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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v LAKERS

May 17, 2010

Steve Nash

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game One

Los Angeles Lakers Â– 128
Phoenix Suns - 107

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Steve, can you comment on how you physically feel? I see your eye is still healing. Did that hinder you in any way tonight?
STEVE NASH: No, I felt fine. That was the least of my concerns tonight.

Q. Talk about just Kobe's night. Was there anything really you guys could do to defend him? Was it just one of those nights with him?
STEVE NASH: Yeah, he had it going. He hit a bunch of shots. He hit a bunch of long-range shots. If he's going to score on you, if he's going to get shots up, you want him to take long-range shots. I haven't seen the box score, but I didn't feel like we put him in the line a ton. I didn't feel like we let him get inside a ton, but he made a ton of shots. You've got to tip your hat to the kind of performance he put on out there tonight.

Q. What was the most of your concerns tonight?
STEVE NASH: You know, I think our room for error is small. They're a lot bigger than we are. They had a lot of points in the paint. They're probably going to continue to be taller than us as the series goes on (laughter), so we've got to try to cut down on some of those transition buckets, offensive rebounds, you know, defensive lapses, whatever it is.
We've got to play really, really solid defensively, try to make everything as tough as possible, try to limit the paint touches and catches and offensive rebounds. I thought tonight we gave a few too many of those obviously but also a few too many breakdowns. We played hard. We didn't make enough shots, and we had a few too many breakdowns to counteract their size.

Q. They've been tough for you guys over the last three seasons. Playing them now, getting hammered in the first game, does that present a problem beyond one game?
STEVE NASH: Well, we'll see. It's not like we're going to hang our heads and not try to win Game 2. You know, we've just got to play better. If we play better, opportunities with our movement is obviously going to be pivotal.

Q. You tried to run a pick-and-roll a couple of times, and basically that was one of the problems Lakers had throughout the season to defend pick-and-rolls. Do you think you'll try to do that more in Game 2?
STEVE NASH: Well, yes and no. We had some success on pick-and-rolls tonight, but they also do a good job at times defending it because they can clog up the paint and use their length. It's our bread and butter. That's how we create movement, and we create opportunities for ourselves, so we're definitely going to keep going to it. But we have to have other dimensions to our game, as well, to keep them off balance. If we give them a steady diet, that's when they really zone up and use their size and make it hard.
We've got to be efficient in a few different areas so that we don't just rely on one thing and they can get kind of hip to that game.

Q. A lot of your success has been this season I felt the bench contributed. You guys have done your job. They've done their job. Tonight any comments on the contribution from your bench?
STEVE NASH: I thought the bench did a really good job in spurts and then in other stretches maybe struggled. I think you could say the same about the first unit. I don't think that we can really pin this loss on the first unit or the second unit. I thought we both needed to play better. We both had success in stretches, but we couldn't sustain it. We'll look to have a better effort for the entirety of Game 2.

Q. Your bench has been outstanding all season. Were you surprised at the production from the Laker bench tonight?
STEVE NASH: Is that a New York accent?

Q. A little bit.
STEVE NASH: It's just disappointing you've got a Lakers top on. That's all I'm going to say.

Q. You're in our town, my brother.
STEVE NASH: New Yorker, this is our town? Okay, what was that again?

Q. Your bench, outstanding all season?
STEVE NASH: Our bench wasn't great tonight. Our starters weren't great tonight. We've got to all play better. I think there's just no way around it. We didn't earn it tonight. We didn't deserve it. They played better than us, and we've got to come out and play a lot better in Game 2. I know that's probably not the most exciting answer you guys want to hear, but that's the gist of it.

End of FastScripts

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