Q: How tough was it to play that game with the way you were feeling?
KB: It was tough. I was just tired, drained. You just gotta push past it as much as possible. Just play hard and leave it all out there and get plenty of rest after the game.
Q: After Game 5 you said that you tried to bail your teammates out in the 4th Quarter. Did you feel burdened tonight?
KB: Yeah, I mean particularly the start of the ballgame, you know, to generally come out to see how everybody else is flowing, see what kind of rythym guys are going to be in...they blitzkrieg'd us at the start of the game and jumped out to an 11-0 run and I couldn't really wait. I had to try and do what I could to keep us in the game at that point.
Q: Metta World Peace will be available for Game 7 -- I know he's been practicing but couldn't play. Realistically, what do you expect from him in this huge game?
KB: Well, I expect him to come out and play with the tenacity that he's known for. He's the one guy that I can rely on night in and night out to compete and play hard, play with a sense of urgency and to play with no fear, so I'm looking forward to having that by my side again.
Q: 37 minutes when you're feeling like this was obviously a pretty big effort. Do you think your teammates matched your heart tonight?
KB: No, of course they didn't.
Q: Mike (Brown) was pretty pointed in his remarks about Andrew and Pau ...saying that they didn't bring what the team needed them to do. Do you agree with that and where do you see that they can improve?
KB: Of course I agree with that. I talked with Pau a little bit after the game and I'll speak with Andrew as well. It's one of those things psychologically, you have to put yourself in a position where you have no other option but to perform. You have to emotionally put yourself with your back against the wall and kind of trick yourself, so to speak, to feel there's no other option but to perform and to battle. And when you have that and put yourself into that mindset your performance and talent shines through. It doesn't matter what the defense does or it doesn't matter if you get fouled...it doesn't matter because you're emotionally at a level that's above that and that is the mindstate that they have to put themselves in.
Q: Kobe, did your teammates let you down?
KB: Yeah, we let each other down for sure. We didn't step up and meet the energy and I expect them to come out in Game 7 and play with a sense of urgency and a sense of desperation that wasn't there the last two games.
Q: These are some guys that you've won playoff games with... won game 7 in the NBA Finals with, why do you think it hasn't carried over to this series?
KB: Ahh, I don't know. But I can speak from experience ...in our first Championship run in 2000 where we wind up going to 5 games against a Sacramento team, we got pushed to the brink against Houston in our championship runs, so these sorts of things do happen. In 2008 we met a Boston team in the Finals that got pushed to a Game 7 against an up and coming young Atlanta team...so these things happen, you just have to respond.
Q: Do you know how you got sick? Can you describe a little bit how your day was like with your sickness?
KB: I don't know. My room resembled a scene from the exorcist.
Q: That hard foul on Faried... frustration? Sending him a message? Some of that? All of that?
KB: Neither. I was genuinely trying to swipe at the ball... the ball was going up, I was trying to get it before he elevated to get to the rim. I tried to swipe it and knock it out of bounds and it's unfortunate that I got him in the head. It definitely wasn't intentional, I was trying to make a play on the ball and I'm just happy that he's ok.
for those that didnt hear it.
-DMP-
face when asked if worried about lakers
