	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PISTONS v CELTICS

May 27, 2008

James Posey

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day

Q. Just describe, I guess, the situation you guys are in.
JAMES POSEY: Worry about our next game, which is tomorrow, and that's all the team is focused on.

Q. Do you get encouraged by the fact you guys have won both your Game 5s and do you see that as a thing of the past?
JAMES POSEY: I don't really know, we've just been winning and taking it one game at a time. We've been playing well at home.

Q. How do you look back at last night? Do you see it as one that kind of got away? You guys were down five times in the fourth and couldn't get over the hump there.
JAMES POSEY: Through everything, we were still in the game. A couple possessions we just didn't execute, didn't get stops, and we couldn't get over that hump, like you said.

Q. Have you ever seen a postseason game in which losses don't matter? It seems to me with the Atlanta series, with the Cleveland series and now with the Detroit series, if a team loses, it doesn't carry over to the next game; it has absolutely no effect over the next game.
JAMES POSEY: Depends how you look at it, I guess. You just focus on your next game and try to do things better than you did the last game and give yourself a good chance to win.

Q. The teams don't get down because of a loss at all throughout this postseason?
JAMES POSEY: We haven't gotten down about any of our losses. We just keep working and try to get better and try to improve so we can get wins.

Q. Was the locker room warmer than usual in Detroit do you think?
JAMES POSEY: I felt good. That's one of those summertime gyms, you get in there, you're just playing basketball all day, you're feeling real good, loosen the body up. We didn't have a problem with that at all. It felt good, actually, when I got there.

Q. What was the difference in their defensive attack between games 3 and 4?
JAMES POSEY: Nothing really. We just didn't execute on the offensive end, and we didn't get stops when we needed to.

Q. What's the difference with having PJ here and when he wasn't here? What's the difference with this team with him being here?
JAMES POSEY: The difference is the experience; he's been there. His ability to defend, to knock down the jump shot, as well, and just that leadership that he brings, you know, that toughness, the respect that he has just throughout the league, and that helps us.

Q. Did he fit right in right away? It seems like he did, but I don't want to put words in your mouth.
JAMES POSEY: Yeah, I think so. He came in, adjusted, got along with the guys. We pretty much knew what to expect for the most part, what he was going to bring to the table, and he's done all that and more.

Q. And more? You could argue he helped win a couple games with a couple of outside shots.
JAMES POSEY: Well, you know those shots that he made were his shots, so there was no surprise. He just had an opportunity to knock them down.

Q. We talk about Rondo and Billups, but it seems like those guys like Stuck and like Cassell, those guys that you may not necessarily put all the spotlight on, they're making a pretty big difference.
JAMES POSEY: We just think about the system they're in. He's doing a good job of running their offense, as well, getting his team involved. For Rondo and Sam, they do the same thing. You know, the point guard is a very valuable position, and you've got to be mentally tough to play that position.

Q. What does it mean to you to have Paul at the end of practice sum it up by saying, look, tomorrow is a must-win. We don't get too many chances of getting to this level. We've got to take advantage?
JAMES POSEY: Yeah, that was great. I mean, that's reality for the most part. I've now been on both sides of it. You've just got to go out and play like it's your last game.

Q. Do you think it's helpful to have guys like yourself who have been around the block at this late stage of the playoffs in a crucial game? Is that where you think you can offer maybe some of the younger players some key advice?
JAMES POSEY: I mean, just the whole team, just try to keep everybody focused for the most part and just remind them what we're playing for, our ultimate goal, and we're that much closer to it. Now it's a matter of what we're going to do to try to get there, and that's how you have to approach it.

Q. Is the team with the best defensive intensity tomorrow going to win that game do you think?
JAMES POSEY: The team that executes on both ends of the floor will probably win the game.

Q. Doc was talking about a tactic he thought the Pistons were using last night about foul all the time, they're only going to call half of them. Do you think that's what was going on?
JAMES POSEY: They've been doing it for so long, so there's no surprise. It's just how the game is being called, you have to adjust to it. We adjusted to it I think a little bit too late. This is playoff basketball, so you should expect a little more physical play.

Q. How strange was it last night to see each of the Big Three guys not being able to -- kind of all a little bit off the mark, Paul, Ray and Kevin?
JAMES POSEY: What do you mean?

Q. They had some looks but to have all of them go cold on one night, is that kind of rare?
JAMES POSEY: I don't know. You know, they had good shots and they just didn't fall. Some days are better than others.

Q. Doc mentioned that he didn't think you guys fought or were tough enough at certain points. Do you feel you have to be a little bit tougher, that they pushed you and you didn't push back enough?
JAMES POSEY: I think we just adjusted to the flow of the game for the most part, how it was being officiated, too late. You've got to come out and set the tone right away.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297