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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v HEATJune 2, 2012Kevin GarnettBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. Last night it seems like they were able to get you even closer to the rim than usual. What are they doing? And what is Miami doing that's made that possible? KEVIN GARNETT: How am I getting closer to the rim is your question? Q. Yeah. It seems like more than in past games. KEVIN GARNETT: Just rolling. Nothing more or less than that. I think Doc has me doing more rolls than versus I set more picks. Probably to discussing some of the things to set picks, get Ray get Paul, get our shooters open. Rolling to the basket yesterday. Q. Kevin, you guys talked about always wanting to play inside‑out. Is it easier said than done? And why was last night you guys were able to do it so effectively? KEVIN GARNETT: We just simply did it. Nothing more or less than that. Q. Kevin, you guys were in a similar situation last year. Lost the first two to Miami. Won Game 3. You had a big game. KEVIN GARNETT: I don't remember last year. Q. Ray was saying he thinks you guys are just stronger this year, mentally, et cetera. Would you go along with that? KEVIN GARNETT: Well, you can say we're a mentally strong team, physically strong team. Hell, it starts with our coach. We've never lacked confidence. Consistency has always been sort of the word around here. Putting those things together, putting that team out there, being consistent with all of those things has been our biggest problem, if anything. But I've never questioned our mental toughness nor our physical toughness since I've been here. Q. Why is the way Doc smartly manages rest so important with this team? KEVIN GARNETT: Because we're an older team, very similar to how I think Pop does with San Antonio. At least that's what we hear. Managing minutes, managing time is important to an older, veteran team. At the same time, preparation. I don't think a lot of people‑‑ I think a lot of people think when you think fatigue, you think more physical. But there's mental aspects of it also. When you try to gain perfection in game plans and being strategic, you have to have both and be on with both. So the rest is always good. Q. When you get to this level of the playoffs, are there more in‑game adjustments than even earlier in the playoffs and the regular season, just because of the level of competition? KEVIN GARNETT: Yeah. That doesn't mean you're going on the fly. What I mean by that is the game is so fast that you have to make decisions at the split of a second. But you have the time to prepare, and you know a lot of the different plays. You know the other team, what they're want to do, what they ate for breakfast, what they ate for dinner. Kind of makes it a little more difficult from when your margin of error is an issue. You are expected to be there, because we've drilled this in you, and this is what you're supposed to know. From strategy you have to know it. But you can mess up a couple of times in the series, and that can cost you the whole series. That's the importance of the margin of errors and perfection. Probably is the biggest thing or the biggest keys to when you get into a series. Q. How did you feel like you responded defensively from the first two games in Game 3? Especially on the boards? KEVIN GARNETT: I just thought Game 3 was more of a desperation game. We have to play like that. We have to get these two at home by any means necessary. And then deal with whatever after that. I feel like the way we played in Game 3 is just the way we have to play. This team is too athletic, too good, too confident, too well‑coached, too well sound defensively to come in here any other kind of way. Q. Can you talk about the keys for the bigs in the Wade double‑teams and how you're able to maybe do that more without Bosh around? KEVIN GARNETT: Say that again? Q. Just the keys defensively as far as the bigs' rolls and the double‑teams on Dwyane Wade? KEVIN GARNETT: I won't. Q. The relationship with Doc and the trust you've had that he's going to make those between‑game adjustments, how has that developed? It seems like he's constantly making those adjustments and has made the right ones. KEVIN GARNETT: I think every coach has obviously confidence in himself and his staff. Doc is no different from that. Been doing this a long time. When it works, it works. Not always perfection. Things can always be tweaked here and there. And he lets us give our input. And he actually listens. But at the end of the day, we have a lot of confidence in him knowing the game and knowing it from both ends, and we follow that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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