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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v MAGICMay 26, 2010Dwight HowardJameer NelsonORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game Five Orlando Magic: 113 Q. Jameer, Dwight, you guys feel you have a chance now? You're still behind in this series, but these last two games it looked like you've found a way at least offensively to get some things going? JAMEER NELSON: Yeah, I think just the way that we're playing, just how hard like in terms of our energy and our emotions. And the way we've been feeding off one another has been great, and it's turned into some good things. We've been pushing the ball, playing extremely hard on defense and getting loose balls and doing a lot of the things we weren't doing the first three games. Q. Do you feel like the momentum is there? JAMEER NELSON: I think, I mean, yeah. Of course, the momentum was back in our favor because we won the last two games. But I think it all comes down to how hard we're playing and just how determined we are not to give up. Q. Dwight? DWIGHT HOWARD: I just feel that if we just keep believing in each other and trusting one another and also just play as hard as we can anything's possible. Me and Jameer, we've got to continue to lead on our team. And if we want to win this series, me and him have to lead. Q. Can you talk about your memories of that Rondo block? Did that kind of -- do you think that is contagious when you chase a guy down and get a block like that that it spreads to the rest of your teammates? DWIGHT HOWARD: The memories? I was tired. I don't know how I caught him. I just tried to sprint as hard as I could, and just tried to get there before he laid it up, and I got there just in time. I was trying to tell coach I needed a second after that, but he just "Keep playing". And I'm like, all right, you know, so... Q. You guys are hot from three-point range. Started that way in the second half of Game 4. Are you guys doing anything different schematically to get open? JAMEER NELSON: We're just attacking more. We're in the paint, making them shut down the paint and kick it to our shooters. The thing is like I said before, we're playing more of our game now, getting out in transition, and just attacking, just staying on the attack. We're trying to do it for 48 minutes. Q. Seems things were obviously got a little physical at times. Are you making any concerted effort in terms of energy to make sure that you fight for position or doing anything differently perhaps that wasn't going on earlier in the series? DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, you know, just trying to play as hard as I can. I think that's the big difference from the first three games is just energy. Me and Coach talked, and like I told you guys last game, I just have to play as hard as I can. When I get winded, I trust the next guy to come off the bench and get the same energy. So I've just been trying to just go all out and hope for the best. Q. How can this thing change for you, in particular, if Perkins is suspended and Big Baby with a concussion can't play, and even Rasheed Wallace, there is something wrong with his back? How does that change for you? DWIGHT HOWARD: Well, first of all, I just hope that Big Baby's all right. Never want to see a player go down, and I just hope he's okay. I think for myself, I've just got to continue to run, play with a lot of energy. Try to do it on the defensive end, get back and help your guards on Rondo because he's always pushing the ball. Got to help on Ray Allen. We don't want to let him get hot. And then Paul Pierce, he's already tough enough to guard, but just try to be there to help my teammates. Perkins is doing a great job all series and all year. For the last couple years he's been playing me straight up. I just think for me, like I told you guys last time, I just can't rush my shots. Just continue to be aggressive, whoever is checking me. But just be patient and good things will happen. Q. People asked you this morning about making history. Was that a motivating factor? Do you think about pulling on off the impossible, something nobody's ever done before? JAMEER NELSON: Of course. At this point we believe we can win the series, but we have to stay humble and keep our focus and realize why we won these last two games and continue to do that and force them to make changes like we've been doing. Q. Do you think you put the pressure back on them that they don't want the series to come back here that they need to win Game 6? JAMEER NELSON: Yeah, I believe so. I believe they have pressure on them right now. But they're veteran Hall of Famers with a great coach, and they're going to be prepared. We're going to be prepared as well. Q. They had two or three players go down with concussions and whatnot tonight. I'm just wondering, have you guys since that Game 3 loss, that debacle, have you guys tried to play more physical? DWIGHT HOWARD: We're just trying to win. Our intent is not to hurt anybody out there, but basketball is a very physical sport. You're playing against a very physical and tough team in the Boston Celtics. So our biggest thing is not trying to just fight and wrestle with them, but try to -- like I tell these guys -- it's all mental. Right now we just have to will ourselves to try to get the job done. We don't want to just get into a pushing match with those guys. We just want to run and play our game and try to beat them down mentally. That's the key right there. Q. When Big Baby went down, could you tell what happened to him right away or were you like the rest of us? DWIGHT HOWARD: No, I didn't. At first when I got back, I was looking for him because that was my man. Then when I saw him down, and I was like, oh, man. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to help him, but he's on the other team and I was like I don't want to -- I don't know. So I just tried to stay back and just wait. Like I said, I hope he's okay. Q. To follow up on that, did you have a view of when he stumbled into Joey and Joey holding him up? DWIGHT HOWARD: Did I have a who? Q. Did you have a view of when he stumbled into Joey? DWIGHT HOWARD: Oh, a view. I did. Like I said, I just hope he's okay. He's one of my friends, and you never want to see anybody, especially a friend, go down like that. Just like I said, I hope he's okay. Q. Ray Allen said that Game 6 is going to be their Game 7. They can't come back here. What do you guys need to do to force that? DWIGHT HOWARD: We've got to continue to play like we played the last two games. We've got to come out and win the first quarter, play with a lot of energy. We've got to run. We've got to get back on the defensive end. We've got to cut the turnovers down. That gives them easy buckets. So the biggest keys for us is getting back on defense, cutting our turnovers and running. When we run their defense is not set, so that's what we have to do. Q. You guys seemed like two different teams in games 4 and 5 as opposed to games 1 through 3. What happened in games 1 through 3 when you look at how well you've played over the last two games? DWIGHT HOWARD: Me and Jameer, we're the leaders of the team and we didn't play with the same intensity and energy that we needed to to stay in this series. Me and Jameer talked and we just told each other, you know, we've been here the longest. We've seen the ups and the downs, and we've seen everything. We sat there and watched the Lakers celebrate, and we know how hard it was to just watch them, but also how we worked at the last season everybody was in the gym. We built this team up together, and we've just got to continue to do that. Q. Not only did both of you guys have really solid games in the last two, but tonight Rashard had nine points in the fourth. Stan said Jason Williams had his best game of the series, M.P. had a big three, J.J. had some big minutes. Seemed like a team win as much as the other, but this one as much as any, maybe in a couple of weeks for you guys? JAMEER NELSON: Yeah, we talked about we all have to believe and do our job. And everybody that stepped on the floor tonight, even guys who didn't step on the floor, did their job of motivating us, keeping our minds in the game. When we come out of the game frustrated if that was happening. Like I said, it's just all about us believing and really realizing that we can do this one game at a time. Q. Looking back now with all that's at stake for you this season, how did you get so lost in the first three games and how did you find yourself in the last two? JAMEER NELSON: The first three games are over. We can't do anything about them. We've talked about just coming out, playing aggressive Game 4 and the same tonight. We can't do anything about the first three games. They're over with. We can't go back and get them. So put them behind us and continue to play basketball the way we know how, and be on the attack and aggressive. Q. Because a lot of your fans are wondering what happened in those first three games. I'm just wondering, what did you learn from either or all three of those games that's helping you right now? That's maybe a regret that you don't want to have a regret in the last few games? DWIGHT HOWARD: I just think we've been playing a lot harder than we played in the first three games. We would always look at the film. We would see them going for loose balls. We would see them getting the extra rebound. Just playing together. After we got down 3-0, it was like either we're going to give in or we're going to keep fighting. I think everybody just made a commitment from that night on that we're going to just go hard and believe in each other and trust. I just kept telling the guys we've got to believe in each other, but we've also got to go out there and put in the work. We can believe we're going to win but if we don't go out there and play hard. Because we believed we could win the first two games. The third game was pretty bad. But we believed that we could win those games, but we didn't go out there and play the way we needed to play to win those games. So I think everybody saw that, and we just made an adjustment from then on that we're going to just go hard as we can, and that's why we've got two games. End of FastScripts |
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