04/17/2010 - 00:00
Taking on Dwight and Co., and Being Back
by Tyson Chandler

The playoffs tip this weekend and this being my third straight postseason trip, I'm still just as excited.

Going up against Orlando, I think it's a great matchup for us. The Magic are obviously a talented team. They were the Eastern Conference Champions last year, so it’s definitely a tough task.

They also have the best big man in the league right now. It's a good matchup for us though. I'm excited about it. I'm excited to go head to head with Dwight. I have a lot of respect for his game, so I'm looking forward to it.

Having been to the playoffs before, I kind of have an expectation for what it's going to be like and it takes preparation. You prepare for every second that you're out there to be intense.

"I'm excited to go head to head with Dwight. I have a lot of respect for his game." (Getty Images).

We're going to go into a hostile atmosphere, going into Orlando on their home floor. The thing that we have to do is we have to try to steal one. Regardless of when it is, we have to get one on their home floor. To do that it takes mental preparation that's like none other.

You have to be totally focused in, keyed in on the task at hand and what you need to do to win the game because one mistake can lose you the ballgame. That's how the games go in the playoffs. It's all about who can capitalize on the other person's mistakes.

I think we're capable of that because we're really versatile as a team. We have really big guards and wings and with Boris playing the four, we can switch across. We match up well in that scenario because they start Rashard at the four. It will be an unconventional set up at the power forward, but we like that match up. We have some solid big men to try and slow down Dwight in the middle as well.

With the addition of Larry Hughes and myself going to the bench, allowing Theo to start the games, our bench has come up with it's own identity. With DJ leading the way, a lot of times we try to come in and push the tempo. That said, they have a strong bench and bring shooters off the bench at all times, so we match up in different ways.

The key to this series is going to be rebounding and forcing Dwight into tough shots without allowing their three-point shooters to get wide-open looks. We have to contest their three-point shots, keep them at a low percentage and keep Dwight out of his sweet spot. If we can do that, we definitely have a chance.

We look at this as 0-0. We're going into it with a game plan and we know that they're making adjustments too. So once the ball gets thrown up, we'll see who has the better game plan.

A CITY FULL OF SUPPORT
Everybody is definitely excited about what we're doing here in Charlotte.

This is the first time in franchise history that the team is going to the playoffs. Our home games of late have mirrored that. We've had great support with a lot of fans out there, being loud. It's definitely been a playoff atmosphere and I know it's going to be nuts come our first home game of this series.

It's different here than when I went to the playoffs with New Orleans that first year. That year, we were favored to come out of the West. We were the number two seed and we were favored to be in the Western Conference Finals. That was the prediction. Then that second year, we were all banged up so that was tough because we weren't 100 percent. We kind of limped into the playoffs.

In Charlotte, this is a situation where we have a lot of young players, a lot of players without any playoff experience, even veterans on our team without playoff experience. It's a different hunger with guys that have never even been a part of it more than just looking forward to it. I'm sure they're going to have all the energy in the world playing in their first playoff games.

It's great to get Coach Brown back to the playoffs too. I have a lot of respect for him and I've really enjoyed my year being under him. I've learned a lot and he teaches every player on this team every single day. Because of that, he's meant everything to this team. I know every player that is under him right now is going to be able to take something from him and apply it to their entire career.

We're a team that's still growing. As the year went along, we started to come together. We've made acquisitions, moved players, traded players and a bunch of things have changed throughout the year.

It's constantly gelling, re-gelling, learning each other and we've consistently worked at that throughout the year. I think we've done a heck of a job considering all of the moves that we made from the beginning of the season throughout it. Charlotte has embraced us for that.

JUST A SCARE
I took a pretty gruesome fall the other night in the last game of the season, but I wanted to let ya'll know I'm feeling good. It was just a scare.

Obviously, I'm still a little sore from it, but I feel good. It's no different than anybody else that's going into the playoffs right now. I feel like everybody has their nicks and bruises. There's nothing that's going to hinder me from playing or even hinder my level of play.

That said there was definitely some initial worry because when I hit the ground, I lost feeling for a little while in my elbow. I guess it was just because of the way I landed. I was scared about that, but once that started to come back, I knew I would be ok.

THE RETURN TO NOLA
I have a lot of great memories in the city of New Orleans, so to go back there last week brought back some emotions.

It was great just to be back in New Orleans, I hadn't been back there since the trade. It was good to see the fans, some of the people I grew to love when I was there, my old teammates, it was a really good feeling being back there.

Charlotte is finally seeing what Ty can do when healthy (Getty Images).

Obviously I was going to come in there and play with energy because I have so many memorable moments there in that arena. The reception from the fans there was incredible because they cheered me like I still was wearing a Hornet uniform.

That was special for me. Just hearing them receive me the way they did let me know that they respected what I did while I was there.

THIS IS ME
The fans in Charlotte have been great to me as well, showing their support in my return.

At the beginning of the year it was tough coming off of surgery and an injury. I wasn't feeling like myself. I knew there were so many things that I could bring to the table that I wasn’t able to because I couldn't play like myself out there.

It's been really good to start feeling like myself, start playing like myself and giving the fans an opportunity to see what I actually bring to the table.

It's been so much better being healthy and gaining the confidence that comes along with being healthy. Being able to run and move laterally well, I think all that contributes to shot blocking, rebounding and even finishing, the things I do well. I'm a different athlete when I feel great and I'm starting to feel great now.

It's a huge difference in basketball when you're having problems with your legs, because they are your base. I had to go through a whole summer of rehab, but just rehabbing and actually playing basketball, having your basketball legs, are two totally different things. When I was doing rehab, I wasn't able to really be on the court to do anything.

I really just lacked my usual explosiveness. When you need to move laterally to come over to block a shot or you need to get out of your box to rebound the ball, you have to be able to move without thinking and move at a split second's notice. I wasn’t able to do that. I could see what was going on, but it would take me a while to think and compensate for all that.

I had scar tissue that I needed to break up, so sometimes I would get down like I normally do, get ready to explode but I couldn't really do it and get that leap because I needed to break through the scar tissue. That was part of my rehab, but at the end of the rehab, I was pretty much rehabbing while playing.

Once all that left and I was able to just react and play, you can see the difference.

HELLO BYE-BYE
The family is still doing great, enjoying Charlotte.

It's getting tough now though because my son is getting so attached to me as he gets older. He's starting to notice now when I leave. So if he sees me go to get my shoes, he runs to the door now to try and grab his shoes.

He can only say a couple of words like da-da, no, ba-ba, stuff like that. But it really breaks my heart because when I'm leaving, he runs and lifts his arm up to grab me like "Don't leave me." And then he points to his shoes like to say "I want to go too." But I always have to set him down and he just stares at the door as I walk off.

I told my wife to put a picture up for him, so he can see me when I'm gone. So now whenever he walks by my picture in the house he always points at it and goes "Da-da bye-bye. Da-da bye-bye." Anytime someone says my name he goes "bye-bye." So it’s like the saddest thing for me to have to leave him and now he knows me as bye-bye.

Obviously, when things are done, I’ll have the summer to play and bond with him, but he's taking it a little rough right now with me in and out.