LA: Pau's a great passer, a really skilled big. I think with him I'm definitely better out there, because teams play me high or trap or whatever, and he's really good at putting that pass over the top. He's always looking for me. I think as any other big out there, he's the one that's always looking for me.
Me: How rewarding has this season been for you?
See some of the plays that made LaMarcus Aldridge an All-Star in 2017-18.
LA: It just feels good to be myself again. It wasn't really about trying to re-invent the wheel or do something I haven't done. This is who I've been. So it felt good to be myself again and play my game again and get back to the level that I was at. It wasn't a surprise or anything new. This is just what I've done.
Me: But were you surprised when Pop said 'my fault?'
LA: Yeah, for sure. As I've told people, to have a Hall of Fame coach tell you that it was his fault, that he shouldn't have tried to change me, that was surreal to me. 'Cause I thought he was going to tell me 'go F yourself; I'm Pop, you're wrong, I'm right.' That's what you expect from someone of his caliber. It was the total opposite. He was like, you're right. I did try to change you and make you into my vision. You've been in the league long enough; you've done this. So I'm going to leave you alone.
Me: Do you have any expectation you're going to see Kawhi?
LA: No, we're just playing. If you go day to day wondering when he's going to be back, then you're not in the moment and you're not going to do your job. You have to do your job and put your best foot forward and focus on what you have to do to win. If he comes back, great. But this is us right now, that's the attitude we have to have.
Me: Any idea why it's been so hard for you to win on the road this year?
LA: We shoot better at home as a group, so that's a part of it. I don't know. I just feel like we have to lock in. I feel (when) guys are at home they have the crowd behind them, and it's just better ju-ju and mojo, whatever it is. It's always better at home. But we have to figure it out, because in order to win it, you have to win on the road. We have guys that are definitely good enough to play home and away. We've just got to lock in.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
-- Celtics rookie Jabari Bird (@Jabari_Bird), Thursday, 4:44 p.m., supposedly on FaceTime with Hall of Famer Larry Bird, also a Celtic, though one of slightly more renown.
THEY SAID IT
"He kept Stephen Jackson from beating me up."
-- Gregg Popovich, before Game 1 of the Golden State-San Antonio series, on the role assistant coach Mike Brown, now with the Warriors, played while he was an assistant with the Spurs.
"It would be great to have a coach I could have for more than two years, you know. It's been tough throughout my career having different coaches and different philosophies, different style of plays throughout this entire time. So with that being said, I hope whomever he is, the next coach can come in here and make a statement and let everyone know he's all-in and we can get the show on the road."
-- Knicks guard Tim Hardaway, Jr., after the team fired Jeff Hornacek as coach last week.
"I never really got that -- why would you go hard after someone, like me and my brother, we grew up together, took showers together, slept in the same bed, spent 18 years of your life together -- for us, 21 years before we even got to the NBA. Why would you even? For an outsider, I'd want to cut his neck off. For my brother, no."
-- Wizards forward Markieff Morris, asked if he would give a hard foul against his twin brother Marcus, the Celtics' forward, in a hypothetical playoff matchup between Washington and Boston to ease the awkwardness of competing against him. Both Markieff and Marcus said separately that they had no desire to play against one another in the playoffs, which was possible until the Wizards lost their last regular season game and finished eighth in the Eastern Conference, setting up their first-round series with top-seeded Toronto.
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Longtime NBA reporter, columnist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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