Archives for April 2009

Notes from TNT’s Coverage of the NBA Playoffs – Sunday, April 26, 2009

TNT’s “40 Games in 40 Nights” NBA Playoffs coverage continues on Monday, April 27^th with the Atlanta Hawks @ Miami Heat (Game #4) at 8 p.m. ET,

followed by the Utah Jazz @ L.A. Lakers (Game #5).

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TNT NBA Tip-off presented by AutoTrader.com

Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Chris Webber

76ers guard Andre Miller on the work ethic of his teammates: “They work hard, that’s one thing I like about this team and coming over to this team that I noticed.  The young guys put in the time, they put in the work, they stay after practice, get up shots and come in early. There are no big egos on the team. I’m a point guard so normally you get guys in your ear, asking for the ball and it’s not a team like that.”

Barkley on the Magic’s slow offense: “(The Magic) have a terrible offense; they just stand around and shoot threes and they don’t run. They have a lot of talent, but they just walk the ball up and down the court, let Dwight Howard get triple-teamed and they shoot threes. I always say, you don’t live by threes, you die by threes and (The Magic have) a very stagnant offense. They should run because Dwight Howard is the best big man in the game, he’s the most athletic big man in the game, but to walk the ball up and down the court and live on threes, it might work during the regular season, but it’s not going to work during the playoffs.”

Barkley on what play the Magic should run to be effective against the 76ers: “If Rashard Lewis and (Hedo) Turkoglu ran a pick-and-roll with Dwight Howard that would put fear in guy’s eyes. That center is not going to switch out on Turkoglu or Rashard, the little guy is not going to guard Dwight Howard, but they never do any of that, they just run the same play. They run the pick-and-roll with the point guard, but that doesn’t really help.”

Smith on the defensive match-up that favors Philadelphia: “Philadelphia has the ability to guard the perimeter. Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala can guard Rashard Lewis and Turkoglu. Normally Turkoglu and Rashard have a great advantage because they are able to put the ball on the floor and they are 6’8” or 6’9” and they are athletic. But Thaddeus Young is more athletic and Andre Iguodala is more athletic, so those advantages are that they’ve locked them (Magic) up on the perimeter. (The 76ers) have gotten close to them when most guys can’t get close to them because they drive by them. It’s (Philadelphia’s) defense that’s done a lot more than their offense because they can lock the perimeter guys up and Andre Miller can guard their point guard in Rafer Alston, and their perimeter is locked down. They are not able to get them (their shots) off and when they do they are bad three pointers.”

Webber on Magic center Dwight Howard having a limited arsenal of post moves: “If we are honest, Dwight Howard does not have an arsenal of post moves. He needs to be close to that basket so he can get to his jumper and his left hook is becoming very dangerous. But to throw him the ball at four or five feet, we used to double team him because he was one of the highest turnover prone guys in the game. He needs the ball close to the basket.  If he gets the ball close to the basket then he’s unstoppable, so these guys need to get him the ball in a Shaq-like way and then you can’t stop him.”

Barkley on why he believes the Celtics will the series against the Bulls: “(Kendrick) Perkins and Big Baby (Glen Davis) have outplayed (Joakim) Noah and Tyrus Thomas consistently. The guard situation is a wash. I like (Boston’s) big guys better, so I like them to win the series, I’m going to go with the Celtics.”

Webber on why he is picking Chicago to win the series: “It’s harder for the Celtics to win two at home with the pressure of being at home. It’s harder for them to win two then it is for Chicago, Chicago has a great chance to do it. It’s my pick because KG is on the bench…that’s the reason why Rose had 36 points in Game #1. I’ll stand on (that pick).”

Barkley on the leadership of Cavaliers forward LeBron James: “LeBron James has become the best leader in the NBA. He has willed that team. They have his personality, they compete. He’s remarkable for me, he reminds me of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods; they don’t care about money or fame, they want to excel, they just want to get better. LeBron coming in the NBA with all the pressure on him, it’s been fun to watch.”

Webber on personally being heartbroken by the Pistons being swept in the first round: “I had to put my dog to sleep in October after I had him for 14 years. Watching these Pistons it’s like I had to watch my dog get old and have put him to sleep. I haven’t felt this way since Chicago walked past the bench and we didn’t shake their hands, and I mean as a fan, not as someone who played there, but as someone who grew up in Detroit. I have confidence in Joe Dumars, one of the best GM’s in the game and I know he has a plan. Seeing the team get swept after this long (run of success) and being a lifelong Detroit Lions fan, I’m kinda hurting right now.”

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Game #1:  Orlando Magic (84) @ Philadelphia 76ers (81) – The series is tied 2-2.

Announcers: Matt Devlin and P.J. Carlesimo; and Laura Green reporting

Carlesimo on Orlando playing on the perimeter: “Orlando is not a team who goes to the offensive boards, Dwight Howard is the only one who goes to the offensive boards, so they’ve got four people back most of the time. You combine that with the fact that they shoot so many threes and their guys are standing on the perimeter, you shouldn’t be able to run against Orlando unless Orlando turns it over.”

TNT’s Laura Green interviewed Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy after the first quarter.

Van Gundy on whether he was happy with the first quarter play and what the Magic need to do in the game: “No, I’m never happy. (We need to) get the ball out of the paint (on defense), they are making a lot shots right now. Philadelphia is a team who did not shoot the ball well during the regular season, but in this series, they are the best shooting team in the league.”

Carlesimo on Magic coach Stan Van Gundy being unhappy: “It’s a Van Gundy brother trait that they are never happy…father Bill is a pleasant man. Jeff and Stan are never happy.”

Carlesimo on the Cavaliers breaking the Pistons’ streak of six straight trips to the Eastern Conference Finals: “That does need to be noted, (six consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference Finals) is an incredible achievement by the Detroit Pistons, but it may be time for them to regroup now.”

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T-Mobile Halftime Report

Announcers: Johnson, Barkley, Smith and Webber

Barkley on the Magic needing to increase the tempo of the game: “(The Magic) have brain freeze, they think they are supposed to walk the ball up and down the court. If they run and gunned a little more (Dwight Howard) would get 10 more points a game. I don’t think any other big guy can keep up with him, there’s no big man in the league who can run with Dwight Howard. He is a terrific player, but he isn’t the type of guy who, if you don’t double, is going to get 30 or 40 points because he’s awkward around the basket.”

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Carlesimo on 76ers guard Andre Iguodala: “This summer (Andre Iguodala played) with the Team USA Select team, the last two summers he played against the Olympians. He went after Kobe, went after LeBron.  Andre belongs with the Senior Team and he really believes that.”

Carlesimo on the comparison between two great Orlando big men; Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal: “You’ve got to think back to that other great big man, Shaquille (O’Neal). When he was a youngster playing in Orlando. The one thing missing from his game, and it really hasn’t changed, is free throw shooting. You’ve got to think Dwight Howard has a chance to improve his, but it’s going to be unfair then, they’ll have to make it illegal because if he’s starts making his free throws there’s nothing you can do, but how about that, two of the better young bigs to come in this league in the last 25 years, both in Orlando.”

Carlesimo on the third quarter of play: “‘Standing three pointers,’ that’s the key words. (Orlando’s) feet were set and they were comfortable. The Philadelphia 76ers are struggling, another quarter under 40%. I think that’s Orlando’s best quarter combined of the series so far, offensively and defensively.”

Carlesimo on Magic center Dwight Howard’s poor free throw shooting: “(Dwight Howard) is your horse, he’s the horse and you want to go to him. The challenge is will he be able to deliver made free throws in end game situations?”

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Game #2:  Portland Trail Blazers (88) @ Houston Rockets (89) – Rockets lead the series 3-1.

Announcers: Kevin Harlan and Doug Collins; Craig Sager reporting

Portland head coach Nate McMillan on his team’s first quarter struggle against Rockets center Yao Ming: “We’ve got to be quicker than Yao to the block, we’re not beating him to the spots, we’re getting caught with our arms tangled with him. We’ve got to be quicker than him.”

Collins on the Rockets successfully causing defensive mismatches: “Carl Landry caused that foul by sprinting up the floor. He forced Rudy Fernandez to pick him up, a smaller player, Rudy had been guarding Shane Battier. You’ve got to take the first guy down the floor (to defend), that’s the importance of having your big guys run the floor, that’s how you create a lot of mismatches. You’re forcing smaller guys to pick up bigger players and that’s how you get good early offense.”

Collins on adjustments the Trail Blazers are trying to make for Game #4: “You want to push the ball up the floor because the Rockets are very good when they get their defense set. Late in the clock you can’t isolate and dribble against them, you’ve got to move the basketball.  Those are the two areas (the Trail Blazers) really tried to work on for this basketball game.”

Collins on Portland relying too heavily on guard Brandon Roy to carry the team: “With Portland they have a tendency, when things go a little south, to get the ball to Brandon Roy and get out of his way. (When you do that) you put too much pressure on Roy, the defense loads up him and that makes it so difficult for him to score, especially against a good defensive team like Houston.”

TNT’s Craig Sager interviewed Rockets center Yao Ming at halftime.

Yao on what he is trying to do differently against the Trail Blazers: “I tried running in transition and getting early to the post. I watch the film and I’m trotting down, they get an early hit, so I’m way over the basket. I’m trying to get my speed up and run in the transition.”

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T-Mobile Halftime Report

Announcers: Johnson, Barkley, Smith and Webber

Webber on the Trail Blazers relying too heavily on jump shots: “When you just shoot jumpers all the time you’re not putting pressure on anyone else defensively. There’s not been any fouls drawn, they’re not getting any big guys in trouble, you need to make sure you go in and cause something besides just shooting jumpers.”

Smith on the emergence of young players during the playoffs: “There’re a couple of guys making names for themselves in the playoffs and Thaddeus Young is one of them.”

Barkley: “(Young) has got a bright future, he’s going to need sunglasses.”

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Battier on defending Portland guard Brandon Roy: “He’s going to be a 12, 13-time All-Star when all is said and done. He’s a great player, he’s going to score his baskets. In game two I don’t think we made him work to score his points. In game three we made him work, and that’s the difference. You just have to stay vigilant with a guy like that and keeping fighting him every single possession.”

Collins on the offensive weapons of the Houston Rockets: “This Houston team is so balanced offensively. They have five, six or seven guys who on a given night might be their leading scorer.”

TNT’s Craig Sager interviewed Rockets head coach Rick Adelman after the third quarter.

Adelman on his concern for the fourth quarter: “I’m more concerned about us guarding them and keeping them away from the rim, and we’ve got to do a better job of moving the ball.”

Adelman on whether guard Aaron Brooks is being aggressive enough: “I don’t think he is, he’s got to come out and play, our whole team needs to get more aggressive.”

Collins on the lack of rebounds by the Trail Blazers being a deciding factor in their loss: “If Houston wins this game, they are shooting under 40% but they have 14 more field goal attempts. It was the multiple shots especially to start the fourth quarter, they kept getting shot after shot. We heard Nate McMillan saying, ‘rebound the ball, rebound the ball, we’re stopping them, but we can’t get a rebound.”

TNT’s Craig Sager interviewed Rockets forward Shane Battier after the Rockets defeated the Trail Blazers.

Battier on having a big offensive night: “My job is to stay out the way and if guys get into trouble I’m always open in the corner. My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball. After the first one I felt pretty good, the second one was a heat check, let it fly, it went down, I’m just glad it went down this time.”

Battier on the defensive strategy against Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy: “Just make (Roy) work, he’s a heck of a player and he had a big game tonight. But if we make him work, he had a lot of jumpers with contests in his face…we can sleep at night.”

Battier on the perseverance of the Rockets: “It’s a lot of firsts tonight, it’s my first Game #4 win in my career, I’ve never done it before. We showed a lot of heart, a couple of times we could have thrown in the towel and said, ‘it’s not our year, not our night,’ but we kept on fighting and that’s been the character of this team all year long.”

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Inside the NBA presented by Hyundai

Announcers: Johnson, Barkley, Smith and Webber

Smith on the effort by some of the Houston Rockets: “I very rarely look at a stat sheet but I’m going to read off names and I’m going to tell you what all these guys have in common. Shane Battier, Luis Scola, Ron Artest even, Von Wafer, Carl Landry (and) Chuck Hayes. What do they all have in common?”

Barkley: “They play extremely hard.”

Smith: “And if they don’t play extremely hard they don’t play well. They only way they can play well is to play hard, so they’re not ‘skill guys.’ They don’t get lazy on plays, they don’t get comfortable and they6 don’t get complacent because the only way they really stay on the floor is if they play hard. With Portland’s guys, who are good, they sometimes are ‘skill guys’ and they don’t play as hard as the Houston Rockets did tonight.”

Webber on his former head coach in Sacramento Rick Adelman, currently head coach of the Houston Rockets: “I played for Coach Adelman and I don’t think enough coaches get credit for the play calls they make late in the game. Your offense is your defense…The one thing I really love about Coach Adelman is you push it and there is one play he calls where there are four or five options, that’s why they offensive rebound.”

Barkley on the Portland Trail Blazers: “Once Portland gets them a low post game they are going to be scary for the next few years.”

Barkley on the Rockets team effort in the Game #4 victory: “This was just a terrific game…Nobody from Houston played spectacular, but they all played well. They all chipped in.”

Smith of 76ers forward Thaddeus Young: “He’s made a name for himself in the NBA Playoffs.”

Johnson: “at the age of 20.”

Smith of the Philadelphia 76ers: “Philly never gives up; they play hard, they played hard all year, that’s been their staple and that was apparent tonight.”

Barkley on longtime NBA player and former Smith teammate Sam Cassell: “Sam is a one of the greatest guys, he’s been a heck of a player for a long time, but he does look like Golum (from Lord of the Rings).”

Smith: “He has a career move, I’m not going to say it, but it is going to announced soon.”

Barkley: “Well I’m pretty sure they have more (Lord of the Rings) movies coming.”

Smith of guards Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose: “Both of these guys are playing at their highest level and neither one can really contain each other. What always surprises me is these two guys, the way they rebound the basketball. Neither one of them gets burned much for going after offensive rebounds, which they should. These two guys are at the top of their games…The most underrated point guard in basketball, Rajon Rondo.”

Webber on a spectacular dunk by Cavaliers forward LeBron James: “That’s why I don’t think we want him in the dunk contest, because we won’t appreciate what he does. That dunk was better than most of the dunks in the contest.”

Barkley: “I don’t think you realize that we televise that.”