	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERS

June 17, 2010

Pau Gasol

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Seven

Boston Celtics 79
Los Angeles Lakers 83

Q. Another double-double for you, 19 and 18. Can you talk about that.
PAU GASOL: We knew it was going to be a tough game. We knew we had to do whatever it took out there and leave it all out there, just play with our hearts. Obviously it wasn't the prettiest game as far as shooting the ball and stuff like that. But we fought extremely hard. We kept our minds and our hearts into the game at all times, and we hustled. We hustled. I think 53 rebounds, 23 offensive rebounds, just tells you how much this team fought to be able to become champions again.

Q. Since you guys weren't really making shots tonight, did you internally feel like rebounds would be the difference for you guys?
PAU GASOL: If you don't make shots, you've got to make sure you get your second-chance opportunities, and that's pretty much what I figured early on in the game. So we had to work extremely hard to get those boards, pursue them, to get opportunities, because we weren't shooting the ball well. We were rushing a little bit.
It was a Game 7, there was a lot of pressure, a lot going on. So we just continued to hustle, continued to work.

Q. Now that it's all over, can you talk a little bit about the revenge factor and just how much sweeter it is that it was against the Celtics?
PAU GASOL: I mean, it's very sweet, or it feels amazing to win a championship. It definitely adds up when you beat Boston, especially the rivalry, the history of the franchises. Our individual and personal history, 2008. It feels definitely better. Again, we won the championship, and that's the ultimate goal, the ultimate satisfaction that we can accomplish as a team. So just truly, truly happy and thankful to be in this position again and to have experienced something like this.

Q. Do you feel at all like this is kind of confirmation that you guys have grown in terms of toughness and grit, something that was questioned in 2008?
PAU GASOL: We've definitely grown. We've grown as a team, we've grown as individuals, and obviously it shows. It shows. Back-to-back championships is something pretty tough to do, and we're definitely proud of that, and now we want to enjoy it, embrace it and have a beautiful summer.

Q. How were you guys able to dominate the boards so completely tonight?
PAU GASOL: We were just active. We were just active. I guess they were shorthanded inside and they knew that. But we were just active. We knew we weren't shooting the ball well, so we had to be extra active and extra aggressive going to the boards and giving ourselves more opportunities to be able to score. So obviously 32 percent shooting from the field, 66, 67 percent shooting from the free-throw line is going to give you opportunities to get rebounds, and we did, and I mean, it was definitely a big number. 23 offensive rebounds, you don't see that very often, but it just tells how much we wanted this and how much will and determination we put into this.

Q. In that last minute you got probably the biggest one of the game, 35 seconds left and set up Kobe for the foul shots. What happened on that play?
PAU GASOL: I just wanted to go get it, and I saw -- I think you're talking about an offensive rebound that I caught with Rondo there, and I was able to box him out and hold him with one arm and get it with the other one and kick it out. I was pretty proud of that play because those little plays, those little things make a huge difference, especially at that point of a game.
I'm glad things turned out the way they did, and we're enjoying this incredible victory.

Q. Talk about the composure factor of you guys being down by 13. How did you guys maintain the composure in order to rebound?
PAU GASOL: Well, we thought that we had no other option to be honest. We knew there was a long time left. We knew we weren't playing our best. And we knew that we still had a chance, it was just about getting a few stops in a row and getting a few plays on offense together and just get ourselves going and just shake off all that tension, excitement that Game 7 of the NBA Finals carries. So that's what we were just keeping telling ourselves, just settle down, make sure we're poised, we're loose out there, we execute, we continue to play defense, we rebound, and we'll be all right.

Q. Can you comment quickly on Ron Artest's great performance tonight.
PAU GASOL: Yeah, I'm just so happy for Ron the way he played tonight, the way he played Game 6, very productive, very aggressive, very confident. Defensively I think he did another great, great job on Paul Pierce tonight, so he's a huge part of our success. I'm just happy that he was able to win his first championship, and you could see it in his face. He's like a little kid right now that got his dream come true, like we all did, I think. We all feel that way.

Q. The first half you and Kobe both struggled offensively, not just trying to score but even at the line, just hitting free throws. As the game seemed to be slipping away, was there any panic or was there just a feeling like at some point the two of you were going to get some offense going and there was some confidence there that it was going to happen if you just kept rebounding, defense, et cetera?
PAU GASOL: Yeah, I think we did a good job giving ourselves more opportunities and staying in the game defensively and rebounding well, and at some point you expect Kobe to get going and me to hit a few more shots than I did in the first half. So we just stayed with it pretty much, and we understood that we had to be more patient, just relax, breathe it out and just see what's out there, see what's going on.

Q. Was some of that tension of the moment --
PAU GASOL: Probably.

Q. Especially at the line?
PAU GASOL: Yeah, well, you feel it. You feel the excitement, you feel the moment. You're shooting the same way you would shoot in any other game, but the shot goes off a little different, probably because of that excitement, that tension, I don't know, anxiety of wanting to do so well and wanting to make every shot. You're not going to, you've just got to understand that and relax and just play your game.

Q. Talk about what it's been like for you these last three years coming from where you were to being where you are now. And also talk about the two big shots, the one that Fish hit and the one that Ron hit.
PAU GASOL: Man, for me it's incredible. I mean, it's just like I'm living a different dimension. I mean, it is what it is. It's like really if I could get a genie and ask for a wish, this would be my wish as far as my basketball life and career. So I'm so thankful, like I said, for having this opportunity, being here, and that's why I continue to work hard, and it's really paying off, and it's pretty unbelievable, right, the contrast from some situations. That's why you've got to be so appreciative of life and the present.
And Ron's and Derek's huge shots down the stretch were able to counter the big threes that Boston made down the stretch, too. It takes big guts, (laughter) right, to be able to hit those shots and be that confident at that particular time when it most matters. I can't be any prouder of all my teammates, my coaching staff, the work that we've done tonight, what we've done throughout the playoffs, the season. I think it's remarkable.

Q. Kobe thanked you after the game. He said, "I can't say enough about the Spaniard." He obviously didn't have his best game. Did you sense that you guys had to pick him up, after all the games he's won on his end? Is that how you guys played tonight?
PAU GASOL: No. I mean, obviously he didn't shoot the ball well, but we all understand -- we all had the desire to win tonight, badly, and sometimes that's dangerous because it's a double-edged sword there. Shots weren't going in for most of us.
I think we just continued to work as a team, as a group. We stayed together, and obviously the rebounding says a lot. But he also stuck with it and played excellent down the stretch, made huge free throws, made huge buckets, and you know, that's why he's the MVP and probably the best player in the world.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297