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NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERS

June 15, 2010

Ray Allen

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Six

Boston Celtics 67
Los Angeles Lakers 89

Q. Talk about what happened with you guys tonight. It seemed like you had a start and then kind of faded out.
RAY ALLEN: Well, a couple of us, the starting five, we had a conversation at the end on the bench and a little bit in the locker room just now, and we take complete responsibility. We just -- I don't know, after the first quarter I think it was 28-18, and we just put us in such a hole early. You know, it affects our bench. We didn't give them any great rhythm, any great chemistry. I think we talked about our defense and how we allowed so many points, but I think it stemmed a lot from the offense because we didn't make the extra pass. Each individual tried to make the home run play early. With that we turned the ball over, sent them into transition, then our defense couldn't really set up. They shot a couple threes early to give a run. They were in transition the whole time.
As a unit, starting unit, we take responsibility. We have to do a better job for next game.

Q. Also, how tough is it to see a guy like Perk go down?
RAY ALLEN: It's terribly unfortunate. You know, you hate to see anybody, if it was this team or the other team. But we have to do this for him. We have to push forward, and there are guys that are on the bench that can step up and make the plays that Perk is capable -- or that Perk has made over the course of our time here. So you know, it does make Glen more valuable and Rasheed will play more minutes and definitely Shelden will be in there a lot more. We're going to be counting on them.

Q. Considering the way that the season has gone, did you kind of figure that whatever you guys accomplished this year was going to have to be done the hard way?
RAY ALLEN: Well, where we've come from to where we are now, we're sitting here, Game 7 of the NBA Finals, something that I've marveled watching my whole life growing up. You know, I said to you guys earlier a couple days ago when we sat in the locker room, we were trying to decide who we were going to play, whether it was Miami or Milwaukee, who we thought was going to be a better match-up. The one thing that we said coming out of it was regardless of who that match-up is going to be, in order for us to move forward, we're going to have to beat Cleveland, we're going to have to beat Orlando and we're going to have to do it on their floor. Not having home-court advantage, our backs were up against the wall the whole time.
This is no different situation for us. There's not going to be another game added where we're going to be able to go home and play in front of our building. That's a comfort that the Lakers have right now. So in order for us to accomplish what we want, we've got to do it here in this building on this floor against this team, and it's got to be Thursday.

Q. Talk about the energy factor. Doc Rivers said that it was the travel that possibly had an effect on you guys. What are your thoughts on that?
RAY ALLEN: Both teams had to come back. I won't use any excuse or make any reason. They had more energy than us. They were home in their building. That's point blank. I didn't feel any different. I felt pretty good myself, and I'd like to think that everybody else felt good. We can't use that as an excuse.

Q. Can you talk about the shooting percentage you guys shot, 33 percent, whereas at home you shot a much higher percentage. Was that due to the fact that the Lakers' defense was that intense against you guys?
RAY ALLEN: Well, I definitely give them credit. They all did their jobs to keep us to that number. But in our defense, we made it tougher on ourselves because we didn't move the basketball. You know, just the extra pass, making a play for your teammate, that didn't really exist out there tonight for us, and we turned the ball over, not a lot but early in the game when the game was starting, when we were trying to develop a rhythm.
We didn't make their defense work at all, and we allowed their offense to score easier because they were in transition, and we weren't able to set up. You know, as much as we give them credit, you know, we didn't do our jobs offensively just the same.

Q. Considering your performance here in Game 2 and how you seemed to regain your three-point touch tonight. Did you have a certain comfort level here at the Staples Center and how important is it going to be for you to continue that going into Game 7?
RAY ALLEN: Well, it's not really just me. Obviously the team does feed off me when I'm shooting the ball well, but it's time for all of us to step up and play well together. We haven't seen that ultimately all the way yet. You know, I think my legs are where they need to be right now. I think for a couple games I was hindered a little bit, so I've been working on getting that strength back. You know, again, this team, we all have to do a better job of helping each other score, make the easier play. A couple lay-ups for either one of us, allows us to develop a great rhythm. Getting to the free-throw line, I think we've got to do a better job of it, take the pressure off of shooting the long ball or let the shot clock expire as much as we have, moving the -- just passing. That's going to get us all better shots.

Q. How do you guys explain being outrebounded 30 to 13 the first half and how do you fix that in Game 7?
RAY ALLEN: Again, I can attribute most of our issues right now to -- I think when you put a team in transition, they're shooting long balls, we're out of position because we're rotating, we're in mismatches because they are out running on us, and then the ball goes up and we don't have our guys boxing out the guys that need to be boxed out. Most of the time we have our smalls on bigs because of mismatches.
Giving our defense a chance to set, that's what we have to do by executing offensively.

Q. A lot of what you've just said is somewhat similar to what the Lakers were saying the last game, that their offense never really got going and that killed the defense. What is the reason for such a switch? Is there a simple explanation or just a different game?
RAY ALLEN: Well, I think both teams have great offensive players. Both teams have individuals on the team that can score loads of points. But for both teams to be successful, you can see that when everybody is playing well, it allows the other team to struggle. From ball movement, you've got our team having guys in position to make defensive plays, and then when you get on the offensive end, you get a fast break you make the right play and somebody gets a lay-up. You know, everybody is capable.
As far as the reason for the switch, it's just, when you start a game, it's always a rhythm. One thing that I've learned playing in my career is that you never really take a tough shot early in the game. Fourth quarter, somebody is going to have to take a tough shot to either win the game or for the shot clock. But starting the first couple quarters, you don't take tough shots. You just move the ball around and you find an open guy. The ball is going to find the right guy. I think tonight we didn't necessarily do that. We didn't find the right guy and find the right plays often.

Q. You guys have played some bad games this year, but always been able to respond from them in a day or two days. How do you do that one last time for obviously the biggest game of all? How do you adjust?
RAY ALLEN: Well, this here is for all the marbles. We talk about being in this situation, getting to this situation. We've talked about this all year long. Obviously we would have loved to be in our building, but those aren't the options that we have right now. You know, we've been a team that's operated well with our backs up against the wall, and everybody knows what's at stake and everybody knows what they need to do to focus and what they need to do to do their jobs. That's what the next day and a half -- I believe that everybody will go to that.

Q. You guys as a group have been in several Game 7s. How will that experience help Thursday? And also, does it take like a special type of mentality or fortitude to be able to overcome in Game 7s?
RAY ALLEN: We definitely have. I was talking with someone in the locker room just now, and I don't think there's been any Game 7s this year in the NBA playoffs, period. So this is definitely a special treat just for the NBA, knowing that we're going to Game 7, and this is The Finals, and it's the Celtics and Lakers.
As a team, you've got guys -- we've got some ballers on our team, guys that are ready to play. You can't shake a lot of the guys' characters here on this team. We're a group of trash-talking guys. We compete at everything we do. Everybody believes they can make the shot or stop the guy from scoring. When it comes to Game 7, it's like this is what we were born to do. It's like if we were born, our mothers said we would be in Game 7 of the NBA Finals some day and nobody would blink an eye because we would say that's where we're supposed to be. So we're looking forward to it.

End of FastScripts

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