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NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERS

June 15, 2010

Phil Jackson

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Six

Boston Celtics 67
Los Angeles Lakers 89

PHIL JACKSON: Well, before we start, just to say a word about the travel from Sunday night to this game tonight - you saw the effects on both teams. I thought we had a little more energy than they did. But both these teams ran out of gas in the second half, and we struggled through that ballgame.
Our defense was good and fortunate, both. Our rebounding was what was good.

Q. How more than anything else did you hold them to 67 points?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, our defense was good, our rebounding was better. We had some good luck, some good fortune. Got some loose balls, some tipped balls. Those kind of things change the course of a game.

Q. Ron seemed a little confused and down after the last game. What did you have to do to get him back into it?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, he made a shot. It's always great to make a shot when you've been struggling. It was good to see that ball go in. But we tried to simplify some things for him tonight.

Q. Different places to go in the offense?
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, some stuff just to give him some confidence that he could have a shot and be comfortable taking one, and didn't always have to come out of the offense with a read and he had to do things.

Q. This morning when we spoke, you spoke with such conviction that your team was going to play extremely well tonight. What gave you that feeling?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, you know, I think we said after the game the other night we felt that we had come up short and we made some -- not only played poorly, we had missed plays that we made offensively to give up easy baskets, and we tried to eliminate that. I thought at the start of the game we started off with a fast break, and I was like, "oh, no, here we go again" type of thing, but we were able to corral and play better offense which contributed to our defense. That was a confidence thing that we were going to eliminate the easy points.

Q. Did Andrew suffer any kind of a setback on the knee?
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, he wasn't able to move very fluidly the second half. He had some tightness in the back of his leg. He just said, "You've got to take me out. I can't run." And it was obvious at that point that he couldn't. He had some swelling in the back of his leg, and we'll have to work on that and see if they can't ice it down and control that.

Q. Did you that concern you for the next 48 hours?
PHIL JACKSON: Of course it concerns us. Both teams are playing without players at this time, and you just have to gut it through at this point in the season.

Q. How much did Kendrick being out open things for you guys in the middle?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, I'm sure it had a big effect in the ballgame. You know, he only played the first quarter, six, seven minutes or whatever in that segment. But I think our energy was good enough that it was not a matter of who wasn't there, it was about what we were going to do. We were trying to determine our own fate tonight.

Q. Pau had a very good game, almost getting a triple-double. What did you see from him out there tonight?
PHIL JACKSON: Ran the court well. That's an important thing. Pau is an extremely good passer. He's able to make plays out of his position, which is important for us, that someone makes some plays. We had, I thought, stilted offense in Games 4 and 5, and this helped open people up a lot, and he had some offense. He got created and started playing the kind of post game we've been accustomed to playing in the postseason.

Q. You had talked about maybe them not having their legs quite as much. I wonder, Rondo going 5 for 15, how much of that was your defense, how much of that was maybe just not having the lift?
PHIL JACKSON: You know, not only that, I thought they really featured him in the second half. They were running a lot of screen rolls, a lot of screen roll situations with Garnett and Rondo in those situations, and we were fortunate enough to escape a few of them, but I thought that was the time he was most effective out there.

Q. Can you talk about what you got from Artest and Odom specifically tonight and also talk about how you were able to maintain the 20-point lead.
PHIL JACKSON: Well, Ron, I think, kick started us with a couple threes and got confidence in what he was doing. You know, he made some plays out there. Defensively he felt more comfortable with what we were trying to do out there I think on the floor. And I thought he continued his game. It wasn't just a little quarter burst or a little half, but I thought he continued playing the right way.
And Lamar I was concerned about tonight. I thought he looked a little tired out there most of the game. Really chipped in tonight with just some details of his game, which he made some plays and made some baskets that were important.

Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe this will be the first time in NBA Finals that you have coached a team in a Game 7. Can you talk about this penultimate game with these two storied teams.
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, it's really a high-tension situation. Players have come down to putting a lot on the line at this particular point. A lot of times it's not about the coaching at that point. They've already got it in them. It's about who comes out and provides the energy on the floor and plays the kind of game and dictates the kind of game they want to dictate.

Q. The rebounding, the defense, guys diving for loose balls, did you feel like there was just more desire and passion in this game than maybe you've seen in games past?
PHIL JACKSON: Yeah, we just talked about those parts of the game that make a difference, and as we reiterated before the game, those things fell in the lap on Boston. They had three turnovers late in the ballgame, extended their lead from 6 to 12, took the game out of our hands in some form or fashion, and tonight we were able to come up with those loose balls and those rebounds.

Q. Your team played really well tonight. How important will the bench play a part in Game 7?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, Jordan made a big recovery getting on the floor and getting after a ball. Sasha made some baskets. Fish got in foul trouble, and Shannon came out and played a good backup role as a defensive player out there with the first unit, and that really helped us out. Josh even gave us some minutes that were important out there to relieve Lamar.

Q. Your bench outscored them 24-0 through three quarters, how do you explain how that happened?
PHIL JACKSON: Well, historically benches are much more comfortable on their home floor. There's a comfort zone out there. But the energy and the direction they had was what I was pleased with. I felt like they were directed and they had an idea what they wanted to get accomplished out there on the floor. That was important.

End of FastScripts

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