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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v HEAT


May 24, 2005


Stan Van Gundy


MIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q. Coach, how does Shaq feel after last night's game? How does he feel today?

COACH VAN GUNDY: He walked through some stuff, and that was about it. We'll see, but I think we're ready to go again.

Q. One of the things you wanted to do is look at the films and see what they were doing with Wade. What did you come up with?

COACH VAN GUNDY: Well, you know, it's doing what we do better, and I think Dwyane can make some adjustments and I think we can run some different things, but it's just -- it'll all come down to execution. We did not put in a new offense today or anything like that. We can run different parts of it maybe, put him in some better spots. Something he's been able to do all year long and for two years really, he'll make some adjustments, and hopefully we'll be better with that tomorrow. But it's not all on him now; it's not Dwyane Wade with the responsibility of everything. This is a team effort, and I didn't think we defended or rebounded as well as we need to against a team like Detroit, and I didn't think we played with the energy that we need to at this level against a team like Detroit. Those are the areas we need to focus on and concentrate on, and if we do those things it takes a lot of the pressure off of our offense, also.

Q. How did you think you got out of the big lineup? Did you like that or did you think that was --

COACH VAN GUNDY: Well, I mean, offensively we had some efficient moments there, but it wasn't better or worse than any other lineup last night to be honest.

Q. Just talk about the tone that they set in coming into your building and getting Game 1 in the series.

COACH VAN GUNDY: Well, they won the first game. It's not a matter of setting a tone; it's a matter of you need four wins to win a series, and if you were Detroit coming in, you absolutely have to win one on the road. They did a great job. They played a hell of a game and got the win and you've got to give them a lot of credit. It's not a matter of setting tone, it's a matter of getting wins.

Q. There's no way of knowing whether last night's minutes affected Shaq negatively, positively, the wear and tear on the thigh?

COACH VAN GUNDY: No.

Q. Damon Jones' injury looked like he was a little slowed down yesterday. A little better today?

COACH VAN GUNDY: Well, I don't think it was so much the injury as I think the time that he's missed has taken its toll on his stamina. He got tired very, very quickly. He's defending good players, being defended full court, and you haven't done a lot of work in three weeks. He's worked four days, well, it's going to take its toll on your stamina, and I think that's what you saw last night.

Q. What's the best way to describe Detroit's offense?

COACH VAN GUNDY: They're not going to have a lot of possessions in the game, so it's not for -- to them to judge that are offense on points. I thought they were efficient last night; they didn't turn the ball over much. They shot a pretty good percentage against us, a lot higher than we would have liked, and out-rebounded us by seven. I mean, they are a post-up, isolation team primarily, but they do a good job of bringing guys off on catch-and-shoots and pick-and-runs. They've got a well-rounded game, got a lot of guys who can score points and shoot the ball, and they were very efficient last night. I wasn't happy with our defense, but they did a very good job of executing offensively.

Q. It seems like such a thin line between shots that are in and out versus --

COACH VAN GUNDY: Yeah, I thought that, look, for whatever happened, we got the game to 80-80, and then just didn't execute at all. They did a good job. They got good shots on every possession but one down the stretch, and we did not get good shots down the stretch. We didn't execute, didn't have patience. They defended probably a little bit better than we did, but they just did a much better job than we did getting shots in the last four and a half minutes of that game, and that's what decided it.

End of FastScripts...

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