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NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERS

June 17, 2010

David Stern

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Seven

Boston Celtics 79
Los Angeles Lakers 83

STUART SCOTT: Here to present the Larry O'Brien Trophy to the Los Angeles Lakers is NBA Commissioner David Stern.
DAVID STERN: Thank you, Lakers and Celtics, for another classic. There have been five seven-game Finals between these two great teams in a record 12 NBA Finals between them. Thank you for the dedication, the passion, the intensity and the teamwork. The Celtics were a worthy Eastern Conference champion. Yes, they were.
But the night belongs to the 2010 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Congratulations to Dr. Buss and the entire Buss family, Magic Johnson and Mitch Kupchak and the entire Laker organization, to Phil Jackson and his coaching staff, and of course to these wonderful, wonderful and talented Los Angeles Lakers. Congratulations to the fans and now repeat LA Lakers, 2010 NBA champions.
STUART SCOTT: Magic, last year Dr. Jerry Buss' son told me standing at this podium, now that we won, we need two to beat Boston. We need to catch Boston's 17 championships. Now you're one away. What does it mean to beat the team that you're chasing all time.
MAGIC JOHNSON: First of all let me congratulate the greatest owner in the world in Dr. Jerry Buss and the Buss family. Then I would also like to congratulate the back-to-back champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. Unbelievable. I want to say to the greatest coach in the world, Phil Jackson, and we do have the greatest player in the world in Kobe Bryant, and I think all the hard work paid off for this team.
But the credit goes to this team and Phil Jackson but also to Dr. Jerry Buss for always putting the best product out on the court and to the greatest fans in the world, the Los Angeles Lakers' fans. Here's your trophy.
STUART SCOTT: Dr. Buss, why is this franchise so successful?
DR. JERRY BUSS: I think it's maybe the crowd. I think it's the best crowd in all of basketball, and quite honestly I'm very proud to be a part of that.
I think we want it more. Everybody abuses LA, "Beat LA! Beat LA!" I think it gives us a lot of energy to come back and take it.
STUART SCOTT: Let's bring in the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson.
You've won 11 championships as a coach. How is this 11th championship different than say nine and especially ten last year?
PHIL JACKSON: I don't know if we would have won this game without these fans. Thank you. That was tough sledding out there tonight.
STUART SCOTT: Your team shot 26 percent in the first half. You were down 13 in the third quarter. What's the most important thing you said during the time-out?
PHIL JACKSON: Keep rebounding the ball. Keep getting those loose balls.
STUART SCOTT: Everybody knows when you win championships you win them in clusters of three consecutive. You've won three straight now. When are you going to make the decision whether to come back again to try for a threepeat?
PHIL JACKSON: I've got to take a deep breath. I've got to take some time and think about this. This was great. I'll wait to make that decision in a week.
STUART SCOTT: Again, Commissioner David Stern.
DAVID STERN: It's an honor for me to be here in the presence of the ultimate champion, Bill Russell, after whom the NBA Finals MVP Trophy is named. And with over 28 points a game average, eight rebounds and four assists, the 2010 Finals MVP and the winner of the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP is none other than Kobe Bryant.
From one great champion to another, Kobe Bryant, your fifth NBA championship. How does this one stand out for you more than one, two, three and four?
KOBE BRYANT: This is the sweetest. We've been down-playing the whole series between us and the Celtics and we had to focus on what we had to do, but we understood how bad the city wanted it, there's no question about it. This one is by far the sweetest because it's against them and because it's the hardest one by far.
STUART SCOTT: You said, we've been down-playing it, especially you were down-playing it. You said, "I can't get involved in the hype." How do you not get involved in the hype during the run?
KOBE BRYANT: You try not to. Tonight it got the best of me. I wanted it so bad and sometimes you want something so bad it slips away from you. My guys picked me up. I can't say enough about the Spaniard. That guy is unbelievable and just a hell of a player. We wouldn't have won it without him.
STUART SCOTT: 15 rebounds, what were you Kareem out there?
KOBE BRYANT: We just have to crash the boards. Whoever won the rebounds won each game, so I was trying to get in there and make as many as I could.
STUART SCOTT: You've been involved in one of Phil Jackson's threepeats. What are you going to say to him to convince him to come back?
KOBE BRYANT: He knows how bad I want him back. I've told him that. I've been openly blunt about that and told him how much I want him back. Let's go for it again. Let's go for it again.

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