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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICSJune 17, 2008Brian ScalabrineBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Six BRIAN SCALABRINE: Let me break it down for you guys (laughter). A long, long, long time ago, we committed to this team. We committed on the defensive end. We had the personnel to do it. How, when you guys consider yourselves NBA experts, can pick the Lakers to beat us in six games? We're on TV all the time, so it's not like you don't get to watch us play. I just didn't see it. You guys were so convincing that -- you were so convincing that I maybe thought in my heart that, wow, this is going to be a series. How could that be? I have questions for you guys (laughter). We won 66 games, we had the best defense in the NBA. I just didn't see it. I didn't see it. Nothing? Q. You were talking about what you felt and how you felt the team was kind of disrespected with the best defense and 66 wins. Did the rest of the team feel like that? Also, and if you guys did, besides winning a championship, how did you guys deal with that every day? BRIAN SCALABRINE: I don't even think it seeped into any of us. We're a confident bunch of guys. It was like the first time we were kind of underdogs. But as we went along people picked Detroit against us, even sometimes Cleveland against us. I will say Cleveland played us tough. They were a great team. Mike Brown did a great job, LeBron James did a great job. But once again, our defense was the key, and that's where we were at today. Q. Talking about defense, even in the two preseason games, you guys have done a great job on Kobe in all the games that you've played him this year. What do you guys do against him specifically that other teams can't do against him? BRIAN SCALABRINE: What we do against Kobe is we try really, really, really hard. Q. That's it? BRIAN SCALABRINE: No, I mean, we do our defensive philosophy, and whatever our defensive philosophy is, it is the same against Kobe as it was against Joe Johnson in Atlanta who is a great player, same against LeBron James who is a great player, and Detroit who kind of plays you as a team. But Kobe is a special player and you've got to try to make him do what he doesn't want to do. A reflection of that is a world championship in six games. Q. You talked about that motivating you, that everybody picked the Lakers. Did you guys talk about that as a team and how, you know, everybody was kind of slighting you guys? Was that extra motivation? BRIAN SCALABRINE: No. Like I said, we were the underdogs, and I think people embraced that role. But whether we did it or not, whether we looked at being the underdogs, I don't think we ever really believed it. Then we win the first two games at home. It was a tough series, but at the end of the day, that Game 6 -- tonight we came together. Let's give credit to Kendrick Perkins, who in Game 5 sat out with a shoulder injury, comes in and gives a great performance, plays six minutes in the first half, huge minutes. Glen Big Baby Davis, huge minutes. Those minutes allowed Kevin to rest. We actually built the lead during that time. We could talk about Paul Pierce as one of the biggest gamers out there that there is. He's such a gamer that in the first half he clearly dominates the point guard position when he's a small forward. As well as Rajon, and then in the second half we're up by 30, the man shoots an air ball and he says, check me out of the game. He's one of the biggest gamers I've ever played with. Sometimes I can understand when you're judging who should win the game, you've got to look inside the heart of the champions. Q. I enjoyed The Finals so much, and this game was very great, but how is it for you watching it from the sideline, not able to play even one little second in The Finals? Was that hard? BRIAN SCALABRINE: Why would you think that's funny? I'll tell you, it's not that difficult to do, because guess what, maybe now you could say I didn't play a second, but in five years, you guys are going to forget. In ten years I'll still be a champion. In 20 years I'll tell my kids I probably started, and in 30 years I'll probably tell them I got the MVP. So I'm probably not too worried about it. End of FastScripts |
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