04/23/2008 - 13:33
In a Good Place
by Tyson Chandler

I'm feeling real good right now. I'm very satisfied with the way we've performed, very satisfied with the way we stepped up to the challenge as a team, and satisfied with my play as an individual. I feel like we're in a good place right now. We secured home and now we gotta head to Dallas and try to get Game 3.

I think with all the emotions of playoff basketball starting, and everybody wanting to do well and be aggressive, that can turn into extra added energy that you don't need. I think that's basically what happened to us in the first half of Game 1. I guess we just wanted to be out there and do well so bad that we probably forced some things, overhelped and allowed them to get easy buckets and things like that.

In the second half, we calmed down and started playing our type of basketball. And I think, obviously, it kinda rolled over into the next game. We really had control of Game 2 from the get-go.

I think last night, it was kind of a pride thing with Mo Pete and the rest of our guards. They were saying they were gonna take CP out of the game, and that would be the way to beat us. I think some guys took that personally.

Mo Pete came out very aggressive. It may have been the first time this year I've seen him get the ball, dribble the full length of the court, pull up for a shot and knock it down. He also dribbled full court and made some plays for us. It was really great to see, because it really takes a lot of the pressure off of CP trying to handle the ball or having to set up a play. When anybody can get the ball and push the fast break, that's dangerous, because then you got all five guys out there running.

MVP
The way CP has played has been absolutely unbelievable. What's been more unbelievable is that he's scored 30-plus points in both games, but he hasn't been selfish at any point, trying to force the issue or anything. If anything, after the first game, after scoring 35 points and being in the MVP race with all the media hoopla, you would think he would try to come back and match his performance. But he kinda laid back, allowed everybody else to get in a rhythm early in the game, and made a lot of passes to get everybody hot. Then, he kinda just picked his spots.

The thing that I love is he's playing really above his age, above his years. He's allowing the game to come to him. He's not rushing anything. He's continuing what he's been doing all year, and that's making everybody around him better.

MORE WORK TO DO
We understand in our locker room that we haven't done anything but win on our home floor. And it's a series of four. It's not a series of one. It's not a series of two or three. All we have to do is stay focused, take it game by game, play hard, and try to win every game like it's Game 7. We're gonna play Game 3 like that. We're gonna try and go after Game 3 and we'll see what happens after that.

JUST PLAYOFF BASKETBALL
I really try to stay away from getting Ts, but obviously, I got two. It's really just physical out there and reactions to hard, tough plays and emotions. Everybody's playing for the same thing and you got pride. You just kinda get chippy out there when you're playing so intense. But it's never my style to be personal. My emotions just let out.

I definitely understand the refs trying to take control of the game, because they don't want to see that stuff going on. But I think you're going to see a lot of techs, because like I said, guys are so fired up, and it's not like they're trying to do anything but whatever they can to win.

CRAZY REACTION TO THE LAST BLOG
I was just responding like, "Be careful what you ask for." And that's the truth. The Mavs asked for us. We didn't ask for the Mavs. We said that whomever we played, we'd be satisfied with.

ON TO DALLAS
We just kinda shot around today, got a lot of shots up, got a lot of free throws up. Tomorrow, we'll go over some film, break down some of our mistakes, break down what we want to accomplish in Game 3, and probably do a little live-action. Then we fly out to Dallas and we got Game 3 on Friday.

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