|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERSJune 4, 2010Doc RiversLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day Q. What are you noticing or what have you noticed I want to say in the last maybe week and a half since maybe Game 2 of Orlando? Have you noticed anything different about Kevin? DOC RIVERS: No, I just thought honestly he got so hyped up about the game yesterday he almost took himself out. He was trying to slow himself down. He didn't have a great game. But no, he's fine health-wise and all that. It's funny, whenever -- you know, just with our team, whenever we don't play well, it always comes down to either health or age, and it's usually sometimes we just don't play well. I thought last night was more of that. Q. First game of the series there's so much talk about physicality, there's 67 free throws shot. Any concern about where it goes from here, if it just turns into a free-throw shooting contest? DOC RIVERS: You mean like yesterday? Because that was a free-throw shooting contest. Q. Yes. DOC RIVERS: No, I mean, obviously -- listen, I didn't think it was physical. I thought the Lakers were physical. I didn't think that was a physical game. I thought one team was physical. We were not physical yesterday. We fouled a lot. You know, we fouled a lot because they were standing next to the basket and we had no choice. But I didn't honestly -- the first play of the game with Artest and Pau, I guess that was physical. After that, I didn't think on our part the game was physical at all. I thought it was physical one way. Q. So you're not concerned that that set a tone -- DOC RIVERS: No, I think obviously because of all the talk the officials are going to watch it and maybe even overreact at times. But they have to do their jobs. They want to keep the game clean, and I get that. So I have no problem with that. Q. So we should not read anything at all into Kevin's inability to make those two lay-ups or not making the dunk when he definitely wanted to try to dunk? DOC RIVERS: No, I just thought he struggled. He had one of those nights. We all have them. We're just not used to seeing him have them unless there's something wrong. But he's fine, I can guarantee you that. Q. Obviously Ray was both frustrated and ineffective with the fouls, and I think you said after the game you've got to look at that match-up. Can you win if he's on the floor that little? DOC RIVERS: No. Ray has to play. We have to get Ray the ball. We have to get Paul the ball more. But they have to be on the floor to do that. That hurt us last night, there's no doubt. You know, we had a lineup a lot with three non-shooters on the floor at the same time because we had no choice, so that was tough. You know, two of Ray's three fouls were off of Kobe, though. He got the one on Fisher, he got the reach-in foul on Gasol. Those are the fouls that Ray has to avoid himself to stay on the floor. He can't commit those fouls. But there are things we can do defensively with Paul and Ray to help Ray out in that way. Q. Following up on Kevin: You said earlier this year when there was another time when he was sort of looking old, which as you note people have been saying the last 24 hours now, you said it would be a mistake to say Kevin is done. Can you talk about that a little more. DOC RIVERS: Well, he's good. He's ready. You know, it's our whole team. All year when we play bad, we're old; when we play well, we have great experience. That's just who we are. I think our guys accept that now. It doesn't bother them. Kevin works so hard on his game, I just thought -- I made a comment to our coaches, I wish we could have played the day before. He probably had the best practice that he had in five days. He was unguardable. And then the next day the human part of the game shows up, and for whatever reason -- I think part of it, you've got to give the Lakers credit. They did a nice job. I just thought he lost his rhythm. I thought he tried to talk himself down, and he did too good of a job of it. He needs to play with that edge, and I really thought early on he was going too fast and trying to slow himself down he probably did it a little bit too much. But he'll be fine. Q. Is there anything that you say to him because with him so much of it is mental? DOC RIVERS: Well, you know, we were talking about it today, and he was talking about centering himself and all that. That's above my head. I just started laughing. But he knew it. He could feel it. And that's what makes him good. The great players kind of know when they're off, and then they actually know how to fix it. The average players usually don't know they're off and they don't know how to fix it. That's what makes Kevin who he is. Q. I'm going to guess that you know Phil's record when he wins Game 1. DOC RIVERS: Uh-huh. Q. Do you know what it is? DOC RIVERS: I don't know the record. I've just heard about it. Q. I assume that -- DOC RIVERS: Well, you know, it's like I told our guys, because I assumed that this would come up. I don't know the record. I said also the last time we were in The Finals no team had ever come down from 24 in the second half. At some point, it happened. Q. You talk about how when you have a game like this people call you old, but did you ever think they would start to intimate that maybe you were a little soft or passive? DOC RIVERS: No, but they would be right. We were. Q. Your guys' reaction to that, how much does that get under their skin? DOC RIVERS: I don't know. You know, we'll find that out. But we're better, and we know that. But clearly they were the more physical team. They were the more physical team the entire game. We were the retaliators for the most part and they were the instigators. They got to the floor first. But we know that. We just watched it again. We have to do other things, as well, though. We have to execute better. But we know that. Q. In sports most coaches and players don't accept very well that they're getting older. You seem to have embraced that with this team. Why is that, and is that a bad thing? DOC RIVERS: No, we are. We're not a young team. I can't say that Ray is 29 and lie; he's not. But it doesn't affect how we play. I'm just stating a fact we are an older team, but we're not too old. You know what I mean? We are an older team, we have experience. We have great experience, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm fine with that, and I have no problem with that. But I don't run from that fact. But we're not too old. And like I said, whenever we lose a game, we're too old, and whenever we win a game, we won because we have great experience. I tend to lean on the second part of that more than I do the first part. Q. You guys got blown out by Cleveland in Game 3 a couple series ago -- DOC RIVERS: Thanks for that. Q. Came back and won the next three pretty convincingly. Is that just the nature of the game or does that say something about you guys? DOC RIVERS: Well, it's probably a little bit of both. It says a little bit about us, the fact that we were able to gather ourselves after that shellacking, and it was the nature of the game. I've never been to a -- it's rare that your team shows up not to play. It happens sometimes for whatever reason. It just happens. No matter how much you prepare -- our team, I thought we had tremendous practices leading up to the game. I thought the day before was one of our best practices in some ways with our effort and how alert we were. And for whatever reason we didn't show up with that same stuff, and it happens. So I think it's a little bit of both. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|