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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v LAKERSMay 21, 2010Phil JacksonPHOENIX, ARIZONA: Practice Day Q. When you're playing well like you are, up two games, is there a tendency to want to keep playing instead of having days off like you had the last time? COACH JACKSON: There's no doubt you'd like to keep it going. It's impossible in this kind of schedule to expect the momentum continues. You just have to rebuild. Q. When you start about rebuilding, what are your main concerns in getting this thing, this engine restarted again? COACH JACKSON: Well, our two players that don't get an opportunity to practice very much are Kobe and Drew. And so you want to have them make sure that they get some activity and something to go along with just a normal therapy day so they get ready to play. Q. What has Pau done to impress you the most during the post-season? COACH JACKSON: I'm always impressed with his passing. I think the passing is a really terrific aspect of his game. You know, he's scoring. Obviously that's important to us. But we really value the defense that he's able to give us against the screen roll. Q. What kind of work did Andrew do today? COACH JACKSON: Andrew came in early. 9:30. He did his therapy for an hour. He did some on-the-court work, did some things in the post, just individual post moves and defensive things to help him in the post. Q. Can you talk about what you've been able to provide in the last round, the injury, how important that is? COACH JACKSON: Size always matters. People have to shoot over that size. It's kept Stoudemire from really dominating the inside of the paint. He's taken a couple of fouls in there. Obviously he's had to. But he's also been able to come over and shut down some of the lane. The real aspect that we enjoy is the chances for him to get second shots, get easy baskets inside that are high percentage situations. Q. Is there an urgency that has popped up at times for this team, Houston series, Oklahoma City, what evidence do you see or is that in the past. Or is that still on your worry list? COACH JACKSON: Suns will have a lot to do with it. They have the crowd, their home team, being energized by them. Being the fact they have their backs to the wall a little bit and they have to play at a level that's accelerated. So there's a lot of things that go into that. It's not about being complacent. I don't think anybody's complacent. Q. When your team was in this position the last series being up 2-0 against Utah, how did you like the team's focus and energy heading into Game 3 in that series? COACH JACKSON: Game 3, we had to have some luck to win the game. We were fortunate to win it. That really took the heart out of Utah. Tough when you're down. You have such a long ways to come back. So we just said: Stay in the game, try to find a way to win the game. And Utah, you know, the first one's going to be toughest, and from there on it's all easy. Q. The contribution that Jordan has made the last couple of games, what does he have to do to continue that on the road? COACH JACKSON: I think it's always about Jordan coming out and being aggressive, looking for the open opportunities on the floor, being active defensively. Because he can be a disrupter, if he's active, and trying to get through picks and get around these big guys as quickly as possible. Q. How does Pau's ability to pass open things up for other guys and make it difficult for other teams to defend you guys when he's passing so well? COACH JACKSON: One of the keys in our game, offense used to be called the triple post offense. And it's one of the keys is any of the big guys can get in the post, including Ron, our other forward, or Kobe, if he's out on that forward spot. So whenever that ball goes in the post, it's an opportunity for a guy to make plays. And if you get double teamed, trapped, whatever, which is what a lot of times teams will do. Utah did it in the last series and I anticipate Phoenix will do it at times in this series, to have a guy that can make plays in that position makes it so much easier. Q. As far as Ron is concerned, was it only a matter of time before he started to play better and better as you get deeper and deeper into the playoffs? COACH JACKSON: He's a veteran. He's been in this situation before. He's never been out of the finals in the conference, but he knows how important these games are to us, and he is concentrating on doing the little things at this time. And I think he's very comfortable right now. Q. The versatility of your team is obviously a plus, play big and small and physical. The fact you're in a finesse series now, does that worry you at all given that you know whatever the next round, it's going to be more physical? COACH JACKSON: Can't worry about anything but this one right now. We're just playing, see what happens here. Who knows whether we can survive this series or not. If we're fortunate enough to be able to do that, we have to take on the whole aspect of something else in the next series, if it's possible. End of FastScripts |
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