NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 8, 2023

Bruce Brown

Denver Nuggets

Practice Day

Q. How much of the better job you guys did against their three-point attempts was staying home versus being early on those closeouts? Was it more about recognizing how to get there or staying glued to those shooters?

BRUCE BROWN: I just think recognizing the attack angle their drivers were going in. Sometimes they're attacking to pass, then sometimes they're attacking to score. Jimmy was killing us in hes (hesitation] situations in Game 2, finding the shooters. So, we tried to stay home.

Q. I was talking to Jeff Green a couple days ago. He was talking about the grind of a long NBA career. His message was sort of don't let the business get you down. You've talked about coming to Denver. What kept you from being disappointed in this situation, not coming to Denver, but not having the offers you wanted and making the most of it?

BRUCE BROWN: Definitely was disappointed. But, I mean, that just added a chip on my shoulder to come out and prove what I know I can do in this league.

Denver was just a perfect fit. Everything obviously fell right in place how we thought it would. So I'm happy to be here.

Q. There's been a lot of conversation over the past couple days about the Jeff Green dinner he hosted at his house. How important are those, even if they're small, moments of camaraderie with the team where you get to refocus?

BRUCE BROWN: Yeah, it was great. I mean, not a lot of people like to have people at their crib, especially how nice Jeff's house is (smiling). But it was great. The whole team was there. All the coaches were there.

It wasn't even talking about basketball. We were just having a great time being around each other and seeing how nice Jeff's house is (smiling).

Q. The pride that you have from being from Boston, where does that come from, being from Dorchester?

BRUCE BROWN: I think just being a Bostonian. Everybody from Boston loves Boston. Me growing up there, that's all I knew.

I think just the grind of being there, growing up, loving where I'm from, loving the sports, loving everybody I've met being from there. It just speaks for me being from Boston.

Q. The city has the Celtics, but not a lot of great NBA players from there. What brings along that pride in terms of who you follow, who you looked up to growing up?

BRUCE BROWN: Definitely a lot of hoopers from Boston that I looked up to like Shabazz Napier, Wayne Selden, those guys who I've actually watched play. I watched Shabazz play in the BNBL when I was there when I was younger.

Without those guys, I don't think I would be here. I didn't think a kid from where I'm from can make it out. Those guys played a huge role in my success.

Q. So much of the conversation surrounding Jokic and Murray over the course of these past couple days. What have you seen over the course of the season, those guys developing that chemistry again, you guys maybe developing more confidence in that duo? What have they proven to you?

BRUCE BROWN: Yeah, that duo is just almost impossible to stop. They can score whenever they want when they're aggressive. They know each other's tendencies, where they like to get the ball, where they like to shoot.

I mean, for any team it's tough to stop them two. The rest of the team, we got to play off them.

Q. You've also talked about Denver seeing you as a guard or a point guard. I asked Cal [Calvin Booth] about that. He said, “Man, he's always been a point guard to me because I scouted him at the U, he played Minnesota.”

BRUCE BROWN: Uh-huh.

Q. Has he ever told you that?

BRUCE BROWN: No. No, he never told me that.

Miami, our offense, anybody can be the 1. Everybody has to have the ball in their hands to make plays.

Yeah, I came into the league as a guard. I started playing guard my second year in Detroit. It's just the role in Brooklyn was the only way for me to get on the floor, so I had to do that. I did really well at it.

Now I like being back in my normal position.