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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v LAKERS

May 29, 2010

Phil Jackson

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Game Six

L.A. Â– 111
Phoenix - 103

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You're going to move on and play Boston. Can you say what you saw out-of-this Phoenix Suns team this series. They were expected barely to make the playoffs, what they've accomplished, the effort they gave against you tonight.
COACH JACKSON: I haven't watched them all the way through the playoffs. Got surprised by Portland at home court early in the playoffs. Then they just went into another gear and played great ball. I thought they played great against Portland and finished it off against San Antonio to sweep them.
They looked like they were a live team defensively. We were fortunate to be able to figure out some things about them defensively in the first couple games. We came back, I thought they covered their home really well, moved into playing the zone about probably 35, 30 minutes of the game. It was a way to ignite their offense, get them down court quickly and get things going.
We figured out the zone, played well against it. They started finding their way in the offensive end at times to give them those bursts they're known for. They had one with two minutes to go in Game 5. Obviously tonight they were ignited by an incidental play in which Sasha got involved in a flagrant foul. It really sparked their team. They really jumped into the fray after that, got back in the game.
I thought they were pretty dead in the water at that particular time in the game. But they played behind that spirit of their home court and they made a game out of this.

Q. What did you do differently tonight than the other night where the Suns came back, but tonight you encouraged your team to hold on to the victory?
COACH JACKSON: Well, we weren't very successful offensively, but we played the defense that we had to play. You know, this he got a 29-point quarter at the end of the game. We could survive that with a six-point play, flagrant foul, et cetera, that goes on in that kind of situation.
Kobe was the man tonight. Obviously Ron had a great half, played well even the second half. You know, we just found a way to chip away at the end of the game and keep that lead that kept us in control of the game.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH JACKSON: I thought he was forcing the action into the two-minute mark. I was quite concerned about the fact everybody was trying to make a play. He would try to make two or three plays, hadn't worked. Dudley played well, Lamar went to the basket, had a shot blocked. Looked like everybody was trying to do things individually rather than playing together as a team.
We tried to get back to the basics of what we do, some situations that are needs at the end of the game. He felt comfortable getting the push-off and shooting that shot. Looked like he didn't have the lift in the early part of the quarter. But the end of the quarter he went for it, pushed off, got the elevation he needed to shoot over the top. They were great shots.

Q. The last time you played Boston in Boston.
COACH JACKSON: I have amnesia. When was that?

Q. Two years ago.
COACH JACKSON: (Laughter).

Q. I know you talked about redemption, not necessarily about Boston, but is there some in the air based on the finals a couple years ago?
COACH JACKSON: This is a whole new situation. We have some of the members of our team, five new members of the team, but some of these guys remember how it felt to lose. There's nothing worse than losing in a finals. It's about as low as you can get after riding a high, getting through three series, going into the fourth one and the finals.
I had hoped I'd never experience it, but I've done it twice now, so I know it's a real difficult summer after that.
After we came back in the playoffs last year, I ran into Paul Pierce in a complex where my daughter lives in L.A. I said, Get it back, we want to meet you in the finals. So here it is almost a year later. We have this opportunity, both of us, to renew this rivalry.

Q. Can you talk about what you did different against Amar'e tonight?
COACH JACKSON: We didn't give Amar'e room to drive. We tried to close out on him a little bit, tried to jam him so he would have a little bit of a tough time finding the pathway.
I thought guys contested pretty well. He got to the line a lot, but I thought we kept him off his shot, kept him from scoring a lot of field goals.

Q. You're from the generation in which everybody hated the Celtics. Is this special for you playing Boston? Can it be anything but special playing Boston for somebody with your experience?
COACH JACKSON: I don't know. I don't want to make more of it is than it is. It's obviously a huge rivalry. I know it's a huge one for the Lakers. In New York, we seem to have their number when I was playing in New York. We didn't have that same kind of like we have to beat the Celtics feeling.
It's obvious the Celtics are a rivalry with L.A. There's a renewed fervor between both these towns. It's something that has been anticipated now for the last couple weeks. So here it is.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH JACKSON: Not that much. I mean, you know, we have Ron that came in to play defense. This is his chance to shine. We had a tough matchup with Pierce the last time we played them in the playoffs. This is a guy that we know can defend and enjoys the defensive end of the court. So we anticipate that is a matchup that will be of interest.
Otherwise Ron is playing at a really high elevation. As we remember in Game 6, he had a 20-point game against us the night they won the championship. We'll look at that matchup and continue to change things there.

Q. Is it your sense that Andrew is okay?
COACH JACKSON: You know, Andrew is going to give us what he can. He's not a hundred percent. But he's throwing himself in there. He'll do the job. He'll do what we ask him to do and be as tough as he can be out there with a limited amount of base that he can work off of.

Q. Last time you played the Celtics, I don't think you had Bynum for that series.
COACH JACKSON: Right.

Q. What's the significance of having him this time even if you only have him for 24 minutes a game? How important is it for him to play well along with Gasol? Seems like it's usually one or the other.
COACH JACKSON: It will be a matchup of bigs. Their bigs are very active and they've got Wallace and Davis coming in off the bench, along with other bodies they can bring in. They're a big team.
Our bigs have to play, have to play well. I thought we were outplayed by their bigs the last time we played them in the '08 series. Andrew will give us some help in that regard.
We played twice this year. I think both the games were one-point games or something like that, very hotly contested games. We had to play one of them in our home court without Kobe obviously, which makes a difference.
But I don't think they played as well during the regular season perhaps as they have in the past. So we're not judging off those games at all.

Q. What can you say about Artest offensively tonight? Kept you ahead in the first half in particular.
COACH JACKSON: The Lord was with him tonight.

Q. Surprising?
COACH JACKSON: Basketball gods were on his side.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
COACH JACKSON: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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