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NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 2, 2011

Dirk Nowitzki

MIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Two

Dallas Mavericks 95
Miami Heat 93

Q. Dirk, take us through the final basket, whether you were surprised how they covered you, Bosh instead of Haslem, didn't get the double-team and the foul that was there to be given. Take us through the final bucket.
DIRK NOWITZKI: We talked about it in our timeout. First of all, what a huge swing that was. I had a three. We go up three with 24 seconds to go. You figure we guard the three-point line, make them drive, and I don't really know what happened. We got to look at it. Chalmers was so wide open. Bangs the three. That was a big emotional play for us.
Down the stretch, we talked about it, they had a foul to give. I actually drove a little earlier than I would have, knowing they had a foul to give, and made a move, and the foul never came. So I was able to get to the basket and lay it in. That was a big play.
And then they didn't have a timeout left, so we had to scramble back, and Wade had to throw one up.
So definitely a huge comeback for us. And we never gave up. So that was big.

Q. What did you say to Jason Terry after the Chalmers three?
DIRK NOWITZKI: I'm not going to share that with the media. I'm sure there was a little cussing involved. Yeah, like I said, if you're down 15, you make an amazing run like that, and you're up three, you can't give up a wide-open three. It just can't happen. So we got to go back and look at stuff like that.
Still proud of the team. Still proud of the team, how they battled, to be down 15 against a great team like that, and we kept plugging. Our defense finally got some big stops, and we rebounded the ball tonight, which we didn't in Game 1 finally. And that really opened up our offense there. I thought their defense was suffocating there throughout three quarters. We turned the ball over, made mistakes left and right. Couldn't really make shots.
And then down the stretch, what helped us was our defense. It got us in the running game. It got us moving the ball a little better. Jet finally had some good looks. I had some good looks. And that really ignited our comeback.

Q. Dirk, talk about getting the split. But also some of your players on your team talked about how watching Miami celebrate near your bench kind of motivated them, also.
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, you know, I think in this league you have to play till the end. Especially this is The Finals. You can be down 20. You have to keep plugging. You never know what's going to happen in this league. And we kept on fighting. And we got some lucky bounces there. LeBron went down the middle, had a wide-open lay-up, I thought. Short-armed it a little bit. We were able to get that rebound and go.
So you have to be a little lucky, but we kept on plugging. And look, I said it all playoffs long, we're a veteran team. We don't get too high with the highs and too low with the lows. That was definitely a little hole we got ourselves in, but we kept believing, kept playing off each other, and that was big.

Q. Talk about Tyson Chandler down the stretch. He had the foul trouble. Haywood was hurt. He kind of anchored the defense. Talk about his presence down the stretch.
DIRK NOWITZKI: Tyson has been our MVP defensively all season long. He's covered a lot of ground for us. We did a better job I thought of pick-and-roll coverage today. He really stepped out there, impacted the ball. We were still able to recover back some and scramble.
Look, they have two of the best players in the game. So they are going to make you scramble. That's what we did and finally got some rebounds, which we didn't in Game 1.

Q. Dirk, you had a comeback like this in L.A. You did it again with five minutes to go in Oklahoma City Game 4. How much were you guys vibing off of that when you went down by 15 with seven minutes to go?
DIRK NOWITZKI: We can't turn the ball over against this team. They have two of the most athletic players I've ever seen. If you turn the ball over, it's one or two dribbles there at the rim, laying it in on the other end. So I thought finally there in the last couple of minutes we did a good job of not turning the ball over. And the defense was solid. We forced them into some shots that -- contested shots. And that was big. And rebounded the ball.

Q. Going home for three games. Given a split here, how do you approach the next three games? Do anything differently?
DIRK NOWITZKI: We're not going to approach the next three. We're going to approach the next one like it's our last. You cannot get a split and get a huge emotional win in Game 2 and then go home and lose Game 3.
As far as I'm concerned, the next one is the biggest game of them all. And hopefully our crowd will be rocking. They've been great to us and carried us throughout the playoffs so far. So we're going home to a great building, and hopefully get Game 3.

Q. Dirk, did it hurt at all tonight at any point in time? And the idea to trust your off hand, especially that's not 100%, in a clutch situation like that, not everybody would do that.
DIRK NOWITZKI: It felt great. Like I said, I thought it wasn't going to bother me before the game, and it didn't. We were able to keep the tape a little lower, so I was able to keep my grip on the ball. Because my palm was open, and my fingertips were open. So I was able to get a good grip on the ball. Still didn't shoot the ball the way I wanted to tonight. Missed some open looks again, like in Game 1. I got to be sharper in Game 3 if we want to have a chance.
Finger felt fine, and hopefully it's going to stay that way.

Q. Dirk, back in 2006, you're here in Game 3 with a 13-point lead and you guys let that slip away and they come back. Anything at all pop in '06 not wanting to let this opportunity slip away and that helped you with this comeback?
DIRK NOWITZKI: You know, as much as '06 is still on mine and Jet's mind, during the game you don't think about anything like that. You're caught in the moment as a player out there. You compete right there. You take every position like it's the last in The Finals. You don't really think about anything else but trying to get this win.
Like I said, we got some lucky bounces and we scrambled and that helped us.

Q. Dirk, to be clear, what were your thoughts on your celebration with Dwyane Wade and LeBron in front of your bench?
DIRK NOWITZKI: I didn't even see it that much, to be honest. Probably our other players saw it. I kind of had my head down. Obviously that was a big play to go down 15, so I must admit I didn't even watch it.

Q. Dirk, down 15, Dirk, you know you have to chip away. You know a lot of things have to go right for you. Was there a particular play either on offense or defense where you felt like it had shifted the momentum, and then the thing was realistically there for you?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, you kind of chip away one possession at a time. We talked about getting stops. That was the big thing. We scrambled on some pick-and-roll situations, where we forced them out a little bit. Offensively I think we made a couple of big plays in a row. Jet got open on the baseline once. He had a run-out. I had a run-out off kind of a loose ball that we were lucky to get. We had a three-on-one. I laid the ball in to tie it.
I actually thought Jason Kidd had a big three on the wing when it was like an eight, nine-point game. They doubled me, I swung it out. He had a great look at three and made a three to cut into the lead more. If you're down 15, every play, every bounce of the ball could be big. We're lucky on a couple and it went our way.

Q. Was there one particular play where you felt like okay, this is meant to be?
DIRK NOWITZKI: I mean, I can't really point one out. I mentioned that LeBron had a clean lane, went to the lane, and missed the lay-up. I thought that was big. I can't remember, I can't recall what the score was at that point. I thought we got really lucky. Obviously he's going to finish those ten out of ten times. That was a lucky bounce. But we had a couple of lucky bounces down the stretch.

Q. Dirk, just talk for a minute about that final stretch. Your team staying in it, not giving up. You guys playing as a unit on both ends.
DIRK NOWITZKI: I feel we're a veteran team, and we've been through a lot already all season long. There were some ups and some downs we had to fight through and stick together. So we have come back before all season long on some deficits where we keep believing, where we stay together as a team, where we don't start pointing fingers. And we are obviously led by Jason Kidd, who obviously has seen everything in this league, who has been through everything. He's always calm out there. He's always pushing the guys in the right positions. He's always making the right plays for us.

Q. What seemed different about this comeback as compared to maybe the Lakers and the Oklahoma City was that you guys gave them 31 points on turnovers. Some of you guys were playing some of your worst playoff games of the entire postseason. How did you rebound from that?
DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I think we talked about it in the flow of the game that we just can't turn the ball over every time we mishandle the ball, it's an automatic lay-up against this team. It's one or two dribbles, either Wade or LeBron are at the rim at the other end, so quick and athletic. We talked about it during the flow of the game. Sometimes it just happens. They're so good. They have quick hands. They cover a lot of ground, the perimeter. And so turnovers unfortunately are a part of the game.
But down the stretch, we did a good job, kept the ball in our playmaker's hands with Jet and Jason Kidd and did a good job of protecting the ball. Like I said, we got lucky down the stretch. Hopefully we can carry this momentum in Game 3. Thanks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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