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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v MAVERICKSMay 18, 2011Dirk NowitzkiDALLAS, TEXAS: Practice Day Q. Where would you rank the performance last night as far as some of your greater playoff performances? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, it's definitely up there in efficiency, and the big thing was we got the win. I think that the numbers mean nothing if you lose, so it was a good way for us to in the fourth quarter find a win. I think they did a great job hanging around. Durant kept making tough plays and it was a lot closer. I think it was a four- or five-point game there in the fourth, so we needed every basket. It was a good thing we won. Q. How do you expect the Thunder to switch things up defensively on you? DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, well, whatever comes comes. I'm not really expecting anything. I'm going to go in there and try to do our attack like we always do, and when they come, I think we've all got confidence in our shooting ability. They actually came once or twice last night, and J-Kidd made a big three from the top of the key, then Jeff made a big three to kind of ice it in the corner. Westbrook really was a non-factor yesterday, so you've got to think he's going to make some shots tomorrow. J.J. actually when they went under the screen-and-rolls hit some big shots for us. I think whatever they give me or the team, we've got to be able to attack, and I think there's nothing really I haven't seen in my 14 years; they might double-team, might bring the center over. It's not the strong side, but whatever, we've got to be ready to attack. Q. What is the key for you in terms of passing a double-team? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I think I've got better over the years. At the beginning I was a little uncomfortable at first at all on the block, then when the double teams came I made mistakes, but I think now as I get older and get more experienced, you know how to pass out, when to pass out, how to read the defenses. So pretty comfortable passing out now, so if they come I'll make some shots on the weak side. Q. Do you feel like your versatility is at its highest level offensively? DIRK NOWITZKI: As I mentioned, the experience is there, and you know how to hit your spots and where to get to your sweet spots on the court, where you feel you have an advantage where you can shoot over your defender and when it's not there. That's the beauty about this team; all year long I've shot, whatever, 52 percent, 51 percent. I feel like I don't have to force anything. If it's not there, I can swing it, pick-and-roll. We've got a lot of options out there. We have a deep bench. So I don't feel the pressure to force shots, and that's the good thing about this team. Q. How much better a player are you since Avery came and said, no, I'm not going to settle? DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, I mean, I give Avery a lot of credit. First it was Nelly obviously giving me a lot of freedom to develop my game and then Avery came and really took my game to the next level and forced me to do other things, rebound better, lay low on switches. The free-throw line icing that a lot of teams have now, I think we started that. And yeah, post-up more with my back to the basket, got more comfortable over the years. So I give Avery a lot of credit for my development. Q. Is there a certain amount of pride that you didn't even attempt a three-point shot last night and still scored 48 points? DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, I mean, usually -- I actually had some great looks in the last series and shot a bunch in the Portland series. I think last night actually I thought they closed out pretty good to some of our shooters. I remember J-Kidd a couple times went to shoot the ball and kept his dribble, threw it to A.J. a couple times. Yeah, we've have enough shooters that we still got to be able to make plays and swing it and maybe let somebody else make a play. Q. Are you guys a better team when you're doubled constantly or when you're singled constantly? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I think we've seen it all over the years, so I think we can adjust to both, and when we can make plays on the weak side we can get to the basket. We've obviously got the shooting power on the weak side. Whatever it's going to do, we've got to attack accordingly. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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