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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v MAVERICKS

June 1, 2006

Mike D'Antoni

DALLAS, TEXAS: Game Five

Q. Mike, latest on Raja?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: He said he's okay. He said he felt better than he did in Game 4. You know, so he should -- he hopes that he plays better, but I don't know if he can do that. But I think he's ready to go.
Q. With all that talk about fast break points and all that, you won by 20 without them the other night. Is there a certain stat or two that really does matter to you?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: Shooting percentage is big for us. Defensively and offensively. Kind of obvious. We try to run when we can and a lot of times that is determined by the other team. They get back so quick that we can't do the initial bursts. That's fine. We'll try to shoot within the first seven, ten seconds and quick passes and quick penetrations.
If we do that, you know, we kind of like it. You kind of have a feel for that. And Steve does a great job of doing it.
Q. You got Kurt some minutes the other night I know it wasn't the intention to get him in -- being up-tempo game. Do you want to try to get him some minutes just for the length against Dirk or just the same drill?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: No, same thing. Same game plan. Dirk is not a good matchup. He wouldn't go to Dirk no matter what. We just feel this is the best way to go.
Q. Mike, can you think back to last summer what the thought process was when you first decided to go after Raja Bell and since then what have you seen from him that maybe you didn't know you were getting at the time that you --
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: The thought process was, be honest with you, we always liked him. And we knew he was going to be a free agent. We'd like to do it, and just talking with Steve Nash, and Steve just raved about the guy.
On the court, mostly off the court, we all knew, in the locker room, what a great citizen and leader he would be. But Steve kept saying on the court he's great and we need to get him.
So there was no hesitation at all. As soon as we were able to on July 1st make a phone call, that was the first call and we thought that was a big step for us, to get into the Finals -- or, you know, the NBA. Didn't work out exactly the way everything was planned on July 1st, but that was our first step.
Q. Did you get more than you thought you got out of him?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: I think so. I don't think anybody would think he was going to hit a 3 to put us into another round or be able to come back off an injury like this or what else has he done, clotheslined somebody. We didn't think we were going to get any of that. But we'll take him.
Q. Have you settled into defensive matchups on Howard and Nowitzki or is it more important to keep mixing it up and surprising them?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: We're going to start it the way we've already started, and then we'll switch Shawn back onto Dirk when Tim needs a rest or fouls or that problem. We do have Raja now that can go over to Howard.
And, again, you're really cautioned that Dirk is one of those guys they're going to score a lot of points anyway. So is Howard. They're going to get their points. We'll make it hard for them, keep them off the foul line, try to throw different things at them. You double sometimes, you don't, have different guys. You have a -- not a tougher guy, but a stronger guy, Tim Thomas, or you have a quicker guy like Shawn.
And hopefully that keeps him a little bit off balance. If that works great, if not, Dirk is a super star that gets these points anyway, and we'll just to get better in other areas.
Q. Do you expect Dirk to be a little more prolific tonight than he was the other night?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: One can only hope. I'm hoping he doesn't -- I'm crossing my fingers and everything else. But sure he will be. You know, if it does happen, you can have two bad games in a row, but I'm not counting on it. I don't think anybody is. He'll try to be real aggressive, and we'll just try to do the best we can on him.
Q. Mike, you were already high on Boris anyway being the optimistic, insightful guy you are?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: After the -- we've played 100 games now. I'm pretty optimistic about him, yeah.
Q. Seeing the guy in his first playoff appearance to just build and get better as the playoffs go on, what does that tell you about him and going forward with him, what he can do?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: You know, the whole thing I think that the talent that he has has really been shown and the type of character and the type of person is just now being discovered, and he's a very intelligent basketball player. I think you can see that in France. You can see him playing in the European games. You can see he has a good feel for the game.
But no one knew back in December he had an ankle about three times this size and played on it, didn't question about it. I've asked him to guard Shaq a couple times and he didn't moan and groan, did the best job he could. Those things are coming out. And his ability even in the last couple of games, he was off a little bit and then came back in the third quarter, fourth quarter, when that little spurt we had put us up 15. He was a big part of that.
And he wasn't -- didn't get down because he missed a couple of shots or couple layups. I think you're seeing him mature, or just showing us -- I don't know if it's maturity or not -- but it's showing us what type of character he has with the talents. And that's really pleasing to me and it's really just fun to watch him.
Q. Isn't that always a question, though? You saw him do all this during the regular season, seeing the guy do it in the playoffs just cements --
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Again, I don't think, you know -- just revealing what he has inside, and I don't think you see that until he gets on that stage. And you're seeing it from Raja, seeing it from him and Barbosa, you kind of know Steve and you know Shawn and these guys.
But these are the question marks that, you know, when people even look at our team, well, they can't quite do it, well, I think they're underestimating these guys. But they haven't seen them, so they can't really grasp how good they are.
Q. You being a former point guard yourself, can you talk about Steve's leadership and verbalize what he's been able to do with this particular crew without Amare and calling his teammates out in his way before Game 4?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: Well, I mean, that's him. I wish I knew. If I knew about it, I'd probably play in the NBA a lot longer than I did. Obviously I didn't know what he was doing. He just has that ability to be able to be a great teammate.
When you're a great teammate and you're unselfish and do everything possible to get ready, then you're allowed to be able to say something to the team or be able to stand up and go, hey, guys, this isn't good enough, let's pick it up, and they have to respond to that if you've got good teammates. And we've got good guys and they understand it.
It's a little bit of a frustration, builds up and different things. It's great he can stand up and talk and no one takes offense to it. But just kind of laying it out there for everybody.
Mike Monroe, what's up? Spurs not here? That's right, they're out. I'm sorry. (Laughter). Just kidding. Just a little joke.
Q. You played in the NBA?
COACH MIKE D'ANTONI: Oh, that's good. That's good. Dallas wasn't in it then. (Laughter). You probably weren't covering. You were covering some CBA stuff. (Laughter) All right, guys. Thanks.

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