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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND

February 18, 2007

Mike D'Antoni

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Q. Could you talk about the idea of possibly catching Dallas for the best record in the Western Conference versus your thought process about keeping Steve (Nash) healthy and ready for the really important part of the season?
COACH D'ANTONI: Well, the process is, one, keep Steve healthy and try to win every game. If they would cooperate every once in an while and lose, but they don't lose. We're not going to catch them if they don't lose. We have to keep Steve healthy, get Kirk Thomas back. And if we catch them, we catch them, if we don't we'll meet them later. Beat them in Dallas or beat them in Phoenix, I think both teams have shown they can win every place. Talk about San Antonio or Houston or everybody else. We do the best we can do.

Q. We know you've already alienated Gilbert Arenas and he'll probably try to score 50 on you. Is there anybody else on the team you've alienated that you expect to light it up?
COACH D'ANTONI: Nobody on the East, but I'm sure after today there will be about 12 guys on the West that will be ticked off. I told the players that, look, I'm not going to take -- I've already got Gilbert getting 50. They all get 50 on me anyways, so what's the difference?

Q. I know you guys, San Antonio, and Dallas have spread yourself out from the other teams in the West. Once playoff times come aren't you worried about the other teams, because the West is so formidable?
COACH D'ANTONI: Yes. The Clippers, obviously, are as good as anybody in the West. But I think you've got -- those three, you're talking about, us and Utah and Houston, they've kind of separated a little bit, but Lakers, Clippers, I don't want to leave anybody out, but if they get it together at the right time, yeah, they're really good teams.

Q. Both sides are very well represented here, that's got to make you and the organization feel well. You, the coaching staff, the players, cheerleaders, Ced's here. Can you talk about what that means to you and to the organization to be so well represented?
COACH D'ANTONI: It's fun. It's fun, first of all, to have so many players, here, and they're the reason the coaching staff is here. It's a great honor for us. Like you said, cheerleaders, staff, everybody, it's a great weekend and Phoenix is a big part of it and yeah, we're proud.
We're trying to have a good time on it and it will be something -- I don't think we enjoy the weekend as much, but when it's over you go, that's pretty good, we did it.

Q. First time coaching the All-Star game, any pregame jitters or is this a cake walk?
COACH D'ANTONI: The only jitters was trying to get the minutes right. I don't want to tick anybody off. This is fun. This is the good part.

Q. There's been a lot of talk this week about should there be a franchise perhaps in the future in Las Vegas. What are your thoughts on that? As a coach, bringing a team to Las Vegas, with the distractions, would that be a concern if you have players here just a few times a year?
COACH D'ANTONI: I think the answer for me, first of all, the NBA will decide that. That's David Stern's call and I'm sure they'll do a great job on it. My comments don't matter. You can get in trouble and New York or Los Angeles, it's not like those towns close up at night.
It depends on the character of your team. Las Vegas would be a great venue, a lot of excitement, seems like it's a great place.

Q. This is your first time around, I know you had a pretty good idea what this would be like, now it's almost here, before the game, what's the three days been like for you?
COACH D'ANTONI: Crazy in the sense that I don't know if you can enjoy it as much because it's running around, and you can't really go anywhere. I think it's better for the fans and everybody else involved.
But again it's an honor to be here. Today at 5:00 when you start coaching that will be fun. The other stuff is, you know, it's just an honor to be here. You feel proud to be here. It's a great experience.

Q. When you're coaching in an All-Star Game, what is the challenge as far as getting ready for the game? Are you able to strategize, get the guys together and practice or is it roll the balls out and let it go?
COACH D'ANTONI: I haven't seen the balls yet, I don't know if I can roll them out or not. The biggest thing, what we try to do is get the minutes right, make sure we don't snub the people that deserve, like the starters, and then you have the reserves, make sure they play okay. Try to get a little bit of a flow in the sense of getting your best five guys, whether they're the best players or not, at the crucial parts of games. But other than that it's just -- there's no plays, there's no offensive plays, nothing, just going to run up and down and show their talents, which is pretty good. That's where the -- but other than that, that's about it.

Q. Looking back on the history of the All-Stars, do you have your favorite All-Star moment, whether it's a Michael Jordan dunk?
COACH D'ANTONI: That was 20 years ago, I was in Europe. Michael Jordan, did he have that? I was oversees. No, the NBA wasn't that well represented on TV back -- I'd have to be on the couch at 4 o'clock in the morning watching some of that stuff.
But probably Tom Chambers is the moment, Phoenix Suns, when he was up in Seattle and the game he had up there. That was unbelievable, the dunk that he had, we have a statue of that in our basketball office. Dr. J, the ABA, when they put on the Dunk Contest, that was unbelievable.

Q. Three times now I've heard you use the word "managing minutes" and potential for snubs. I gather if that's on your mind that you would not favor extending these rosters to include more guys.
COACH D'ANTONI: No. You should have eight guys. That's all I play anyway (laughter).

Q. How do you think David Stern did filling out your roster with your replacements?
COACH D'ANTONI: (Laughter) I thought he did a great job. Is that the answer you want?

Q. No, really.
COACH D'ANTONI: How did he do filling out the roster? The only thing -- who's griping, right? But we are kind of big heavy. I kind of like the little guys, he could have given me some little guys, when Allen went out we got a bigger guy.

Q. Did he consult you at all?
COACH D'ANTONI: No. Usually on the State of the NBA he does, but this one he did not (laughter).

Q. Shouldn't he consult you?
COACH D'ANTONI: No. We're fine. There's so much talent out there it doesn't matter. It will be a great game and we'll play well.

Q. You guys have had such a long season starting in Europe and then with the training camp and at this point you still have some guys who need to get back healthy. At what point do you kind of say, okay, now we're going to turn it on, getting closer to the playoffs. With an 82 game season, you obviously have to pace, but when does it become crucial?
COACH D'ANTONI: Are you saying we turned it off?

Q. No, but when do you start your sprint to the end?
COACH D'ANTONI: It has been a long season. When he were 1-5 it was a long season, but after that it went pretty good. I think as a coach you don't say we can turn it down, turn it up, you just coach them to win and try to keep everybody healthy and mentally prepared. We just had so many injuries that came about, Boris and Steve and Kurt. They should next week all be well. So we're ready to roll. And I think the last 30 games we should play well.
Obviously if you get down to the last ten or 15 games you're not playing well, you start to panic. I don't see us doing that.

Q. Is there any moment for the Italian League All-Star Game that you can share with this?
COACH D'ANTONI: No.

Q. Were there Italian League All-Star games?
COACH D'ANTONI: Yeah.

Q. Tell me about them, you were playing in them?
COACH D'ANTONI: Sit around and have pasta and wine, it was great. No, it was just normal stuff.

Q. I was curious as to how you might handle the late replacement guys, like Mehmet Okur, how many minutes he'd get, and down the stretch he's known for his clutch shots?
COACH D'ANTONI: You're right. That's a tough one. It's harder for him because of that. I love Mehmet, I've known him forever, from Turkey. He'll play hopefully a lot. But a lot means 10 to 20 minutes and whether he's in there at the end, because he does make big shots at the end, yeah, I'm not probably going to sit down Dirk, sorry (Laughter).

End of FastScripts

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