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NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERS

June 6, 2010

Ray Allen

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Two

Boston Celtics 103
Los Angeles Lakers 94

Q. Doc talked about the other night he felt as though you were going to have one of those nights like you were having tonight, and tonight you did have it.
RAY ALLEN: Yeah, the other night was frustrating, just being a part of a game that I was so looking forward to. We didn't make it this far last year, so the anticipation being off after six or seven days was so great. Getting into that game, it was a competitive game, it was tough fought, and they played great. It was tough just trying to adjust the referees on the sideline, so just trying to root them on. Physically I felt great. I was getting to the spots I needed to, just never really got in a great rhythm.
So tonight I just was focused on adjustments to Kobe attacking, being in position before I could get a bad call, helping my teammates out and making sure we moved the ball. Bigs created screens for me today. Rondo pushed the ball in transition, we got a lot move fast-break opportunities this time than we did in Game 1. We got stops and we were able to run, so the three ball did go in the air definitely a little more tonight.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about getting into a rhythm so early and being able to sustain it throughout the first half? It seems they were kind of scrambling to figure out how to limit your three-point shooting.
RAY ALLEN: Well, starting the game off you don't want that first shot to be a three-pointer. You want to try to work your way into the game. But if it has to be, it has to be. I try not to turn a shot down when I'm over it for sure. But the ball, it bounced more in our favor. I think we had more activity in this game, we had more energy. We fought harder, and the ball did bounce more in our favor. So there were a couple threes that the ball bounced kind of funky and we ended up getting it, and I'm right at the three-point line. I do remember one in the fourth quarter where I kind of moved back down the floor, but if I was in position I would have got another one.
We fought and got those extra possessions this time. Early in the game we were able to get it in transition, and I got a couple threes early, and nothing was rushed basically. I was just the recipient of a lot of those baskets.

Q. That time-out where you had one second to get the ball across half court, Doc mentioned that you guys kind of had a laugh at his expense during that time-out.
RAY ALLEN: Yeah, we did. He claimed that he's in shape, and when he ran out there we told him he looked like he wasn't in shape. You guys have got to give him a hard time about that. But he made it out there, so it definitely got us an extra possession.

Q. How did you get open at half court?
RAY ALLEN: Well, I screened Kevin's man. I screened Gasol, and when he flashed the ball they tried to switch. Then I came up and then they really ran to me and then he was open again. We ended up getting a basket out of it.

Q. Talk about that one three, I think it might have been five or six in, you just turned and smiled and ran back. What was going through your mind at that time?
RAY ALLEN: You know, to me it was just thinking about going back to Game 1, just having that feeling of being resilient as a team. You know, you could do everything you can defensively. As a team we're trying to stop Kobe, we're trying to stop Pau, we're trying to stop all their guys. But it's those plays, those hard plays where somebody gets on the ground and they throw the ball back out and you end up getting a three-pointer. Those are the things that are rewarding. When I got that three, it was a sense of calmness and reward that I knew I had at that moment.
Again, it wasn't a rushed feeling, it was just good basketball.

Q. With all due respect to Fish, you have him by three or four inches. Do you feel the need to exploit this? And how do you feel about playing a smaller guy?
RAY ALLEN: Well, we got so many guys that can offensively carry this team. Really it's about us individually not trying to do too much. I'm trying not to do too much. Getting Fisher, run him off screens and forcing their bigs to help. That's when we get our bigs involved in the game because rewarding them, when they're setting great screen they end up being open. That's somewhat the thought process. But it's like me making a hard cut from one side of the basket to the other, and Paul gets a shot or Kevin gets a lay-up. That's all of our mentalities, and if we can do that then the ball will move and we'll score the way we want to score.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about the level of chemistry that you and Rondo have developed and maybe the biggest part of his development in the last couple years?
RAY ALLEN: I think for Rondo, he knows where I'm going to be. I understand when he's going to pass and he's not going to pass, but you've always got to be ready for him because he'll make a quick pass when you didn't think he was going to pass it. He gets in there so fast you've got to get to your spot real early. For me I just try to get to my spot. He always wants me to cut, but I tell him if I cut, I'm going to clog his space up. I'm getting an outlet. You make a move, get to the basket, and you'll be ready for your outlet if you get stuck anywhere.

Q. Most ever threes you ever hit in a Finals game. Were you surprised after you hit your first three or four that the Lakers didn't make it tougher for you to hit the three, that they would have narrowed in on your spacing?
RAY ALLEN: I didn't think it was easy. You know, getting the threes up in the air, it was like somebody -- you look up and I'm shooting a three and everybody is probably thinking, how did this guy get them? But there's so much going on out there from great screens being set to misdirection plays. Everybody, like I said earlier, making sharp cuts. I ended up somewhere on the three-point line, or rebounds, offensive rebounds, we'd get it back and that's the best time to get a three-point up. I thought they did everything they could to keep me from shooting threes and they worked tirelessly. We were setting great screens and I was getting to my spots.

Q. The one stat that jumped out at me was Rondo's 12 rebounds leading the team in rebounding. Talk to me how big he was in this game tonight.
RAY ALLEN: He had a triple-double, he was awesome. Thinking about passing the ball, like getting in the gaps, you know, he's so athletic, he does so many different things, and that's probably something people don't realize. He's so unheralded when he gets in there getting the rebounds because he's so athletic. One rebound he went to the roof, it seemed like he went over all the bigs. But that does give us another dimension. When he can rebound like that, it does take the pressure off our bigs to have double-digit rebounds every night when our guards are getting it. Sometimes they're bouncing long. That's the difference in our offensive rebounds that they didn't get tonight, we got those rebounds. A lot of the onus is on the guard because if they bounce long, we have to get those and he got them tonight.

Q. Four offensive rebounds tonight.
RAY ALLEN: Yeah, again, those four offensive rebounds, those where the threes they come back in play, and it gets our bigs easier shots.

Q. Did it feel like you had to wait two extra days for The Finals to start? You hardly got to play in the first game because of foul trouble. How did you get through it?
RAY ALLEN: The last two days definitely were frustrating. The game and then the four or five days before that was frustrating because I like to get out there and play. I like to get the ball bouncing. You have to have patience. But for me anything else going on in my life is put on hold because it's hard to focus on anything else. Even though I'm not watching -- I watch the film and go to practice when I have to, but when I'm at home I try to do other things. But here in The Finals it's tough. Like I tried to play golf a couple days ago, and I really couldn't focus on it because my mind was thinking every second, you know, how am I going to guard Kobe on this play? Or certain opportunities that we need to do, how we're going to guard Gasol in the post, so many different things. Throughout the day it would just flash in my head. Whatever I'm doing I might be spaced out. Somebody might be asking me a question and I'm not right there at that moment.
This moment is our moment, and we've got to take advantage of it.

Q. Kind of a similar question: Tony was saying at practice you had like a mean look on your face and you were really quiet. He thought maybe you were stewing over the fact you got in foul trouble the last game. Were you upset about that? And did you decide to take your frustrations out on the Lakers?
RAY ALLEN: Well, I was upset. The way I went into practice yesterday and the day before, I was disappointed that obviously we lost. I was trying to think of the things that I need to do to be better. So when I went and practiced yesterday, I spoke with most of you yesterday, and I wasn't in the best of moods because I was ready to practice. I was ready to get through practice and do the things we need to do at least to relieve some of the tension that we had as a team and I had individually.
So being on the same page, and that's kind of how I felt. I felt I was just in limbo, like I've got to hurry up and play another game. It's like that feeling when you lose during the regular season on a Monday and you play again on Tuesday, you can't wait to play on Tuesday back to back. I definitely was there, but I've got to keep that. But coming into the game today, I just focused on being the best team player I could.

Q. You've had a lot of great shooting nights but where would you rank this one considering the stage?
RAY ALLEN: It's definitely right up there because there's no better place, moment, time to play a game, to win a game, and to win in a great fashion where everybody has to do it together as a team, and to be able to shoot the ball. And I don't know what record it is that people are telling me that I got, but it's great to have. Great to be able to look back on it and say I did that. This is definitely the time. This is definitely our time.

Q. Just following the subject: Do you remember Michael Jordan in '92 and him making threes against the Blazers? You cleared his record, the record made by Michael Jordan.
RAY ALLEN: Yeah, I do remember that. Mike, I'm going to tell him that his were a lot easier. It definitely looked like he was just -- he wasn't running off screens, he was shooting the ball and he had it going. I think as a child those are some of my favorite memories, just being a fan of MJ, and the things he did and the playoffs and The Finals, that's something that's going to stand out in my mind for the rest of my life. I know we have a great challenge as players now to imprint these good things on kids growing up in the world. So I'm glad that we're able to do this.

End of FastScripts

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