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NBA FINALS: PISTONS v LAKERS

June 13, 2004

Larry Brown

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four

Q. Talk about Rasheed and how huge he was tonight for you.
COACH LARRY BROWN: Somebody said he was going to get 20 tonight. He was great on both ends. You know, we got a little out of sync at times offensively, especially in the first half about sharing it, and again, we had five assists. But the second half, Chauncey and Rip and Tayshaun came off screens and gave it up and made him a factor. I think he got going when he got that offensive rebound when he followed his shot in, but he had great looks. Obviously, Karl being out, you know, impacts the Lakers defensively against him. But he was great.
I'm really proud of him.
Q. What did you tell the team afterwards about being in a situation up 3-1 and only needing one more game to clinch it?
COACH LARRY BROWN: I haven't been there (laughing).
I told them how proud I was of them. I told them the only guy that's been here longer than me was Elden, and not being in this situation. But, you know, no matter how you look at it, you've got to win four games in a series, and that's what we talked about. I wanted them to enjoy tonight and we're going to go practice tomorrow and try to get ready for Game 5.
Q. Except for Shaquille O'Neal getting off, what do you think about the job you did as a team on Kobe Bryant and everybody else?
COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I think we defended -- other than the first five or six minutes, where they kind of had their way, I thought we defended, you know, really good. Again, we got a little careless on a play that hurt us in Game 2, kind of got a little confused on execution defensively. But we kept him out on the perimeter and we didn't put ourselves in a position where we had to foul Shaq late.
I think because we rebounded again, I think that was the biggest thing. We got second-chance points, we got long rebounds, which got us out on the break and got us some easy shots, because we shot -- we had great shots, I thought, the first half. Second, you know, we couldn't make any. But the fact that we rebounded and got to the line was huge.
Q. From your perspective, what, if anything, did Rasheed do differently to avoid early foul trouble tonight?
COACH LARRY BROWN: I don't know. Again, you know, Karl's out of the game. They were going to Shaq almost every possession or Kobe. I think Shaq and Kobe took -- Kobe took 14 shots, I think Shaq took ten in the first half, if I remember.
So in that case, Rasheed wasn't involved defensively a lot. That was the key. We need him to play and to play major minutes, and I think tonight really showed his value.
Q. Are you concerned that the players will read tomorrow and hear tonight that no team has come back from 3-1 in the Finals and maybe get a little too ahead of themselves?
COACH LARRY BROWN: I like it better the way it is, to be honest with you. (Laughter).
I've been in the other locker room and it's -- you know, all I'm telling them is, we've got to continue to try to play the right way and defend and rebound and share the ball. And whatever happens, happens. I think that group can deal with it because they are trying their darnest to do it the right way. So there's no need even thinking about what no team did. They have got a coach who won nine championships; only one other guy has done that, and he's pretty special. They have got two of the greatest players in the game that are in their prime, so we can't take anything for granted, and that's the thing we are going to talk about.
Q. It seemed like today there was a big change in your strategy, everyone says Detroit is a slowed-down, control-the-tempo team and this must be the game in the playoffs where you had the most fast-break points. Was there a point you realized the Lakers were tired, Shaq wasn't getting back and you said to your team, let's play fast or let's move it up court more?
COACH LARRY BROWN: I always want us to run every chance we get. I don't think you can run unless you get people to take outside shots, but we're trying to run Shaq. As many minutes as he has to play, we're trying to run him on every possession. We are trying to get it down quickly so we have more time to use the clock on every possession.
But tonight, you're right, we got on the break a little bit more than I can remember. Mike James came in the game and we had about two or three straight breaks, but they usually come after a contested outside shot.
But again, as hard as it is for us to score sometimes, we need to explore the possibility of easy baskets.
Q. Down the stretch some of their veteran players made some costly fouls, Kobe had the technical, how critical were some of those plays to the end result?
COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I mean, we got to the line a lot. The first half, we're out of the game if we didn't go to the free throw line. But we kind of got a little carried away ourselves. Rip got a couple. Chauncey picked up a cheap one. Any easy points down the stretch kill you, and I think both teams maybe gave easy points up at a time like that.
I just look at Kobe and those guys, they are trying to win. They want to win the game. I don't think there was anything but a kid trying to compete and win the game.

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