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NBA FINALS: PISTONS v LAKERS


June 10, 2004


Phil Jackson


DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Three

Q. What is Karl's status at this point?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: It could be a game-time decision. He didn't work out this morning, sat on the sidelines and got some therapy in the day.

Q. Is there a possibility of trying to get him a five-day rest before Sunday? Would that be prudent to give him the time to heal or can anything be gained by that?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: There really won't be that much gained by that.

Q. I wanted to get your take on Larry Bird's comments about the league needing more white players.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Didn't hear it. Don't understand it. We just need players, that's what we need. Those guys are over in Chicago at a talent show and I know a lot of times, they are always bemoaning the lack of young talent coming up. But as far as we are concerned, the talent has gotten better and better over the years in the NBA. We have players that are now playing into their late 30s, mid 30s, 40s, kids coming into this game at 18. So, we have a difference in age of two, three generations almost, and the game has really changed over the last 20 years.

Q. I was unclear on your answer to the call for Sunday, giving him five days to improve.

COACH PHIL JACKSON: It would not make a big enough difference for rest for three days to improve what's going on with him.

Q. You don't think he can improve enough in time?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Right.

Q. The two days versus five days? This is more like a three-month?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, whatever, yeah. Whatever the last injury was. But it's not -- he's not as bad as the last injury, but yes, he is stretched a little bit.

Q. So have you talked to the doctors or whatever and they have said to you, he's going to look the same Sunday as he looks today?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: I don't know if "look" is the right word, but he's going to feel -- he's going to feel the same Thursday as he is on Sunday more than likely.

Q. Is it pain threshold or can he permanently damage it?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Just that he could play without damaging any more, but, you know, obviously there's some pain threshold and he has to work with it.

Q. Karl Malone and Derek Fisher and Rick Fox, how debilitated overall is your team and have you ever gone into a Finals situation with as many injuries as this?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: No. But, you know, Devean George is another player that we are real concerned with, too, that was limited in minutes the other night because of injuries. No, we haven't. We think that we have to find a way to get the job done tonight. You know, I'm not going to be surprised if guys show up and play and, you know, gut it out and we get the job done because we have a determined group of guys that want to finish this out.

Q. After the great game by Luke Walton and him being a rookie, how can you anticipate, how much can you count on from him tonight?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: He's a surprise factor in that ballgame. They will be prepared for him this time when he comes on the floor. Whether they find a matchup to try and take advantage of him, if they feel they can, or if they adjust his game and what he does, is another possibility, but more than likely, Luke will have a part in this game tonight, too.

Q. Given your injury situation, is it even more imperative that you get a little more offense out of Gary in the 12- to 15-point range to offset some of your injuries?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: That would be nice, but more than anything else, we rely on Gary for distributing the ball and creating things and going to the hoop, playing defense, coming up with some fast breaks and situations that are created due to turnovers. That's where we would like to see things happen around his end of the game.

Q. Have you worked on Shaq playing the pick-and-roll differently when Chauncey rubs his man off or is it going to stay the same?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: With Shaq, it's probably going to be interesting to see what he does, because a lot of times, he'll play it soft in the early parts of the game. We hound him to get out there and he'll come on out later in the game when it becomes critical, depending upon his foul situation or what level of condition is in the game as far as tired or active or whatever. But yeah, we do want to make a statement in the screen-rolls. We want to make sure that we stop penetration. That's one of his goals.

Q. As opposed to Game 1, you kept Shaq in straight through the first and second quarters, in Game 2, and it looked like he tired a little bit in the third. Is that because of the situation of the game or you felt necessity?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, that's because Karl was hurt, you know, in that game. We had to take Karl out. We needed his influence in the game. We know what he means to us on court. And he said he gutted through that first half, and, you know, obviously he got in foul trouble. Some of the fouls were just foul variety out of being tired.

Q. Can you describe the difference for your club when Slava is on the floor as opposed to Karl?

COACH PHIL JACKSON: Well, Slava has a role that he plays with us. He has not been capable of doing that yet in this series. He's a great outside shooter, he's an active offensive rebounder. He's a pretty active defender and he's become better over the year. We think that he has real scoring ability. He's a good -- can be a good scorer. Choice of shots are important for him, as with young players, and he's not the passer that Karl is. Karl is a great passer and looks to feed his teammates, so those are differences.

End of FastScripts...

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