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NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERS

June 6, 2010

Pau Gasol

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Two

Boston Celtics 103
Los Angeles Lakers 94

Q. You had a really good shooting night, 7 for 10. Can you talk about your offensive performance? And tell me how you guys adjust going back to Boston.
PAU GASOL: Well, you know, not really much of a point talking about my individual performance because it's a disappointing loss for our ballclub. But they did a good job. They really executed and had a really good game plan and got a nice win for themselves.
Adjustments, we definitely need to make sure we hustle a little more. They got to the ball tonight, a lot of times quicker than we did. Second-chance opportunities and just loose balls, they were pursuing the ball definitely with more desire. So that's something that is a big thing. We just have to try to play together, execute aggressively, do the things that work for us and just play hard. That's pretty much it.

Q. Do you think the controversial press motivated them to come out and play harder tonight?
PAU GASOL: I don't know. It was a big game for both teams. I think both teams were motivated to play this game. We're in the NBA Finals. They just played better than we did tonight, and obviously Ray Allen shot the ball extremely well. That got them going. And Rondo controlled the game and got to a lot of balls. He was the top rebounder of the game as the point guard, so that tells you something. It's something we've got to look into and make sure it doesn't happen again.
So that's a couple key points there that we should realize.

Q. Given that you and Andrew had such strong games offensively and Kevin and Paul had tough nights and the Lakers were right there, how did the Lakers lose this one? What happened in the last few minutes? What happened with the execution?
PAU GASOL: Well, we turned the ball over a couple times down the stretch when the game was on the line. Then that possession where it was 17 seconds on the clock, we were scrambling like it was the last possession of the game, and we gave them a wide open look, a basket, when we were down three only, and it was two minutes or something to go. So that was tough, deflating. And we just couldn't convert offensively at the end. They took advantage and took their time and converted and executed their plays. So that's kind of how it got away from us.

Q. Is that like a mental thing, a mental lapse, or it just got away?
PAU GASOL: I guess you fall in the pace or the trap of mistakes, errors, at the wrong time of the game. We had a nice three-point lead and it was three or four minutes to go, and we couldn't continue to do the things that were working for us. But we'll look into it with more detail and patience, and we'll try to adjust for Game 3 because it's a big-time game again.
Again, we're going to have to really be extremely aggressive and strong mentally and physically.

Q. That play coming out of the time-out where they had one second to advance the ball and then bang-bang, all of a sudden there's a two-on-one coming at you. What happened there?
PAU GASOL: Yeah, obviously we were trying to deny passes on the other side of the court. They got the ball, but all of a sudden we were trapping a guy. Like I said, it seemed like it was 30 seconds to go and we were in desperation mode, and we gave them a lay-up on that play, and that put us -- that play was pretty key, I think. They got the ball on the court, and now we've just got to play and stop them and don't lose our poise there. They got a good score, easy score, and that was, I think, a little bit deflating at that point.

Q. I was noticing today that throughout the playoffs you guys have had a lot of practice with transition defense, with Phoenix, with Oklahoma City. Today you guys had trouble with transition defense. Why do you think that is and how do you feel about that going forward?
PAU GASOL: Yeah, obviously the fast-break points and Rondo pushing the ball and Ray getting going on transition is a big key for them. We've got to do a better job of springing back defensively and we've got to make sure we support our guards and we control their point guard penetrating the lane. It's something that we've got to make a conscious effort every single game.

Q. Do you feel like you and Drew, your effort was wasted tonight? Drew played very well offensively and defensively.
PAU GASOL: No, I don't feel like that at all. I think our effort was a positive thing in our production. We didn't win the ballgame. But our effort was good, and it's going to have to be even better, greater in Boston because it's going to be tougher to play there.

Q. What kind of strain does it put on you when you saw that Kobe was in foul trouble?
PAU GASOL: It puts you in a situation where your best player is in foul trouble, and it puts you in a situation of danger. It affects the team in different ways. He played through it and was still aggressive, but obviously he was limited. Limited minutes. He would have played more minutes if he wasn't in foul trouble. That was tough calls out there, but you can't control that. You've just got to play through the game and do your best.

Q. Do you feel you guys did a good job of reading the officiating tonight?
PAU GASOL: It was tough. You can try to read and see how it was going to go for you, but it's tough I think. We still have to play aggressive. For a second it seemed like we couldn't get a break. But like I said, you've got to play through that. There's nothing you can really do about it, you've just got to, again, play hard and do the things that you would normally do. You can measure it a little bit and see how much they allow, but tonight it was a tough night overall.

End of FastScripts

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