
I think it was a wake-up call that we really needed, in my opinion. I think it's great to go undefeated. You always want to learn your lessons but still win. It didn't work out that way tonight.

Q. Vince, coming off the long layoff, did you feel like you guys were rusty in that first quarter, quarter-and-a-half?
VINCE CARTER: I don't think we were prepared for the level that they were ready to play. They were ready to go from the jump. And we weren't on their level in the beginning, more than anything.

Q. Vince, that was sort of the same thing I was going to ask you, about the intensity level seemed to be so much higher than the first two playoff series that you guys swept. And also their smothering defense. How much do you attribute the 18 turnovers that you guys had to their defense or to your ball handling?
VINCE CARTER: I wouldn't say it was ball handling. If we were throwing the ball away, we weren't dribbling. More so us not being patient. I think when you have a team like that, that really plays the smothering defense and is very physical at the same time, you have to just be patient. They tend to rush you. That's how they play. I think us just seeing plays open and at the same time guessing for the next man instead of taking our time. I think once we settled down and played our brand of basketball, we played better. But we were coming from 20 points down at the time, if I recall. That's tough.

Q. You attacked the basket early. If they stay home on the shooters, isn't that more what you guys have to do to try to get some offense?
VINCE CARTER: Well, we have to make plays, more than anything. Take what's there. Just try to be aggressive, whatever that means. Whether it's getting in the basket, trying to finish or find open guys. They do a great job of contesting and making it tough without fouling. Something you have to learn -- excuse me, you have to learn from.

Q. I was going to ask you, how tough is it finishing when they have the three 6'10" guys, 6'11" in the lane?
VINCE CARTER: It's tough. Like I said, you have to go in strong and have the will to find the way to finish or move the ball. After a while when you learn that you can't finish, move the ball, try to find an open guy and take what's there. There again, once we kind of got some stops and got in transition and attacked and found the open guys, it started to open the lane up a little bit. Not much.

Q. How tough did you see them making it on Dwight throwing all those bodies at him?
VINCE CARTER: Yeah, that's what they're going to do. They're going to make it tough for him. They're going to foul him. They're going to be physical with him. He's a physical presence himself. But that's what they're going to do. We have to do a better job of, first of all, when he's open, get him the ball. And we have to make plays to make it easier for him. Once we get down and we are hitting shots and we're making plays, I think they have to kind of worry about what we're doing, and I think it opens things up for him.
Some nights where he gets rolling, it opens things up for us. So we have to kind of return the favor, if you would.

Q. Is there anything mentally he can do to change his approach?
VINCE CARTER: For him?

Q. It's easy to get frustrated, obviously.
VINCE CARTER: Just keep playing. Again, it's going to be tough. It's going to be a battle. It's going to be a war. We know that. They've been there before. We've been through some battles throughout this season. We still feel good about ourselves. We're going to continue to support and stay on him to keep him -- try to make sure he's not frustrated and just play basketball and have fun. I think he puts pressure on himself because he wants to win. He wants to be perfect or as perfect as possible and do what he has to do to lead this team because he is one -- if not -- he's the captain of this team. He's the leader. The leader trying to lead his team. At the same time, we tell him he's not out there by himself. We're going to support him. I think when he realizes that, he settles down and he did that later on in the game.

Q. Aside from the aggressive offense of the Celtics' team, is there anything more that could have been done to follow through with regard to the three-pointers that were missed on our side?
VINCE CARTER: Yeah, just make them. We have to make them. They are few and far between. They did a great job of challenging the three-point shots and staying home on our shooters. So when they're there, they're there. We just can't force them. And we have to -- they're very stingy with what they give up. So we have to take what's there. Once you kind of loosen them up, some of those things will open up.
We'll hit them. We've proven that all year.

Q. You guys talked the last couple of days about how you knew this was going to be a tough, long series. Does this kind of ram that point home now?
VINCE CARTER: It's understood. We knew that coming in. We knew that before the game. We knew it when the ball was thrown up for the start of the game. So now it's what are we going to do about it? How do we respond?
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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