NBA BASKETBALL
2002 All-Star Game NBA Player Interviews

PHILLY - Feb 10, 200 - WEST player interviews conducted by all media.

DON NELSON

NELSON: First of all, let me say, don't take it personal, they wish they had you, and forget about it. Who cares if they booed you. Sensational player, unbelievable. They were having some fun, Philadelphia has some great fans here and I think they were having some fun.

What an incredible performance he (Kobe Bryant) put on, he was a step ahead of the best in the League, and you could see it. That's hard to do, because there are some great great players out there. But tonight, he was the man, and he deserved the MVP, and I'm real proud of him.

Anyway, it's my second time coaching an All-Star Game, and it was everything it was made up to. We had a great time this weekend, and then the game kind of took care of itself, and we just kind of let the guys play and have a good time. But we did want to win the game. I told them that was a priority, and to make sure that they did the little things that made them All-Stars, which is play both ends of the floor, run back on defense, and not just play an offensive game. I really think that was the difference. We tried to defend, and also have a lot of fun. But it was a wonderful experience for me, again.

Q: With Shaq out, and you said you had no real center to speak of, did you foresee this kind of game custom-built for Kobe to come out and show his stuff?
A: It's not a disadvantage if you don't have a center and you play a fast-paced game, an open-court game and we were going to do that anyway, even if Shaq was there, we were going to run and play an open-court game. But it did put the pressure on their big guys to get back, and it is a tremendous advantage for point guards who can push the ball up the floor, which we had a couple, and players like Kobe, who in the open court, their skills really come out.

Q: I know this would not happen during the season, but was it a particularly sweet moment for you, given the circumstances, to have your wife sit for just a little while on the bench with you?
A: Yeah, that's a first. It was fun. She doesn't get to tell her story very much, to the television audience and I think it's an important story to tell. Early detection saved her life. She preached early mammogram and took them, and as a result, it saved her life. And same with me; early detection saved my life. I had cancer about a year ago, and thank God that we follow our message ourselves. It's a good lesson for everybody to know, because you should know, as males out there, what your psa is, and ladies, you should know what your mammogram test says on a yearly basis.

Q: Kobe picked up 25 and 30 fairly quickly. Any thought toward leaving him in to try to rack up some big numbers beyond what he got?
A: I didn't think it was necessary. I thought he was MVP the whole way. I thought about it a little bit, maybe putting him in the last three minutes of the game, but I think under the circumstances, he had the MVP locked up. I didn't need to do that. I wanted to give Steve Francis a chance to get on the board. I think the headache was lingering, and they have kind of traced it to some sort of an ear problem and I think you could even see on his free throws there was something that was not right there. So at least he got a point and got on the board.

Q: People talk about different facets of Kobe's game, what about his speed?
A: He's got the whole package. First of all, defense is a priority to him. He's a wonderful player in an All-Star Game because he guards and he scores.
Then he has all of these incredible moves and he's got a step and a hop, and he's got the whole works. He has great touch. He shoots it outside, scores inside, and he can make a pass whenever he wants. I was really impressed with his game. I saw it firsthand where I'm coaching him, and incredible athlete that he is -- another guy I was really impressed with was Gary Payton, I've watched him for a long time, but to see the incredible talent that that guy has, and again plays both ends of the floor. Both of those guys are amazing.

Q: Could you kind of comment on the overall play of the first-time All-Stars, how they affected the game?
A: Well, we had a lot of them in our locker room. I think half the team was a first-time. I basically told them, just make sure -- the priority is to play both ends of the floor. A lot of players when they play in an All-Star Game, and not that I have all of the great experience, but even when I watch them, they try to be too cool and they don't play hard and they just want to run up and down and it's an offensive game and that's really not the way that it should be. It should be that your priorities are still on the defensive end. Those players are All-Stars because most of them play both ends of the floor and let's not forget the other ends of the floor and I think that's what won the game for us. We did play defense. We did try hard, and we got the open court. So we had both ends of the spectrum.

Q: You said that you thought the crowd was sort of funning around, but the booing, in my opinion, seemed to be malicious, did anybody see anything to Kobe during the second half, specifically to counter balance?
A: I didn't. I didn't think it was necessary.
I don't think when you play on a foreign court that it should be embarrassing or surprising if you get booed, even if it's an All-Star Game. It could happen anywhere. I think it's a compliment, to be quite honest with you. He is from here. I'm sure if you had a chance to get him on your team, they would give him a standing ovation if he played for the Sixers. Don't take it personal. Roll with the punches, have a good time, and treat it as it should be treated, lightly.

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KOBE BRYANT Q: I felt real bad for you, you're the native son, come to your hometown and they boo you. What were your thoughts and feelings about that?
A: I was pretty -- pretty upset. Pretty hurt. I just wanted to go out there and just play, just play hard.
But they booed, and you know, I still like coming home, though, I still enjoy playing in Philly, nonetheless.

Q: Any explanation?
A: I don't know. I don't know. But it's still good to be home, though.

Q: Michael got booed in '98. Did he say anything to you about that?
A: No. We haven't talked yet. We haven't talked yet. But they booed him?

Q: Yes, in '98.
A: But I still like coming home, though. It's fun. I had like five cheese steaks, I was sick the first night because I ate too many cheese steaks and tonight I'm going to make sure I have some cheese steaks and this TastyKakes on the plane coming back.

Q: The Philly heritage, the long legacy. Your dad played here, the whole thing with Allen and Dr. J's jersey, did you take your place in that?
A: I guess so, keep the Philly tradition going. I still -- I was able to showcase a little of my Philly flair a little bit. I was teasing Coach Phil Jackson before I came out, I said, "Man, I'm not going to know how to act." So it felt good to go out there and play.

Q: You're known for an impeccable attitude, you worked very hard. How is it that you are misinterpreted, where people see something else and they want to boo?
A: I don't know. We only played Philadelphia once, come to Philly on the East Coast. I don't know, it's a lot of misconception, I guess. I don't know.

Q: Is this a complete spill-over from the Finals last year; that the way you take it?
A: I guess so. I guess so.
My first game in the NBA, my rookie year, I came out of high school, my first game here, they booed me a little bit, too. And that really, really hurt, because it was like my homecoming, you know, coming straight out of high school. That was very, very hurtful.

Q: At the end did it affect your performance that you did not seem as happy as you were in the beginning?
A: A little bit. A little bit, yeah. But what made me feel good, though is at the end, the more people booed, some people started clapping and cheering even harder, and that made me feel good.

Q: What does it say about -- these fans are known for booing Santa Claus, what does it say that they would boo you in the midst of a brilliant performance?
A: I can just look at them being just diehard Sixer fans, I guess, being loyal to their team.

Q: Does it make you want to punish them even more?
A: I'll use it as motivation, definitely. I'm the type of person where if something occurs in my life that's hurtful, I'm not going to let it hurt me, but for so long. I'm going to turn it around and use it as some type of motivation.

Q: Is this a little surprising, in '97, the same thing kind of happened to Allen Iverson in Cleveland and I'm sure when that happened, everybody wonders what's going on here, and for it to happen to you again, did you think that would happen again in an All-Star Game?
A: Coming into today's game, I was a little worried about it. I was a little worried about it.
I don't know, I mean -- I don't know what to say. It was not something that I can't really describe the feelings that I have, when it happened. I'm happy. I'm happy I played well. I'm happy to win MVP in Philadelphia, and the booing was just hurtful, but it's not going to -- it's not going to ruin this day for me.

Q: Your thoughts on having Michael Jordan back out there?
A: It was fun. It was fun to see him out there playing, and to see his intensity of how he plays up close. It was good to have him out there.

Q: How about the missed dunk?
A: I didn't have a chance to talk to him, but I said he looked like me on that dunk, because I've been missing break away dunks left and right this season.

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TIM DUNCAN Q: Your thoughts and feelings about seeing a guy like Kobe booed in his own hometown?
A: I didn't understand it. Something beyond my understanding, I guess. He played a great game. Put on a show for the fans, and that's what this game's all about.

Q: How important was it for you guys to get back on track and actually win in the All-Star Game? They had won four out of five; does it make a difference to you guys that they had -- and particularly the way they came back last year?
A: It was kind of a pride thing, especially what happened last year, we really wanted to win this one. One thing that Coach Nelson said coming into the locker room, "Remember what happened last year and we don't want to have that happen again." We really did want to win, but it was great that we put a performance like that together; and really, we ran over them.

Q: Did you say anything to Jordan when he missed that dunk?
A: I asked him why he missed that one; and he didn't miss the one on me. (Laughter).

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KEVIN GARNETT Q: Talk about sharing the court with Tim Duncan and Chris Webber and what a great front court you were, distributing, willing and passing to one another?
A: I had a lot of fun today, like you said, with Duncan, and coming in here, I didn't expect nothing less today from us, having fun, enjoying the game. I mean, it's an All-Star Weekend, it's an All-Star Game, you can't think none of the above, so to speak. It was fun. I anticipated everything that happened today. It was -- I can't even put it into words, but it was a joy.

Q: There was a moment there, when they tried to come back, and I think you shot over Michael, and he laughed a little bit. Were you thinking about not letting them come back this year?
A: You could sort of feel the momentum starting to shift a little bit, and I noticed that they started to get a little more aggressive. I went to some of my teammates and was like, do y'all sense the same thing I'm sensing? Let's go ahead and try to open this thing up a little more. I could look at Mike's face and see that he was getting frustrated by the fact that we was getting beat by so much. You have to always anticipate Mike flipping that switch and making the All-Star Game into a memorable moment.
Just from that standpoint, hit the shot, came down, smacked him on the behind, a little laugh after that. I think that was just another thing that said, hey, we'll stop this momentum, everybody calm down, you guys don't have a chance this year. Just us talking out there.

Q: Would you have liked to have played with Wally a little bit more, and how much ribbing is he going to get at home for that first shot that went off the side of the backboard?
A: I think that was a nervous shot.
You know, this is the All-Star Game, and whatever Coach decides to do, that's what you do. This is not a platform to act ignorant or to show your behind. You come in, you play the game and you have fun. Nonetheless, who you play with, you have fun and you enjoy it. Coach did what he wanted to do and it was cool. That first shot, Wally will definitely get this some grief for that, but it was all nerves.

Q: With all of you high school guys in the NBA dominating, have you thought about the high schoolers versus the rest of the NBA?
A: I don't think we are deep enough. I think there's, what, seven or eight -- how many of us is in the League? I think there's like seven or eight. You've got to have reserves and you've got to have at least 15 to get some breaks.
We get a couple more, that's real strong and solid, then, you know, one day, maybe.

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GARY PAYTON

Q: What was it like playing against Jason Kidd in this game?
A: It was different. We didn’t play each other that much. We went up and down the floor two or three times. We had a good time. He had a good time. It was a big difference. I always played with him on the All-Star team.

Q: Talk about Tracy McGrady’s dunk.
A: It was great! Tracy went back to the playground. Old school.

Q: What does Seattle need to do in the second half of the season?
A: We just have to be focused. Do what we’ve done the last two games: rebound the ball and play good defense. Just let our offense come to us. We just need to keep doing that because we are a bad rebounding team. If we could just rebound we could do a lot of things.

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WALLY SZCZERBIAK

Q: What did you think of the game?
A: We got the win, got serious in the second half. I thought we played really well as a team. We really shared the ball, knocked down a lot of big threes and that’s what got us over the hump.

Q: Talk about Kobe’s performance.
A: I thought he played great. He was looking to be aggressive offensively. He helped carry us to victory and I congratulate him on his MVP.

Q: What did you think of McGrady’s dunk?
A: That was nice. I’m still partial to K.G.’s because he’s my teammate. His legs look real fresh right now.

Q: You looked serious out there. A: We were very focused. I know Alonzo Mourning was in the East locker room trying to fire the East up at halftime and make sure that they played hard and played to win. That’s what this game is about.

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PEJA STOJAKOVIC

Q: How was your first All-Star experience?
A: Unbelievable experience. I had so much fun this weekend, especially tonight. I was nervous at the beginning of the game, but everything worked out well. I am happy the West won.

Q: Have you ever been so nervous?
A: Probably my first game in the NBA.

Q: Was this game’s pace faster than usual?
A: It was faster. It was exciting. All the guys did a great job trying to put on a show for the fans. I think it was a good game.

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CHRIS WEBBER

Q: How does Kobe Bryant score so many points in an All-Star Game?
A: Because he wants too. If any of these other guys wanted to, they could also. He takes the challenge and you have to give him credit for that.

Q: Why do you think the fans were booing Bryant?
A: The Lakers got them last year in the Finals. I told him to enjoy the boos, because that is a sign of respect. I would love to have the whole city boo me because I knocked them out of the playoffs. Obviously, they feel he is the reason why they did not get a championship.

Q: Where did you get those shoes?
A: They are a limited edition from a new shoe company. I said I would wear them for the All-Star Game. I got a lot of comments. Overall, good ones. It gave us players something to talk about. It was fun to have something to joke about.

Q: Was Tracy McGrady’s dunk off the backboard the highlight of the night?
A: No, the West won.

Q: How did it feel to avenge last year’s loss?
A: We wanted to win and whoever got a hot hand, we were going to keep feeding him. This a dream come true for all of us and all of us feel at any given time we score that many points.