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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERSJune 14, 2009Pau GasolLamar OdomORLANDO, FLORIDA: Game Five Los Angeles Lakers - 99 Q. How much does this mean to you, returning from last year, to come to the top and win it all this year? PAU GASOL: Well, it's a dream. It's a dream come true. The completion of a goal, it feels amazing. It's definitely a victory, it's a triumph that we've been working so hard for, and personally I appreciated so much and I value so much, and it's such a huge accomplishment for so many people that we're just extremely proud of ourselves right now. We're just happy and excited. We're going to go crazy a little bit, and we're looking forward to that. But it's just been so much work that we put into this to make this happen today, and we love each other. We're a great group, we're a great team, and this is amazing. Q. Lamar, how about you? What does it mean for you to finally win a championship? LAMAR ODOM: I guess everything. I've known what I wanted to do since I was ten years old, nine years old, and to finally get here and accomplish it is a dream come true. Q. Talk about your journey from being a kid watching the Olympics in Barcelona in '92 with the Dream Team, and then we've been watching you when you were an 18- and 19-year-old, and then going through Memphis and now accomplishing this as the first Spanish player winning the championship. PAU GASOL: Well, the journey is what makes it so special and so beautiful. I had to work really hard throughout my career and started off as a kid in Spain just loving to play basketball, not trying to really become a professional, but I really started to be really good and I was very ambitious and competitive. So I started really, I don't know, becoming a really, really good player. Then I got to the NBA, and it was really hard, also, the adjustment, and six and a half years in Memphis were tough as a professional, also personally because I don't take losing very tightly and I hate losing and it was affecting my person. But the day that I was traded I couldn't believe it. It was such a beautiful day for me, and then also I think the Lakers were pretty happy with it, too. LAMAR ODOM: I guess so (laughing). PAU GASOL: From that point on, it's just been another amazing journey and adventure. To be able to get to this point today is hard to describe and put in small sentences because it's so amazing what we accomplished, it feels so good, and hopefully a lot of people enjoy this. Q. Last season I know it was a difficult series for you all in Boston. Talk about what you all gained from that experience, and now that you're here and that you've won, talk about what it means that you're maybe able to erase some of the doubts that were put out there about you last year? LAMAR ODOM: That's exactly what it was, it was an experience, and usually experience makes you better at whatever it is, whether it's on or off the court. We set a goal early in the training camp and that was to win the NBA championship. Every time we came in as a group, we left that group by saying "one, two, three, ring." We set a goal and we attained it. PAU GASOL: Last year's experience, I think it made us tougher, it made us grow as a team, and we all were hurt by it. We were very disappointed that we lost against Boston. They showed that they were more ready than we were at the time. But it really made us want it even more than we did last year, and it got us to this point. We worked so hard from the beginning as a team and as individuals, too, to be able to be successful in the playoffs at the top level. So it just makes it all the more rewarding, and the way we went through last year, it just makes it so much more worth it. Q. Knowing that both of you guys have been traded during your career and knowing that those teams didn't want you to now be champions, talk about that. LAMAR ODOM: First of all, I got traded for Shaq. He got traded for Kwame Brown to the Lakers. It was a blessing. We were fortunate. Everything happens for a reason. This was the reason. It hurt to -- I'm not going to lie, it hurt to get traded from Miami and then have to watch them win a championship, but I felt like my time would come. The Lakers got better and better and better, and then we got one of the best players in history in this guy. We knew that we were going to be competing for a championship. We're both fortunate at the end of the day. Q. Last summer in Beijing Kobe and the U.S. beat you guys in the gold medal game. Ten months later you're together on a podium sharing a championship. What kind of teammate has Kobe been during that run? And what has this meant to the fans back in Spain? PAU GASOL: Yeah, last summer it was tough. It was kind of weird to go against each other at the Olympics. We had a chance to play each other twice. First time they really kicked our butt, second time we were able to compete better as a team. But yeah, it was tough. Kobe doesn't have any friends on the floor when he's playing against somebody else. That's just the way it is. He's such a great competitor, he wants to win no matter what, no matter who he's playing. It would be the same if it was his brother. He would still try to destroy him, really. That's just the way it is. He wants to win that bad. He's our leader. I think he's very aggressive on the floor, he carries a lot of weight. He loves to do that. You know, I think as teammates we understand what kind of player he is, what he brings to the table, and we try to complement each other. I think what we've been doing well this year is understanding what our roles were, what our abilities are out there as individuals and make it work as a team. It really worked out well. I think we all understood how to play this game together and to take us to this championship. Q. Talk about getting ready to celebrate and a parade and all that stuff. And Kobe was saying last year just how tough LA can be, the fans. They still bring up what happened, what happened. Now you don't have to go through that this year. LAMAR ODOM: Well, they expect to win. They're spoiled a little bit. That's the tradition of the franchise is to win. That's what makes us better. We'll have a good time away from basketball and then it'll be time to get back to work. It's June? PAU GASOL: 14th. LAMAR ODOM: In October we'll try to get right back at it to try to get here again. The focus is there, our town expects it, and that's what pushes us, helps us strive for perfection. Q. Before the game I was talking to you about what it would mean and it became a little bit emotional for you, you had tears in your eyes talking about it. Now that it's happened, can you talk about what this means in your heart? You've had struggles, personal struggles and bad luck struggles and now you're a champion. What does this mean? LAMAR ODOM: Going through ups and downs and experiencing death and birth and everything, that's a part of life. Everyone goes through it. I never felt bad for myself or asked the question "why me?" It was just my story. I wouldn't be Lamar Joseph Odom if it didn't happen to me. I've always seen this coming, my day. When I was going to say I was NBA champion. It's finally here, and it's great. It's overwhelming. I felt it as we were coming in today. I knew we were going to win this game. End of FastScripts |
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