Raptors vs. Magic
April 26, 2008
Air Canada Centre

Mitchell

Thoughts on the team’s three-point shooting…
They got some timely shots, and we didn’t make any three’s. We got 92 shots and we didn’t shoot the ball well enough and we had some break-downs defensively. I think I said in the regular season that when you play this team you’ve got to score some points because they are going to score. They’ve got Dwight Howard and he shoots a high percentage because most of his baskets are around (the net) and there are times when you have to trap, and they have a lot of three-point shooters. You understand they are going to make some shots but we’ve got to score. We just didn’t score enough.

How do you keep your focus down 3-1 in the series?
Well, I mean the focus is go into Orlando and win a basketball game and try to get back home. I mean it’s just that simple. There is nothing brilliant I can tell you other than we have got to focus and remember that we came within a shot of winning down there in game two, so we know that we are capable of playing well there. We have got to fight like the Dickens. We’ve got to go out kicking and screaming and so everything we’ve got we got to put into it.

What changed from the 1st to 2nd half?
Well, I just think our defense, we had some breakdowns. It seems like anytime they penetrated our defense something good happened for them. We have got to do a better job of stopping them from double penetration. Tonight, like I said, we are having a hard time identifying the plays other than the high screen and roles and just zip into iso(lation) they are just beating us off the dribble. We have got to do a better job of keeping people in front of us.

Thoughts on the play of Dwight Howard…
He did a good job and probably stopped us from driving as much, other than Chris (Bosh). When you look at his (Chris Bosh) stat line it’s pretty hard for him to do much more than he did. But we still got to keep kicking the ball to the net and you go to look for the contact. Because if you don’t you put too much pressure on your perimeter game. So you still got to look to penetrate and get there, not necessarily to shoot but to draw the defense in and look to pass the ball.

Ford

T.J. FORD

Thoughts on going back to Orlando down 3-1….
It’s not over yet. It’s the first one to four. We got ourselves in a hole and we just have to continue to stay positive. We still have to believe. We still remember the games in Orlando, especially game two where we had a chance to win. We’ve got to keep the same mentality going to Orlando and get a win. That’s the only way we can come back and keep our season alive.

Thoughts on the team rebounding…
It’s tough. You have Dwight (Howard) down there and everybody is trying to box him out and sometimes you forget about the guys on the wing crashing the boards. You know overall, we were up five points at half and had a couple of bad possessions to start the third quarter. Other than that, the game was always going to be close. Sitting on the side, you knew it was going to come down to a couple of possessions in the fourth quarter, which it did. They came up and made shots and we didn’t.

Kapono

JASON KAPONO

Thoughts on game…
Obviously they played well in the fourth. They made shots and they got stops. We couldn’t make shots and we were out of rhythm. They played well down the stretch and we let them score. They made a couple of tough hoops, a couple of tough threes and that was the difference.

Bosh

CHRIS BOSH

As a leader how can you pick up this team and get them going and motivated?
Well, I mean we have been motivated the whole year. I am just going to continue to do my job the way I have been doing it. We know our backs are against the wall when we are going in so we are going to have to play our hardest game of the year.

Tonight was a hard fought game, how did it get away?
We had trouble containing guys and Jameer Nelson, he just got hot. He really hadn’t shot like that the whole series, we were challenging his attempts a little bit better. He made a couple easy shots and by that time I guess the basket looked a little bit bigger to him, but at the same time we stayed aggressive. When he was coming down the lane we helped a little bit and he gave the ball to Rashard (Lewis) or (Hedo) Turkoglu and they hit some big shots.

Hedo (Turkoglu) and Dwight (Howard) made plays at the right time…
Sometimes when it comes down to it, I mean they really didn’t make plays, they were just out there playing basketball and when you are at your best that is how it goes sometimes. I mean Rashard (Lewis), he had been aggressive the whole game and he did a great job on the boards. And we know that he can knock down shots and that is kind of what had us on our toes. When there was time to make shots he made them.

What did they do to take your teammates out of the offense?
I’m not sure, I think we just didn’t make shots. That’s what it came down to. We had open 15-footers, some contested and some uncontested, but we never really got on that role that we usually get on sometimes, especially at home. We usually make those shots and that is what’s tough about it because in a series like this every game is important. We were in the game the whole time and we can sit here and talk about offense all day but it’s about defence. If we stop them then the game is still close and we still have a chance to win.

Van Gundy

Thoughts on the game…
Good win. I thought that both teams fought very hard. It was, even though it didn’t come down to the last shot like game two, as far as over the course of the entire 48 minutes, it was the most competitive game of the series. I was really happy with our effort to finish the game in the fourth quarter. I thought our defence was a little better, Chris (Bosh) got off, but overall our defence was a little better. I thought our ball movement was good. We finally made some shots in the second half which really helped us. The only thing that was a negative on our end, Chris went off but he’s a great player and that’s going to happen some, the only real negative on our end we just turned the ball over. We turned it over a lot in the first end. After that, we settled down only down one going into the fourth and we fought it out pretty good.

On this game justifying Rashard’s (Lewis) contract…
First of all, I say this all the time, there is not one person employed by an NBA team that is not overpaid. Second of all, he stepped up big today. Not just scoring, I think that was his best rebounding game, maybe of the year. He wanted that game, he competed hard. I thought he was outstanding. All I know about Rashard Lewis is he has been a great player for us, he is a great teammate and he has competed harder and harder and harder as the year has gone on, on the defensive end and on the boards. I’m just happy to have him.