They’ll get another chance, this time at home, during Game 7 on Saturday. They’re much better at home in these closeout situations, but could be in for some trouble looking ahead anyway. They’ve lost guard Avery Bradley for the season with a shoulder injury.

Danny Ainge joined WEEI in Boston with The Big Show to discuss his frustrations from Game 6, the Celtics’ troubles closing out series on the road, the Celtics’ offense in Game 6, what he feels like when he’s part of a Game 7, if the series has played out as he thought it would and the prognosis on Avery Bradley.

When you left Philadelphia after losing Game 6, what was the most frustrating thing?:

“I think that our defense of the pick-and-roll that they exploited on us in the fourth quarter was pretty frustrating. I know our defense; I know what kind of preparation that we have. I know our coaching staff is prepared and I just didn’t think that we executed defensively. And I thought that play really hurt us.”

Your team is 2-11 in the last few years in games that could close playoff series on the road. Why do you think that number is so bad?:

“I think it’s bad because in a couple of those situations, I thought that we didn’t meet the challenge the way that we should of. But generally, it’s very difficult if you’re playing against the best competition in the NBA, playing on the road and playing teams that are facing elimination. They always say the fourth game is the hardest game to win and our guys have definitely learned that.”

What happened with the offense in Game 6? We thought you’d have a moment where the team would put together a run but they never did:

“As the series has gone along, KG got off to a great start in the series. They really haven’t adjusted too much on the outside with KG. I think he’s getting open looks from the perimeter still. … The same with Brandon [Bass]. Those guys still had open looks from the perimeter. They’ve done a great job of trapping Paul and Ray, making it very difficult. Digging and trapping KG on the post and trying to take his post game a little more. They’ve taken away some of our strengths and you’ve got to have other guys step up. … Halfway through the fourth quarter we were 9 for 42 on jump shots. … It’s a make and miss game and you’ve got to make shots.”

You’ve been through Game 7s before. How would you describe your emotions?:

“I think they’re exciting. I think as a young player, I was probably more nervous because I hadn’t experienced them. But I think they’re just a great opportunity. People remember Game 7s and so this is important for our team to win this. Our home crowd here, there’s certainly no guarantees that we win … but our guys have to go out and play like it’s the last game of the year.”

Has this series played out like you thought it would?:

“I knew it would be a tougher series than people thought. We’ve had some good stretches and they had some good stretches. I knew it would be a challenge. Philadelphia gave us trouble in the regular season and Philadelphia beat a good Chicago team even though Chicago was without its two best players. … I really believed that we would win [Game 6] but we didn’t. And I believe we’re going to win Saturday. … It’s a game we could lose and I hope our guys feel that, that they can’t take anything for granted.”

How does Avery Bradley’s injury affect him going forward? Will he need surgery?:

“Avery needs surgery and so he should have a summer full of rehab and should be able to go next year.”

Listen to Danny Ainge on WEEI in Boston here

It appeared to be inevitable that Stan Van Gundy would be the odd man out in Orlando after the season had concluded, especially after all the drama surrounding Dwight Howard over the course of the season. In early April Van Gundy told the press after a pre-game shootaround that his star player wanted him fired. Howard emphatically denied this statement. The head coach-star player marriage soured despite the Magic making the playoffs and Van Gundy having a winning record during his time in Orlando.

Well the closest man to Stan would be his brother Jeff. His brother sure didn’t disappoint in the following interview. Jeff wasn’t shy about professing his disgust for the Orlando Magic organization, particularly Magic President Alex Martins.

Jeff Van Gundy joined 98.7 ESPN New York with Stephen A.Smith and Ryan Ruocco to discuss the NBA reviewing all flagrant foul calls, the NBA instituting a penalty for flopping on the court, his reaction to his brother, Stan Van Gundy, being fired by the Magic and his disrespect for Magic President Alex Martins.

Did you believe Tyler Hansbrough deserved to be suspended?

“No I didn’t think…first of all I didn’t think Tyler Hansbrough foul was flagrant. To me the flagrant fouls are so inconsistently called. Like Game 6 in the Bulls-76ers series where Omer Asik was just taken down by Spencer Hawes. That wasn’t called a flagrant and it wasn’t upgraded to a flagrant. To me that was clearly a flagrant where as this one? It was borderline. Here’s my thing I think the bigger issue is this: Why do they only review flagrant two flagrant fouls? It’s such a critical call that every flagrant foul should be reviewed to see if in fact in slow motion if they saw the same thing they thought they saw in the heat of the moment and in the game. I think it would be or it should be an absolute…it should be immediately the league office changes today that the flagrant foul is such a critical call that they put it to replay no matter if it’s ruled first a flagrant one or a flagrant two.”

Would you like to see a new rule in the NBA where flopping is called a foul?

“I would like to see a two-pronged attack to the excessive flopping that is overtaking the NBA. One as you said if an official can see the flow of the real game that a flop occurred than the foul that brought about the flop is negated and the flopper is assessed a technical foul. I think the league office they have a lot of people working for them go back through every game and any exaggerated contact that is a flop during a game you start accumulating technical fouls. You accumulate points that will eventually lead to suspensions. You’re not looking for the ones that are minor. You are looking for the ones where a guy is definitively trying to trick an official because to me tricking an official is not an NBA play and I think it’s gone where teams have one guy who would flop to now where our stars are doing the flopping and that’s not good for basketball.”

Your thoughts on your brothers dismissal as coach of the Orlando Magic? What is the future of your brother Stan Van Gundy moving forward? “As you just said his coaching is beyond approach, so he doesn’t need me to defend him. At the same time teams throughout professionals sports they change coaches. Now how you go about it is important. For him to have been in the office all day and the President, Alex Martins, knows that he is there and let them leave and then he calls him on the phone to fire him? It’s unprofessional. It’s unprofessional. To hide behind the fact or try to make everyone believe that Dwight Howard didn’t have a part in this is absurd. Say listen we fired this guy because we know this our best chance to keep Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard and I decided to fire him. To do anything else is playing a game of semantics. It really is. Third at the press conference that they hold to be going on and on how difficult of a day it is for you personally, Alex Martins to fire people? He does this every time he fires somebody at the Magic with countless disregard at how it impacts people that he just fired. Now my brother is fine financially, but he has uprooted so many other lives that to force…you want sympathy and empathy because you have it hard? Countless disregard for what normal Americans are going through. He’s fired many people there and he always comes up with the same thing that it’s been a tough day on me without any regards for their feelings. Finally and this is the biggest one to me he said that my brother is the finest ‘X and O’ coach he has been around in his 25 years in the business. Okay listen [Alex Martins] all you have done in your 25 years in the business is release press releases and run the business side. You don’t know if a ball is blown up or stuffed. You don’t know if the pick and role coverage on the side is right or wrong. Just say that I have no knowledge about basketball. It’s offensive when someone who has no knowledge about basketball even in a positive comment tries in those ways to sort of negate what Brian Hill did as a coach or what Matt Guokas did as a coach. He doesn’t know one thing about basketball so please hold off your comments on my brothers expertise since you know nothing about basketball.”

Listen to Jeff Van Gundy on 98.7 ESPN New York here

But, Charles Barkley says it’s true, that Shaq has told him that he’s interested in the position and Barkley expects him to interview for the job in the very near future. It would be an interesting move, that’s for sure. I can’t really picture it, especially given Orlando’s situation wondering if Dwight Howard will stick around. Shaq and Howard have had their moments before, so the move seems a bit nuts, but we’ll see what actually goes down.

Charles Barkley joined The Dan Patrick Show to discuss the merits of Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant vs. Tim Duncan, what he makes of Shaq and the Magic, Shaq’s interest in the position, Shaq’s situation when it comes to Dwight Howard, Howard’s indecisiveness, the Miami Heat not being able to win a championship, if Kobe Bryant can win another and the possibility of trading Andrew Bynum.

If you could have the future of Kevin Durant or LeBron James, which would you pick?:

“LeBron James. He’s going to be the best basketball player in the world the next five to 10 years. … He’ll get better because he’ll just get more mature, but he’s the best player in the world.”

Better player in their generation, Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan?:

“Wow, that’s a great question. How do I answer that question? Tim Duncan is the best power forward ever. Kobe Bryant is one of the 10 greatest players ever. … I’m not sure how to answer that question.”

Do you make anything of this talk of Shaq discussing being a GM with the Orlando Magic?:

“It’s interesting, to be honest with you. Obviously they’re trying to do anything to keep Dwight there and bring a buzz. … They’ve got to do something, either way, whether Dwight stays there or not. Bringing Shaquille in as your general manager is an attention-getter. Whether Dwight stays or leaves, you’re bringing attention to your organization.”

Is Shaq interested in that job?:

“Yes. I don’t know what’s going to happen, obviously. Obviously we’re aware that he’s interviewing for the job. … He’s from Orlando and has affection for the organization, so we’ve just got to sit back and wait.” He told you he’s interested in it?: “Yes.” When’s he interviewing?: “I’m not sure when he’s interviewing for the job, but I think it’ll be now or sometime real soon.”

Isn’t Shaq always poking fun at Dwight Howard?:

“I think they’ve had some issues in the past, but I think they are friends, to be honest with you. I think they’re cordial friends. I think Shaq has taken some shots at Dwight that were unnecessary and uncalled for, but Dwight’s a great player and a great kid.”

More on the Dwight Howard situation:

“I’m not sure Dwight knows what the hell he wants to do. As I said on the show, Dwight needs to grow up and be a man and make a decision. He’s either got to stay or he’s got to go. The way he’s handled the situation right now is not cool at all. Stan Van Gundy is a great coach and I thought he got screwed by the organization. … I’m sick of talking [about the Howard situation].”

On the Miami Heat:

“You know what the problem is? That team’s not great. They lost to Dallas because they’re very small and they have no depth on the bench. And they’re not going to win the championship. They might win this series against Indy. They might even beat the Sixers or the Celtics, but they’re not going to beat the [Spurs] or the Oklahoma City Thunder. … LeBron is going to get the heat because people just don’t like all the stuff that went on in his life. But the guy is underrated; he’s unbelievable.”

Will Kobe Bryant win another title?:

“They can reload quickly. … Once you trade one of those big guys, you’re going to be able to bring something good in. I do think you’ve got to trade one of those big guys and you can bring a couple good guys in.”

I would probably trade Bynum:

“I agree with that because I’m not sure he’s ever going to reach his full potential. There’s just something missing, in my opinion. But I think you do trade him, get a bunch of good pieces. They’ve got to get more athletic, obviously, and they’ve got to get some depth on the bench. I would do that.”

Listen to Charles Barkley on the Dan Patrick Show here

And with the season now over, Metta World Peace surely has some interesting things to say about how everything ended.

Metta World Peace joined Mason & Ireland on ESPN 710 in Los Angeles to discuss the Lakers’ inability to close against the Thunder and how the series might have gone had they been able to finish stronger. He also opined that the team could have taken care of Denver with more ease had he not been suspended in Round 1 and repeated how he wished he’d had a chance to help out more in crucial situations.

On the shape he was in this season:

“If you think about it, I’ve been playing basketball for a long time and I’ve been guarding the best player ever since I’ve been in the NBA. And I’ve probably got more wear and tear on my body than anybody. But with wear and tear on your body, what you discover is ways that you can take care of your body, when you gotta put in the effort to find out. And the training staff really helped me out a lot. So I’d say it’s 50/50 — me, and the other 50 percent was (the training staff). They got me back in shape. Once I got back in shape, I started to do things that I couldn’t do before like catch the ball in the lane and finish a layup. And that was real difficult for me over the last couple of years. I didn’t know what was going on, but I had this nerve problem in my lower back that I didn’t really know about. It was a small problem but it really affected my game. But as of right now, I feel like I can dominate again.”

On how many games it would have taken Los Angeles to beat the Nuggets in Round 1 had he been available for the entire series:

“I gotta say anywhere from four to six. … It should have took us four-to-six games to beat them and some of that probably played a factor in the first game that we lost in OKC due to a little bit of probably fatigue. … With all that said, we still shoulda been up 3-1.”

On the team’s inability to close games against Oklahoma City:

“As a team we were unable to close. That’s 100 percent right. We did, um, at the end of the game, it was unfortunate that we didn’t close them as a team. Now, we do have capable players of closing. I wish I coulda had the ball more at end of the game to assist Kobe (Bryant’s) drive … because I know he wanted to close the game, that’s what he like to do. And myself, sometimes at the end of the game or a crucial play, Kobe will ask for the ball sometimes (and) I’ll shoot it. I don’t really (have) that type of attitude at that time in the game. And so I wish I could have assisted, but I’m a team player first, and that’s kind of one of my weak points is that I’m a team player. And I won’t just go and do things that’s not in the concept of the team. So I kinda wish I would’ve had the ball a couple times at the end of those games. … I think me and Kobe are just as good as closers as anybody in the league, but it was just unfortunate that I wasn’t able to be in that position to help.”

Listen to Metta World Peace on ESPN 710 Los Angeles here (starts at 3:30)

Martins admitted that the tenuous relationship between Howard and Van Gundy was a factor in the decisions, but said there were many other reasons as well. Meanwhile, Howard has basically been estranged from the organization since having season-ending surgery a month ago. It’s a mess, and it will be interesting to see it unfold.

Alex Martins joined WYGM in Orlando to discuss the state of the Magic, how Howard’s relationship with Van Gundy factored in, if Howard ever asked him to fire Van Gundy, the situation with Otis Smith, the timeframe of getting a decision from Howard on his future, not going through another season like last year and the concerns of Howard being away from the team right now.

What message do you have for fans and season ticket holders who are concerned with where the team is at now?:

“The message that I would send them is the moves that we’ve made and the future of the organization is about winning a championship. I think our track record has been quite great under our family ownership. We have the best record, by winning percentage, in the Eastern Conference over the life of the DeVos’ owning the team. We just felt that these changes were necessary for us to keep moving toward our ultimate goal and that’s winning a championship.”

You’ve said the move wasn’t made because of Dwight Howard. If he had a great relationship with Stan Van Gundy, are you saying the change still would’ve been made?:

“What I said was that the decision was made for a lot of different factors over the course of the last two years. And I think I also alluded to the fact that one of the factors was the relationship between Stan and Dwight. But there were many, many other reasons why those changes were made. I do think that if all the other circumstances were the same and Dwight’s future was already solidified, I think we would’ve been at the same crossroads as to whether we were going to make those changes.”

Did Dwight Howard ask anyone in upper management to have Van Gundy fired?:

“I stand by what I said … and that’s the fact that Dwight never did ask me to have Stan fired or to fire Stan. The circumstances over who said what to whom and when, I don’t know all of the specifics to be honest with you. You know that I only took over in this role back in December and a lot took place before that period of time. … I’m not going to get into what I know, what I don’t know, who said what and when.”

Was it a situation where Otis Smith said, ‘If Stan goes, I go?’”:

“I think it’s pretty clear to say that Otis didn’t feel comfortable moving forward without Stan. But when we talk about mutual decision, we had also come to the conclusion that a change was needed with Otis, too, because of a lot of different decisions and factors that have been made over the last two years. So, it’s fair to say that it was mutual because it was a conversation that Otis and I had that we arrived at the same place. He didn’t feel comfortable staying and we felt that there was a change necessary for us to move forward as well.”

Is there a timeframe where you would like to know what Dwight wants to do?:

“We’re going to continue to have those conversations with he and his representative. I think we’ve been clear about what our desire is. But at the end of the day it truly is Dwight’s decision because Dwight’s got to decide whether he signs an extension to his contract with us or not. We’ll continue those discussions … and we’ll quickly move on getting a new general manager in here and let him develop that relationship and determine whether Dwight is going to move forward with us or not.”

Is it safe to say, though, that you guys aren’t going to go through another season of not knowing for sure what he’s going to do?:

“Yeah, I’m pretty well on record saying  that we’re not going to go through the type of season that we went through this past season. Our fans don’t deserve that, our ownership doesn’t deserve that. We want to have the future solidified and move forward in one goal, of winning a championship, at the beginning of last season.”

How worried are you that he’s kind of separated himself from the organization over the last month?:

“Obviously I’d much rather he be here around us and have the opportunity to talk about moving forward together. Having said all that, we’ve stayed in communication with him and his representatives. We do the best we can from afar to influence him and tell him about our continued goal. … We’re going to deal with the situation as it is the best we can.”

Listen to Alex Martins on WYGM in Orlando here

The Mavs struggled to remain consistent all season long coming off an NBA Championship, finishing as the #7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs before being swept by the Oklahoma City Thunders two weeks ago. Nowitzki didn’t seem to be his normal self that carried the Mavs in prior seasons as it became increasingly evident that Dallas must go out in free agency and reload. It looks like that was the plan all along for Mark Cuban. Nowitzki is keeping his fingers crossed for Deron Williams.

Dirk Nowitzki joined ESPN Dallas with Galloway & Company to discuss the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs going the distance, his pick to win the Western Conference Finals, Charles Barkley claiming that he was getting old and that his career was over, idolizing Charles Barkley as a child and the Mavs pursuit of Deron Williams.

Can the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs series go the distance?

“It’s going to be spectacular. Hopefully it’s going to be a long series and we can all watch some great basketball. The whole thing is full of great matchups. Just off the bench with Ginobili and (James) Harden going at it, the two point guards, obviously [Russell] Westbrook was phenomenal against us all series, but Parker is having a phenomenal year, probably in the prime of his career and Duncan is still looking really good this year. And now they got another week off to rest everybody. So, it’s going to be an incredible series to watch. I don’t know. It’s going to be tough to say who is coming out. I think you can make an argument for both. I still think I like San Antonio with their experience, but man OKC looked so good and Durant now really closing games. It’s wide open to me.”

Who’s going to the NBA Finals out of the Western Conference?

“I think San Antonio’s going to do it just because they’ve got one more home game. They really came on strong late in the season and they snatched home-court advantage away from OKC. So, I got to think just by that there is a little slight advantage. But honestly, both teams are good enough to win on the opponent’s floor so I would give a slight advantage to San Antonio, but, man, OKC is looking really good.”

We have Charles Barkley on once a month. Are you familiar with “father time bro?” Charles Barkley said father time was catching up with you and your career was on the downside?

“Father time bro? Of course. I’m undefeated. [Randy Galloway: When you heard him say 'father time' what did you think?] Well I just thought I had a tough time getting going this year. I don’t think…I am very specific taking care of my body. During the season I eat right. I lift. I train. It took me awhile to get going with the whole lockout. There was too many games and not enough preparation time, so I paid for that a little bit, but I still think I can play some really good basketball. If you look at all of those guys they really take of their body like Steve Nash and Jason Kidd is almost 40. Those guys they can compete at a high level for a long time. Even if you are looking at Tim Duncan he is having a phenomenal year this year. It’s his 16th or 17th year. Whatever it is. I still think he can play at a really high level and I still think I can do it I am going to prepare again like in the regular season you have your routine. You come in and report in October and I am going to spend the offseason getting my body ready again and we’ll see what happens next year and see who’s fighting alongside me and who the warriors are and we will go from there.”

Do you still like Charles Barkley after his comments regarding your age?

“I will always say I was a huge Charles Barkley fan and he was the reason why I changed to the number 14. He wore number 14 in the Olympics in 1992, so I changed to number 14 in basketball growing up. Then it became 41, so I love Charles and also love watching him on TV. Whatever is running through his big head and he is going to throw out there? That is what makes it funny. I’m still a huge, huge fan. I didn’t see it as an insult and if anything he is just having his opinions and he’s throwing his out there. That would make great TV and great radio cause he’s the man.”

If the Mavs don’t get Deron Williams what will you think?

“Oh man it’s tough. We’ll just have to wait and see who we get. I think there are a lot of decisions coming in that we have to make and I think with getting coach [Rick Carlisle] out of the way was great and now we know who is coach for the next four years. I think he did a tremendous job, so that’s already one decision off the books and now we gotta see what’s out there I think it’s hard to comment on that now cause everything could change completely in July. All the free agents probably don’t know what they are doing yet. It’s kind of too early. We’d love to get some great players here and reload. I think Donnie Nelson and Mark Cuban have always made that clear. It’s not good enough for us to play for six or seven seeds in the playoff and get swept in the first round. We always want to play at the top and want to have home court advantage in the first round. That’s something we always take pride in and we gotta bring some players in. We are losing a lot of guys from our team, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in July. We would love to get a prime time player like D-Will in, but that’s not an our thing right now. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in July.”

Listen to Dirk Nowitzki on 103.3 FM ESPN Dallas here

The Celtics head coach hasn’t been shy about crediting his opponent during this series and he knows it will take a flawless effort to close out the series in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Doc Rivers joined WEEI in Boston with Dennis and Callahan to discuss the personality of the Boston Celtics, his pregame speech to the Celtics before Game 5 against the Sixers, Doug Collins telling the Sixers that the Celtics are looking ahead to the Heat already in the Eastern Conference Finals, his key points to win Game 6 and the health status of Avery Bradley.

Why do the Celtics never seem to do things the easy way? Have you figured out the personality of this team?

“Well I just think that is who we are. Some teams have the ability to close teams out in four like the San Antonio Spurs. We just don’t right now. We don’t have a huge margin of our error. I’ve said that all year about this team and it shows in games at times.”

What did you say to your team before the game yesterday and did you think you were lucky to only be down a small margin at the half?

“Before the game you just get them ready. You just talk about the game plan and all that stuff. You hope you can go out and do it. For whatever reason we were just not in the right place and that happens. It’s a human game. There could be 1,000 reasons why, but it happened and you could see it was multiple guys just weren’t right. At halftime I was just happy we hung in there. We didn’t play our best. It’s not like guys didn’t go out and try to play their best. They just didn’t. I didn’t think in the first five or six minutes of the second half that we played that much better and it clicked for us. Our energy rose and things went well. I thought we feed off each others energy from that point on.”

What did you think when you heard Doug Collins told his team that you guys were looking ahead to Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals without Chris Bosh?

“No I don’t mind that at all. I mean it’s not true on our part. If that’s what you feel you need to do to excite your team? I would think playing us would be enough. I have no problem with that. That’s not true. They are a good basketball team and every night we have to go out and try to beat anybody. That’s who we are.”

Three blackboard points before you take the court in Game 6?

“The first thing for us is getting back. When they run and play in transition it’s very difficult for us to beat them. They’re faster. They’re quicker. We have to get back. We have to take care of the ball and then on our end we have to play with advance and that means moving the ball.”

Is Avery Bradley out for tomorrow night?

“I don’t know yet. [Host: Game-time decision?] Yeah. I would say 50-50.”

Listen to Doc Rivers on 850 AM WEEI in Boston here

Heat swingman Mike Miller joined Dan Sileo on WQAM in Miami to talk about the series with Indiana. He opened up on if the heavily-favored Heat might have taken the Pacers too lightly early in the series and how much the abdominal injury to Chris Bosh has affected the team, as well as the team’s Game 3 loss not getting to them. Miller wouldn’t say he was disappointed with the team’s performance this postseason, but he didn’t sound excited about it either.

On if the Heat took the Pacers lightly:

“No, I don’t think so. … Bottom line is they’re a really good basketball team, very good basketball team. They’re big, they’re athletic, they’re young, they’re long. (They) can shoot it. Defensively they’re really good. And you’re fighting out it’s a Eastern Conference bloodfest right now and if you look across the board, they’re pretty even everywhere. And it definitely hurts missing Chris Bosh as well. There’s things we’ve had to overcome, there’s no excuses. It’s a good basketball team, it’s gonna be a dogfight in a best-of-three series now.”

On their Game 3 blowout loss only being one game in a seven-game series:

“It is and that’s what makes the playoffs so fun. If you go back to Saturday, going into that game, playoffs are fickle — you going into that game, you lose on Sunday and the series looks grim. But you go into that game and win on Sunday and now you’ve done your job and the series is tied (and) you got home court. So that’s what makes the playoffs fun. And we’ve been a target since we put this team together and how things have gone, so we’re kind of accustomed to it as a team anyway. So that stuff is stuff that we can use to fuel, but at the same time we know when to listen to it and when not to.”

On if they’re disappointed or OK with their play this postseason:

“Obviously, we’re sitting where we want to be. The New York series was a fun series, the Indiana there’s been some ups and downs, there’s no question about it. We’re definitely doing what we need to do as far as handling the business day-to-day right now. We’d obviously like to make it easier for ourselves in the playoffs but it is what it is right now. It’s 2-2 and we’ll have a dogfight ahead of us.”

More on not having Chris Bosh:

“It definitely hurts losing Chris. We lose a low-post scorer, someone that spread the floor, also a good rebounder, and we lose size. So whenever a third of your offense goes out this late in the season you’re kind of scrambling to find a replacement. Fortunately for us, Shane (Battier) and Udonis Haslem are doing a great job and our bigs are doing a good job as well.”

Listen to Mike Miller on WQAM here

Jrue Holiday believes his team didn’t play with a sense of urgency in Game 3. The Sixers point guard dishes out his take on how the Sixers will come back strong in Game 4 and swing momentum back in their favor.

Jrue Holiday joined 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia with Mike Missanelli to discuss the Sixers defense giving up 107 points in Game 3 against the Celtics, the Sixers’ need to play better team defense, the Celtics outplaying the Sixers in the 3rd quarter of Game 3, defending Rajon Rondo and the what his team needs to do to swing the series’ momentum back in their favor.

What happened last night with the Sixers defense? You guys gave up 107 points last night?

“We just didn’t play defense. We didn’t play defense like we know we should have. We let too many guys get to the basket. Kevin Garnett got too many opens looks to the basket. Paul Pierce got to the free throw line a lot and Rajon Rondo, who in the first two games didn’t score 30 points, so we just gotta play better defense.”

How do you play better team defense?

“It really is just a sense of urgency. I think last night we didn’t come with that energy like we usually did. Instead of us running them they just kind of really ran us.”

Did the Celtics just defeat you in the 3rd quarter last night?

“I think as I said the other night we didn’t start the game off with the energy that we needed. I think that is definitely where it all started from. The game isn’t really about offense. I think defense really does trigger our offense. If we play defense well we get easy stops and transitions, lay ups and dunks. That’s really what we fuel off of.”

How difficult is it to defend Rajon Rondo? How do you guard him from this point on?

“Really just be more aggressive. Not let him get to the basket. If anything if he gets to the basket then foul him. He’s not that great of a free throw shooter. Just be a lot more aggressive on him I think. Our game plan was kind of lock off and then once he passes the ball be the help man on KG and Paul Pierce.  We need to be a little bit more aggressive on him.”

How can you turn this series around in your favor?

“Just be aggressive and come with energy. I think even last night Paul Pierce didn’t have a great shooting night. KG didn’t miss, but Paul Pierce did. He just got to the free throw line a lot. Rajon Rondo? If we keep him out of the paint then we will be fine. It’ll definitely come down to time of possession, critical plays down the stretch and the 4th quarter like the last two games. Again we just have to come with a lot of energy. We are young. We have a defense, but it starts off with our defense and being really active.”

Listen to  Jrue Holiday on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia here [Interview begins at the 21:25 mark of the podcast]

Rick Carlisle joined 105.3 the Fan in Dallas to talk about getting a new contract, whether the season was a disappointment in Dallas, if he had a say in the strategy of the team at the end of last year, if he still hears from upset fans that the team chose not to make a stronger title defense, how active the team will be this offseason and how close the Mavericks are to the team where they need Dirk Nowitzki to be the second best player on the roster.

On getting a new contract:

“I wanted to come back but I wanted to make sure this thing got done the right way. It did, so I’m pleased.”

Whether this season was a disappointment:

“Yeah. (Host: In what ways?) You get beat in the first round and with the standards that we have for our franchise it’s not where we want to be.”

If he had a say in the strategy of the team at the end of last year:

“To some degree but a lot of the decision making during that period was going to be based on the new rules of the new collective bargaining agreement and there were certain realities that were going to be hard realities not only for us but for other teams and it just wasn’t going to be possible to bring the same team back unfortunately.”

If he still heard from upset fans that the team chose not to make a stronger title defense:

“Well now it’s five months ago and the season is over for us and we have to turn the page. I understand it’s your job to go back and regurgitate things and bring up the negative and all that kind of stuff. I respect that but I don’t know if it makes much sense to get into a litany of questions about it because the realities are the realities and the realities were the realities and we have to move forward. The exciting thing about the whole reality that we couldn’t bring back the same team is that it gave us flexibility and now we’ve got to take advantage of that. That’s really going to be our focus now.”

How aggressive the team plans to be this offseason:

“I know we’re going to be extremely active in all three areas and you never know exactly how a summer is going to take shape. Two summers ago we went into it after a very disappointing first round loss to San Antonio and we knew we needed a certain to kind of help but we weren’t sure where it was going to come from, how it was going to happen and then Mark (Cuban) and Donnie (Nelson) used (Erick) Dampier’s expiring contract which was unguaranteed to pick up (Tyson) Chandler. Chandler was the perfect guy to finish off that team. There were some other moves that were made too that really helped us like (Peja) Stojakovic and a couple of other things but Chandler was a big one. We’ve got to be very resourceful and opportunistic and all those things that I keep saying both on the radio and in the print media to make sure we see what that move is and what those moves are that we can do them.”

How close the team is to the time where Dirk Nowitzki needs to be the second best player on the roster:

“That’s certainly our goal and I’m very confident that if you talk to him that would be his goal too because that’s a situation where it just takes some of the load off his back in terms of what he has to do game-to-game and we’ve been doing it with a roster really built on one great superstar and kind of a strength and numbers philosophy. That’s how we won the Finals last year and that’s how we’ve competed at a very high level here and how the franchise had competed at a very, very high level many, many years before I got here. I think in this day and age of the league, depth is one of the things that you’ve got to have so that’s going to continue to be part of the thought process. You need depth to create balance and you also have to be able to absorb injuries when they happen. You don’t know when they’re going to happen but inevitably you’re going to have to deal with some of that.”

Listen to Rick Carlisle on 105.3 the Fan in Dallas here