NBA FINALS: PISTONS v LAKERS

June 8, 2004

Larry Brown

COACH LARRY BROWN: You mean the one Kobe made, the 3?

COACH LARRY BROWN: (Laughter) Yeah, we talked about it, but I didn't think they were going to throw it to him. We talked about switching everything because they needed a 3, we switched out and kind of backed off. Kobe made a great shot. You know, Shaq's offensive rebound, I thought the possession before that, three-point play was the biggest one. It's hard to foul a guy before he shoots an offensive rebound, but Kobe made a great shot. We defended it, we switched. A great player made a great shot. We didn't handle the clock great. I thought we might have shot a little quick and took kind of a half-ass shot, but that was critical. But give them credit. They made huge plays and got in overtime and we just kind of lost our poise.

COACH LARRY BROWN: We don't foul in a situation like that. He's going to go up and shoot it anyway. We were off, we switched. Usually when we switch, we try to take something away, but, you know, that wasn't the situation we talked about. We just wanted to switch out and get a hand up and be aggressive. Our switch was there, but we just kind of backed off a little bit and he made a great shot.

COACH LARRY BROWN: You know, they made shots. I didn't think Rip had one of his better nights in shot selection. But, you know, he had to shoot the ball for us and Chauncey kept us in the game with some big shots when we had to make our rally and Rasheed got us back in the game, and we kind of forgot about going inside and that's all we talked about. But I don't think, we've got to get a situation where the ball is a little bit more evenly distributed, in my mind, especially late in the game when we are in the bonus. We were in the bonus in the fourth quarter pretty early and we kept talking about, let's try to get the ball inside and flatten our defense out a little bit and we kind of settled. I thought we shot a little too quickly on the last possession before Kobe's 3. We almost acted like we were trying to get fouled instead of just going up and shoot it. But, hey, those guys, we got down 12 and those guys got us back in the game. I admire the way they tried. Rip, you know, took a real bad hit in Game 1 and he's been dizzy for two days. So I thought he gave a remarkable effort under the circumstances.

COACH LARRY BROWN: You know, the way that game was being called -- I don't like fouls. You know, the kid got to the line one time. You know, we threw it inside to him, he gets to the line one time and he's out of the game early in every game. I don't know what the answer is. (Shrugging shoulders). Am I allowed to complain? (Laughter) You know, I don't understand. We threw it in to him about six straight times underneath the goal and he went from two feet to 12 without a dribble. It's hard. But again, you know, we were in such foul trouble with our big guys in the first half, I was just trying it figure out a way I could have some people able to go in the second half. I think, you know, they were able to go and got us back in the game and the bottom line is, give them credit. They made huge plays. Unfortunately we didn't.

COACH LARRY BROWN: You know, we're crushed. I mean, shoot, that was -- we had a winnable game. And everybody's in that locker room down. But, you know, we lost triple overtime to New Jersey, had to go up there and win 6 and 7. We talk about that. You know, we've just got to bounce back. We came here, should have won two games, you know, gave ourselves a hell of a chance. I was so proud, you know, we were out of the game, came back in the game and got control. But we've lost a lot of games like this this year. We forget time and score. Hopefully you learn from these things. But we are 1-1. They were well prepared. Their defense was great. Luke Walton I think was phenomenal tonight. He came in and gave them a huge lift. And they did some really neat things as a team and got a win out of this. So, give them their due. Are you allowed to give people due in this thing? Are you allowed to tell a team that they won a game? So, they won the game.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Again, he's so athletic, he's going to go up and shoot it anyway. I can just think about a four-point play, just fouling him and put him on the line for three. I thought about it. We talked about if they threw it inside, yeah, Shaq gets it, put him on the line. But I don't want to take a chance like that. We switched. We were right there. You know, we just -- you know, I always say if you're going to switch, take something away. We just switched and kind of backed off, and he made a great shot. You know, the guy was 0 for 4 from 3 going in there, I think, right? That's why he's so special. After what that kid's been through all this year, more power to him, because he's a great, great young man and the way he conducts himself on the court and the way he plays this game makes me feel kind of good I'm part of it.