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I missed this. Where did you see it?
First, can somebody please detail some of the comments made by Avery on the radio and immediately after hearing about the suspension?
It sounded like it had great potential.
Avery's press conference today was too good to be fiction.
You can't even make up stuff this good.
This is classic. He had me laughing so hard that tears will rolling down my face.
Thank God for the DVR.
Out of so many different comments, which was your favorite? It is difficult to pick, but I am considering some choice ones.
One of my favorite lines was when he said that he was afraid that some people were taking his alleged refusal to complain as a weakness. What makes this one stand out is the facial expression when he delivers these lines. Outstanding. Again, can't make this kind of stuff up. Notice how big his eyes become when he says this.
This press conference is a keeper for years to come. It is the gold standard.
I missed this. Where did you see it?
The press conference itself was on NBA tv. I will look for a transcript on the web that I can link to and post it here.
I heard about the radio comments on NBA tv. I believe it was mentioned by some of the press corp.
I could listen to Avery all day long. He's hillarious.
Still looking for a link.I could listen to Avery all day long. He's hillarious.
Has Avery considered starting up a reality show?
He could do it on mtv right after that stunt one.
It's a natural follow up.
It was the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. Definately classic.
He's so animated. I love it.
Edited to add;
A transcript wouldn't do it justice. His facial expressions were just priceless
He doesn't have a reality show, but a sitcom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqOVoiOTYU
This link refers to some of the comments made by Avery but not all. It's a start. Hopefully, I can find the full thing soon.
This is just from a newspaper with a couple of the comments:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...s153823D39.DTL
This url links to the video (on espn's daily dime). It's en led "Just be consistent"
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...ilydime-060618
It's not the transcript, but the actual press conference. And as one poster pointed out, his expressions and his voice add so much to it.
Last edited by themanurules; 06-18-2006 at 01:36 AM.
I saw it. Pretty funny, although I was disappointed no reporters asked him if Dirk got preferential treatment.
I think he's been brainwashed by Cuban. He was so repe ive and a lot of the stuff he said was REALLY stupid. I thought he was a lot smarter than that.
like his ing about consistency, when the NBA has been shockingly consistent about handing out suspensions all postseason long (please no reggie evans references, for the love of god), and the fact that they're had 3 players suspended. If 3 players commit offences worthy of suspensions, then guess what, you'll get 3 suspensions. If a fourth player does something stupid worth a suspension, then they'll end up with 4 suspensions. Pretty basic logic here...
I love Avery, but that video is just terrible.
Only mav fans can enjoy watching that.
No, I think I will throw Reggie Evans out there. I'd really like to see you defend that. And I'll also add in those numerous "accidental" elbows by Shaq. Fool me once, fool me twice...those aren't accidental anymore.I saw it. Pretty funny, although I was disappointed no reporters asked him if Dirk got preferential treatment.
I think he's been brainwashed by Cuban. He was so repe ive and a lot of the stuff he said was REALLY stupid. I thought he was a lot smarter than that.
like his ing about consistency, when the NBA has been shockingly consistent about handing out suspensions all postseason long (please no reggie evans references, for the love of god), and the fact that they're had 3 players suspended. If 3 players commit offences worthy of suspensions, then guess what, you'll get 3 suspensions. If a fourth player does something stupid worth a suspension, then they'll end up with 4 suspensions. Pretty basic logic here...
You can't honestly tell me that if Parker, Rasho and Horry had been suspended in 3 straight series that Pop wouldn't have something to say about it. Get real.
There is no nut grabbing suspension rule. If there is one please find it. There is a rule against throwing punches with a closed fist those, including to the nuts and to blows to the head. League can't just make up new suspension rules on the fly. Maybe bnext year they'll ins ute the Evan's nut grabbing rule.No, I think I will throw Reggie Evans out there. I'd really like to see you defend that. And I'll also add in those numerous "accidental" elbows by Shaq. Fool me once, fool me twice...those aren't accidental anymore.
Maybe Stackhouse, like Terry with Finley maybe trying to get Finley to react and get tossed, was being too smart for his own good. Thought if his cheap shot could get Shaq to react and pickup a second tech he could get him tossed and Mavs could get an easy win.
In any case if the roles were reversed the Mavs and Cuban would be howling to the league to suspend Shaq. Afterall Cuban howled to the leauge to try to get Marion suspended on an absolute nothing play. But now that their players ed up again they're whining to evrybody.
Pop would kick their asses for being so classless and stupid but it would never happen because they aren't that classless and stupid. Last time a player made a bonehead play was Glenn Robinson against the Sonics in the '05 playoffs and Pop sat him the next game. Don't try to compare what the Spurs would do to the Mavs. Whole different level of intelligence and class.You can't honestly tell me that if Parker, Rasho and Horry had been suspended in 3 straight series that Pop wouldn't have something to say about it. Get real.
Last edited by picnroll; 06-18-2006 at 09:57 AM.
And therein lies the root of the Spurs fans' elitism. They believe their team is a level above when it comes to intelligence and class. Little angels on the hardwood.
Amazing.
Believe? Simple truth. Can anyone, even a dumbass Mavs' fan, imagine Pop giving a pathetic, whiny, player A, player B performance like Avery just did? Never going to happen. Can anyone imagine Holt acting like the whiny, self-grandizing Cuban? Never going to happen.And therein lies the root of the Spurs fans' elitism. They believe their team is a level above when it comes to intelligence and class. Little angels on the hardwood.
Amazing.
Yes we can easily imagine Pop saying some of the same things in the same manner Avery did.
Holt's too busy drinking. He doesn't have time for things like basketball.
Avery is the man...Spurs fans are just bitter that he is in Dallas now...
Cuban is the man...put him in any other city and that city would love him too...including SA...
I expect compensation for his!! lol
Here's the June 17th transcript of his press conference:
June 17, 2006
An Interview With:
COACH AVERY JOHNSON
Q. Have you been able to transmit your anger to your players in the last couple days? To get them a little bit more aggressive, angry, upset, whatever word you want to use?
AVERY JOHNSON: We've taken a look at where we are right now, and we just haven't played our style of basketball. We haven't been as proactive as we'd liked to be offensively and defensively.
We don't like losing the rebound game. So we'll have another opportunity to get back and do it tomorrow.
Q. You've had a little while to mull the Stackhouse suspension. Can you just talk about your reaction to that now, and also, what do you guys have to do to make up for his loss tomorrow night?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I guess I've expressed my disappointment. And I don't know what am I supposed to do? Everybody's so amazed that I disagree with the decision. I mean, what am I supposed to do, go out and have a parade and have a party?
Because the league comes down with a certain ruling, what are we supposed to do as coaches? Say, amen? I disagree with the ruling, all right. I don't think it's consistent with what we've seen in the playoffs. Didn't bother Shaq. I just want I want there to be a level of consistency. There's too much inconsistency, all right. That's my opinion, based on what I see.
Q. It does seem a little out of character for you, though. All season you've made a point of
AVERY JOHNSON: Let me say something to that, also. See, when I was a player, I used to see and I may not know all of the coaches in our league, all right, but I have a high level of respect, especially now that I'm on this side. I have a high level of respect for what these guys have been going through for all of these years, all right. Whether I know you or whether it's Lawrence Frank and I don't know you that well, or it's Mike Dunleavy or Doc Rivers, it really doesn't matter, Jerry Sloan, Popovich.
But what I've seen these guys go through, and I used to just watch all of the interviews when something happens and they may complain or say something. I say, well, well, maybe I don't want to do that. But it's really amazing when you get on this side and you see the stuff that these great coaches in our league have to go through, day in and day out. You just want it to be a level of consistency. That's the frustration for me. Just be consistent, all right. Whether it's Player A that commits a Player B on this team that commits a flagrant foul, whether it's Player A that displaces or reroutes; just make it consistent. And then let the players decide the game. That's it. That's all we want as coaches. Does that answer your question?
Q. Obviously you've traded in some convenience for relative privacy up in Fort Lauderdale, I guess, just curious, how long is the bus ride here?
AVERY JOHNSON: Longer than it was three days ago. (Laughter).
Q. Without Jerry tomorrow night, who do you anticipate taking those shots?
AVERY JOHNSON: We've been adjusting all year. We've been injured all year. We've had more players suspended in the playoffs than any team, right. Anybody else had three guys suspended? Who else? Who else?
So we have made a concerted effort from the day I took this job, never to complain. But I think people have taken that for a weakness. See, because I always said in my mind, there's certain things that I just don't want to do as a coach. So we have been injured, we've gotten guys suspended, but we don't complain. All we want to do is play ball.
But it's just hard when there's a level of inconsistency.
Q. Yesterday in the interview that you gave to the radio, you went a step further with the inconsistency, you said that some players get special treatment over others
AVERY JOHNSON: That's a historical thing in the league. That's nothing new. We have all been around the NBA. But that's the way it is.
Q. You had mentioned Shaq in particular, and also your owner mentioned that in comments yesterday; that they are not calling things on him, and the same thing that happened during the regular season, Shaq only got a slap on the wrist.
AVERY JOHNSON: Really and truly, I never want to cry about and I don't like using other players' names, all right. My point is this: First, you guys, go back and look at the first play of the game, all right. Their player, Player A, came over and just pounded Dirk. Wasn't crying, I wasn't crying about a flagrant foul, all right. It was an elbow to Dirk's head. We weren't crying about a flagrant foul, because we don't complain about flagrant fouls, all right.
But we make the same attempt, and then my player gets suspended. So now because I'm supposed to be a religious man, I'm supposed to come in here today and have a prayer meeting. (Laughter).
Q. At 2 2 in this format, would you rather have Game 5 at home or the last two at home?
AVERY JOHNSON: We don't complain about the format. We have worked all year to get to this point. We've all talked about getting The Finals and winning a championship. Just give ourselves a chance. We know if we made it to this point, we're going to be playing against the Heat, we're going to be playing against Detroit, we're going to be playing against Team A we knew we were going to be playing against a great team.
All we want to be able to do is come out and just play the game, and just no preferential treatment. Just play, just be consistent. Let the players determine who is going to win. That's it. That's all I ever want.
Q. Zo was just lamenting out there the fact that you can't play the same kind of physical style that you
AVERY JOHNSON: You can't? Oh, when did that start? The league took rerouting and all of this stuff out of the game, so when did that happen?
Q. Well, you want me to give you an example?
AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah, give me an example.
Q. For instance, Kevin McHale close lining Kurt Rambis, he would be out for rest of the playoffs. Bill Laimbeer and Robert Parish wouldn't have played any of that series. Hakeem and Ewing and Houston would foul out of every game. The league has purposely tried to change the tenor and that's what Zo was saying, too. How frustrating is it as a coach? Hard foul has always been a part of the game of basketball, making a guy think twice about going to the basket twice. As a coach now, how difficult as a coach is it to adjust your mindset to rules that are clearly different?
AVERY JOHNSON: That's something that we've talked about all year, and it was, again, with us trying to change the way we play Maverick basketball. We teach hard fouls. We do not teach flagrant fouls. We teach hard, clean fouls. That's a big part of our game.
Now, have I seen it from our team as much as I want to? No. But when we attempt to make a play on an individual and then get suspended, that's pretty disappointing. But now, you know, we can't disagree with the hierarchy, that's supposed to be a no no. So I guess what are we supposed to do?
Q. That's what I'm asking you: What are you supposed to do? How do you get the mindset of your players that's been that way for a lot of years to change just enough?
AVERY JOHNSON: Just allow both teams to play the same way, that's all, just be consistent. We'll keep teaching it and we'll keep adjusting.
Q. You sounded pretty frustrated yesterday with your team, talking about the vacation mentality. Now you sound pretty frustrated with the league. First, what are you more frustrated with, and secondly, do you have an outlet at all for any of this frustration?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, for us, as a team, the reason why this series is 2 2, first of all, is because Miami has come out and they have won two games on their home court. They have won two games on their home court and they deserve to win. It's nobody's fault. We've never taken that M.O. of blaming other situations why we lose.
We've given credit to our opponents all year. If you guys have followed me all year, you've never seen me make an excuse when we lose. So let's give the Heat some credit for tying up the series 2 2. So that's why we are where we're.
Again, where we are today is because one of my players have been suspended, all right, and I'm frustrated at the ruling. I'm disappointed with the ruling.
Q. You've talked about needing to be maybe more aggressive against Wade defensively, and you're teaching hard fouls, but not flagrant. Are you afraid maybe guys try to do a better job on him and somebody gets suspended?
AVERY JOHNSON: No. Gets suspended? That will be No. 4, then. That will be No. 4. Maybe you shouldn't even say that because somebody may be listening. (Laughter).
Come on, Sam, you had a question. What you got? You always have a brilliant question. Come on, ask me something good.
Q. They all use the magic word in the NBA, the integrity of the game and I think that's why some of the questions have come up and the comments you made; do you think that you might get a fine from the league because the question of saying that one player is favored over another in the NBA is usually sensitive questions the integrity of the game?
AVERY JOHNSON: First of all, Sam, I've been here for a long time, all right. The NBA, we have a great game. The NBA have afforded us coaches and me previously, player, a great life, all right. This is a great game with great players. Like I told you, I don't know all the coaches personally, but I have a high level of respect for them, also. I don't think you can question necessarily the integrity of our game, or the people who are in authoritative positions.
All I'm saying is, I'd just like to see some consistency.
Friday's press conference transcript....
============
June 16, 2006
An Interview With:
COACH AVERY JOHNSON
Q. There's talk about Miami getting the edge offensively and with hustle and stuff that that you guys might be losing it.
AVERY JOHNSON: It was the same thing after we won two games. After we won two games, we had the edge, we had the toughness, and maybe Miami wasn't ready. So we've been on both sides of it. We were down 0 2 in the playoffs last year and the series was over and the other team had the edge. Nobody really knows.
This is a seven game series, two teams that are very closely matched, and I don't know if somebody has the edge or not. I know it's still a series, and we have two out of three games at home and we have Game 5 here on Sunday.
Q. Last night you invoked the playground and what was the name of the playground that you were familiar with
AVERY JOHNSON: Lemon Gray ground. It's spelled like "lemon."
Q. How do you kind of impart that to the team?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, we've dealt with that all year. When you win 60 games like we've had, like we've done this year, and you're in The Finals, you win the Western Conference and you play against some tough teams like Memphis and San Antonio and Phoenix who is tough in a different way, you don't get here without having to play some tough minded basketball throughout the course of the playoffs.
So again, we're still in this. It's a great series. We're very disappointed with the way we've played. We've been distracted. We've not had the right type of focus or the right type of physicality, but that can come back.
Q. Has the Heat spent more time in the zone defense than you thought, and what has it done for them and what has it done to your offense?
AVERY JOHNSON: No, they played quite a bit of zone against Detroit, pretty much the same amount, you know, 10, 11, 12 possessions a game, pretty much where we are right now. We've all been kind of mixing it in. And actually, we got some great shots, and they just didn't go in. Then Dirk makes a strong drive in the first half, kind of opposite our bench, and he got called for a travel.
So it just wasn't a good night for us.
Q. Avery, Stack said last night
AVERY JOHNSON: If you're from Dallas, you don't have to introduce yourself. (Laughter) Let's try that, all right. From Dallas or Fort Worth, New Orleans, you don't have to introduce yourself. Just ask the question. (Laughter).
Q. Stack said last night that offense on this team usually fuels defense. That seems inconsistent with what you guys have talked about all year.
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I think what he was saying is again is, again our offense is very important, all right. Don't take it too literal because we don't want to get to this point and then you'll be writing that everything that you guys have been working on all year is now broken and now and it's out the window.
No, it's none of that. I think he was saying that as much as you talk about defense, we've taken pride on being able to get high percentage shots and be able to score, none of which happened in the last game.
Q. So do you think with the shooting problems last night, that may be seeped in on the other end of the court and you guys didn't play as physical as maybe you wanted?
AVERY JOHNSON: It could have. We're not doing a lot of things that we want to do right now. We were that way early in the series, but we were still fortunate enough to win games.
Q. How shaken is your team's confidence after last night's loss?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I think if you were talking about a team that had no playoff history together, if you were talking about a team that was never able to come back and play in some tough situations, then I think you would say they would be shaken.
But this is a very resilient team. Their coach is very resilient. So I think we're still confident, but I know we're not overconfident anymore. I think we've tried to share with them how good Miami the type of team they are, and we have their attention now.
Q. Can you talk about if you feel a certain kinship with Darrell Armstrong, how he fought his way up through the minors and battled to make his way into the league the way you sort of did; did you feel a kinship with what he went through to what you went through?
AVERY JOHNSON: Absolutely. When you see guys that have kind of taken similar routes, you kind of feel that brotherly type feeling with them, not that you're jealous about anybody else and their routes. I think there are different routes to get here. When you see guys like Adrian Griffin or guys like Darrell Armstrong, or you can go on and on throughout the league, we have a lot of different examples of that. Darrell has been great for our team, great leader, and we need his energy.
Q. Did you see him as someone who can emerge like yourself as a coach, student of the game, or is there assistance that he provides in the locker room having been through so many different situations?
AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah, I think every coach needs a Darrell Armstrong. At the end of my career, I tried to do the same thing for coaches. But, you know, coaching is not for everybody. Darrell has expressed an interest in coaching on some level. He's just not sure whether it's the NBA or college or high school or whatever. He's been a huge asset for our team this year.
Q. Do you feel like you've lost control of Dwyane Wade with him getting 78 points and if not, what do you have to do in limiting him to win games again?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I don't know if we've lost control. Put it like this. When we've tried to contain him one on one, he's gotten around us. When we've tried to quick trap him, he split the quick traps. When we've tried to slow trap him, he's spun out of the slow traps. So I'm just going to try to come up with another type of defense or, maybe at some point, somebody will get angry enough on our team and we'll guard him a little bit stronger and maybe not let him trap split the trap. And we've zoned him, too. That didn't go well, either. (Laughter).
Q. How concerned are you about Dirk's shot right now, how it's leaving his hand, and is a lot of what we're seeing right now the wear and tear of the playoffs?
AVERY JOHNSON: More than his shot, I just think right now is a good time for him to get some rest. I'm really hoping that, you know, a little rest today, lots of shooting tomorrow, work on some different things that we have to work on as a team, just kind of get team refocused a little bit. So I'm hoping with some mental, physical rest, get the team refocused, I'm hoping not only his shot will come back, but a lot of other things about his game and our game as a team.
Q. You've talked over the course of the year about how you don't just sign up for the good times, you sign up for the bad times and no team that's ever won a le hasn't endured some adversity along the way. Where do you stand in the series now, is it adversity, good times
AVERY JOHNSON: I hope it's adversity. Normally when we've been in this situation, we've responded. I know I've been saying that for about two days now, but we're still waiting for them to respond. I'm going to do whatever I can to try to jump start the team. My coaching staff has been really great this year in helping me. I've tried to push the right buttons.
We've had some of our leaders step up from time to time. But I think more than anything, let's give the Heat some credit for playing some tough, hard nosed defense, which has stymied our offense. And they have crashed offensive boards quite a bit, which has hurt us from getting out on the break.
So I think even though we need to be jump started a little bit, I think it goes both ways.
Q. Coach Riley was in here a few moments ago talking about how the physical intensity on both teams has picked up as it's gone on
AVERY JOHNSON: No, it's been one sided. No, it's not with the team from Texas.
Q. Okay. Well, with that in mind, can you give a specific reaction, having watched the tape of the foul that Jerry had on Shaq last night?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, you know, Shaq was just in an awkward position. When you're going up like that and you're in an awkward position and Stack comes in and tries to give a hard foul and not a layup I always talk to them about giving hard fouls. But we definitely don't want to injure players. That's not in my repertoire. Never will be as a coach.
Shaq was going up, made a hard foul on him. Just like in Dallas, Stack went up, Shaq gave him a hard foul and practically almost broke his nose. But was that a flagrant foul? No.
Q. The league has said they are going to review the tape and made make a decision, and maybe a suspension.
AVERY JOHNSON: I don't know if it's a suspension, I don't have control over that, that's not our job but I don't think it's a suspension.
Q. How would it affect your team if Jerry Stackhouse was unable to play in Game 5?
AVERY JOHNSON: I'm really not thinking about that right now. We've had to deal with that before. I would hope that if it's a fine or something like that, but I don't think it's a suspension. If that's a suspension, then a lot of players they will have to go back and review everything that's happened throughout the playoffs and there may have to be some retribution or something and maybe go suspend some other players maybe they forgot.
If you're from Dallas, don't introduce yourself.
Q. I was told so. Are you guys going to practice at all or just watch film or just give them the day off, and what are you going to do tomorrow as well?
AVERY JOHNSON: Nothing today.
Q. At all? Okay. What about tomorrow, hard practice, good practice?
AVERY JOHNSON: Would it matter? What's your suggestion? (Laughter).
Q. I know you like to practice. That's what I'm wondering.
AVERY JOHNSON: Oh, yeah, do I like to practice. So what's your suggestion.
Q. Probably get a little shooting in. (Laughter) Is that a good suggestion?
AVERY JOHNSON: (Nodding head.) Okay. (Laughter).
Q. You've been with some of these transcendent type of players, Robinson, Duncan, having big series in big stages like this, what effect when Dwyane Wade is having these kind of games does it have on the series, does it have on the opponent?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, it has a negative effect in a lot of ways, especially when you're not being as physical with him as you should. And conversely, you know, I just don't think we're making him play enough defense. And I take full responsibility for that, Sam. There are times when we should get the ball to some of our better scorers in the right situation, and we're just not doing that.
So hopefully we can, you know, play him much tougher as a team and individually, hopefully we can make him play some more defense. But at the same time, great players play great, but you can still have opportunities to win. He had 42 points on us in Game 3, and we still had an opportunity to win. We were up by 12 with six minutes to go, even with him having that great game. So you can still survive it, and sometime it has a negative effect on you, but we've won with guys having big games on us.
Q. Also, does the attention compromise your defense and let other guys get into the game, Posey, whatever the case might be?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I think that was the first night where their bench really hurt us. Obviously if you're getting broken down with penetration, things will be compromised. Guys will get wide open shots. You won't have as many people on the boards, because other guys are stepping up to help. So I think that's what I'm saying; we've got to do a better job with our on the ball defense and containing and just be a lot more physical.
Q. You were talking, you said I hope our team, they are not overconfident anymore and you mentioned you hope maybe someone will get angry and guard Wade right. I get the sense from you that you feel like you're more irritated about what's gone on than perhaps your own team has.
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I think their level of disappointment and frustration during the regular season and early in the playoffs, it was turned in such a way that they would go out on the court and do something about it. That's the team that I've seen this year.
I haven't seen that turn yet. I'm hoping that it will come sometime soon.
Q. You said just earlier that your team is distracted. What are they distracted by?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, we just don't have the same focus that we've had throughout the playoffs. And again, I'll take care of it.
Q. Do you think this is becoming a home series? I mean, how much impact is it?
AVERY JOHNSON: We're on vacation right now. We've got a vacation mentality. So I'm going to fix that.
Q. Just wondering, when you enter a series, do you assume at the beginning that it's going to be a seven game series and work your way back, or how do you approach that going in?
AVERY JOHNSON: Yes, I mean yes and no, in the sense right now, I think teams are so evenly matched, I never go into a series saying, "wow, we're going to sweep this team," or, "wow, this is 4 1," or anything like that. I go in looking at it as a seven game series. Because I always try to have a healthy respect for our opponent.
Now, if it ends up we're winning 4 1, 4 0, 4 2, it doesn't matter. I always go in and I'm thinking, "let's grind it out." There are going to be some highs and lows in the series. I'm mainly interested in our body language, focus, the way we communicate with one another, pay attention to detail, you know, different things like that. But overall, yes, because I think in this series, like I've been saying all along, even when we supposedly had control of the series, I had a feeling that because they are a good team, they would make a run, and we would have to withstand that run.
Q. What are you going to do to end the vacation mentality you were talking about?
AVERY JOHNSON: Next question.
Q. When you were in the spot in the San Antonio series where you had lost two consecutive playoff games and now were facing this Game 7 on the road, you're also coming off two straight losses now, and although this isn't an off the cliff type of game, how much of what you did in preparation for that game are you going to draw on in this situation?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, especially for my situation, I have such a catalog of history in the playoffs as a player and now I have a smaller catalog as a coach and I've tried to combine them. There are things that I've some of the coaches that I've worked with do certain things and stick with certain things, get rid of certain things. And obviously now I have a frame of reference on what worked this year, last year. And you just try to pull certain things.
But more than anything, you know, I'll try to give everything that I can give, but we've just got to, you know, get back in gear with our team and the way we play and our style of play.
Q. The start in that Game 7 against San Antonio was phenomenal, and in this series, your words, have been terrible, but can that be managed by you or does a lot of that just come down to making shots?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, I think it's my responsibility; it's not the players. And that's the way we've been handling it all year. So I'll try to find a better way to manage them and get them ready to play so that we can get off to better starts. But we haven't gotten off to a good start pretty much this whole series.
Q. No matter how much you've transformed your team into more defensive minded, you seem to be at the point where you're wondering if you can actually teach them toughness. What can you tell them? I know you don't want to give away everything about ending their vacation, but what are the Top 3 things that you can tell them?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, it's not I think you misunderstood me. I'm not necessarily trying to teach them toughness. How can you not be tough when you've made it to this point? There's nobody else that eliminated the world champions but us on their court. How can you not be tough and eliminate Tim Duncan and that great basketball team; how can you not be tough and play against a Phoenix team that plays unlike anybody in our league and is really good at what they do?
So I don't think I'm questioning our toughness. I just think I haven't seen the mental toughness that we've shown all year. It's not that we don't have it; we have it. We wouldn't be here. Somebody else would be some other coach would be here giving this interview without this accent. (Laughter).
Q. So how do you get it to come out?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, again, we've gotten it out all year. And when you get it out all year, you anticipate that you can continue to get it out. You've seen us in games, how many of you thought we were going to win Game 7 in San Antonio? Don't raise your hands all at once. (Laughter) So, you know, it's there.
Q. Mbenga's suspension is finished, will you use him in Game 5 and what can he bring to you?
AVERY JOHNSON: He will be on our roster. He will be on our roster. We've missed him a little bit.
Q. Can you talk about Devin Harris last night, he started off slow, and the second half, his first shot the second half?
AVERY JOHNSON: Yeah, Devin, again, when we looked at this series, we thought eventually this would be a series kind of like the one that I've been referring to where we would need him, and probably need him to start. Because more than anything, you've got to try to match Wade's quickness.
We thought he did an okay job on him overall. There were some other situations where Wade kind of got away from us. But if Devin can play well, if we can play to make Wade play some defense if he's on Devin or Terry and not zone up off some of our other guys, we think that can be beneficial for us. So now we've got some stuff on film, we can go back and look at it as a team. But we definitely need his energy and we need that big boost from him.
Q. Following up on Devin a little bit, the responsibility is great on his shoulders, defensively throughout the playoffs, how has he handled that responsibility really at both ends, and then a quick follow up to that, you guys have taken a lot of 3 pointers, you've said "we're not a jump shooting team anymore"; too many 3 pointers for your liking?
AVERY JOHNSON: Too many 3 pointers. I'll answer that question first. The wide open ones that are there, we need to take those. But again, when we talk about toughness and aggressiveness, it's not just on the defensive end. We don't have a post up five man or a power forward like a Tim Duncan or somebody, Shaq, we don't have that. But we have what's been working for us all year. The way Dirk can attack the paint; Stack and Josh Howard, Devin, Jason Terry. Man, I live and die with these guys. They are a great team. They haven't really shown it in these last two games, but overall, we do need Devin's energy.
Q. A lot has been made about Dirk's struggles and rightfully so, but Josh over the last five quarters, what's going on there, is that a vacation problem?
AVERY JOHNSON: Well, again, I think it's my fault. I need to figure out a way to get Josh some more shots, try to put him in better positions where he can be successful.
Well, the Spurs have been voted one of the best franchises in all of sports and most NBA players have said they respect and would like to play for Pop over all others. The NBA also renamed the Community Assist Award to the David Robinson Community Assist Award. You do the math.
You are asking Shank to use logic? Melissa shame on you!!!!
And then you want him to do research too?
Stop my sides are hurting from all the laughter....
You're right... what was I thinking? I must be hungover. Carry on.You are asking Shank to use logic? Melissa shame on you!!!!
And then you want him to do research too?
Stop my sides are hurting from all the laughter....
I am.....trying to get my behind up to go meet a bunch of,, dallas media for lunch....
Had to come witness a potential ass whooping for myself.....I love witnessing history..
The Reggie Evans incident has nothing to do with consistency or star treatment (unless Avery's argument is Evans wasn't suspended because he's a superstar
(a) throw a punch
(b) go into the stands
(c) commit an unneccessary and excessive flagrant foul
It's clearly not a matter of inconsistency, because it was a completely different kind of offence, one that wasn't really covered in the rulebook. Now I'm not going to say he didn't deserve a suspension, because I think almost any male would agree with me that he did, but just because they made, imo, a bad decision doesn't mean that they should throw out the rulebook and not suspend anyone else for different, suspendable, violations.
If they got suspended for good reasons like Terry, Mbenga and Stackhouse did then he wouldn't have much to say. The only suspension that can even be argued is Stackhouse's, so I don't see how the other two come into it. There isn't some rule that you can only have two suspensions per team per playoffs, as long as players keep commiting offences worth suspensions you can keep suspending them as much as neccessary.
what exactly are clean hard fouls? nevermind that what is a clean foul?
If Walker hit Dirk like Stack hit Shaq, Mavfans would make a call for criminal charges and try to lynch him.
Don't even try to deny it, whiners.
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