NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 8, 2005

Larry Brown

COACH LARRY BROWN: I thought last year was a challenge. You know, I think style of play is the main difference. Because when you get The Finals, you're playing against a great team, obviously, and I think we all understand that. But the difference I think this year and last year is their style of play. You know, obviously Duncan and Shaq are two of the best players in our game. You had Kobe. I think they are deeper than the Lakers were last year, you know, because Karl (Malone) was kind of banged up and they had some issues there. But the whole key for us is how we defend out on the perimeter because you know Duncan is going to get his. I don't think people give San Antonio enough credit for their ability to get up and down the floor. They really run the break probably as well as anybody. And when they don't run the break with numbers, they have a great way of getting it into the post on Duncan because he runs so well, either to the rim or as a trailer. You know, we've got to figure out a way to cut down their transition baskets and dribble penetration. That's going to be the greatest challenge.

COACH LARRY BROWN: He was great with us. We made a trade hoping to get him back and screwed up on the rules. (Laughter). You know, I remember when we made a trade, we had to put him in because of the dollars and Chicago was going to cut him, and then we were ready to pick him back up, but then they put him at the bottom of the list on the waivers and Pat (Riley) picked him up, and he had been with Pat there. He was one of the best defenders I had seen yet. He had some deficiencies offensively, but I never would have imagined he would be a starter on a championship team, but I thought he could be a defensive stopper. No better kid and I read Pop's comments about him, you know, there are very few guys in our league that you can say have a chance to, you know, shut people down, and that's their priority, that he said, I guess, there's only a few, you can count them on one hand. You know, Bruce is certainly that, Lindsey is, you know, Lindsey has done that for us in a lot of ways, but, you know, Bruce is a little younger. He's a great story; do what you do best, he does it every night. And his coach recognizes that and rewards him for it.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I've said this before, when I was a college coach, my dream was to play against Coach Smith only one time and that would hopefully be The Finals of the NCAA. I always felt it would be a win/win. I could probably say the same thing for Pop. My daughter said it when we were getting ready to play Game 7 against Miami, if we lost, we go to the Hamptons, which is pretty darned good, and if we won, we get to play Pop, which is great. My son said, "I hope we win, because then it's a win/win." I feel like I did when I was a college coach. I admire him. You don't hear much about how good he is. He's great for our game, and he's been a big part of my life. After what we went through this summer, you know, we had a hard year this year, you know, based on what happened this summer. Roy was able to win a National Championship, Oliver was able to restore Clemson, and us getting here helped a little bit, but I don't think it will help enough.

COACH LARRY BROWN: You know, for a big guy, he's probably as good a long-range shooter as we have in the league. San Antonio has that in Robert. But I don't like that as our first option for him. I'm not, you know, necessarily opposed to him shooting open threes or stretching the defense because you know, when we post up Tayshaun or Rip or Chauncey, it's great to have a big guy that can stay out on the perimeter and make you pay if you double. I think this game is played inside out, and he is a post presence, and somebody that, you know, when we are playing our best, we recognize that. He does have the ability on the post to turn around and face and put it on the floor. That's important. And then he has the ability to make people double him, so, you know, when they respect him on the low post, and then with Tayshaun and Rip and Chauncey, we can space the floor out, as well.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, Ben and Rasheed and Dyess are so active and athletic that, you know, when you have to play transition in this league and pick-and-roll defense, your big people have to be mobile and athletic. They cover for each other. They are both great post defenders. They are active on pick-and-rolls. They are very intelligent defenders, all three of them. So a big part of our game is trying to stop people, and when your interior people can get out on the floor and cover and also correct a mistake on the perimeter, you're pretty fortunate.

COACH LARRY BROWN: We're different? (Smiling).

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, he left a message for my wife and kids first, and then one for me. You've got to understand something. He wasn't rooting against Miami. When you get to this level, I don't think any coach wants to see anybody lose. I feel for Mike D'Antoni and Stan Van Gundy and their teams, because it's a journey to get here. He was just really thrilled for us, you know, because he knows how tough it is, like I said, to put yourself in this position. Nobody probably knows it anybody better than me when you consider as much time as I've been in this league and how difficult it's been to, you know, get here. But he was really proud of my team. He left some positive messages about our players for me to relay to them during the series. But he just knew what an accomplishment it was and he wanted to let me know that. Our relationship goes so far back, and our backgrounds are so similar that I think it's been easy for us to be good friends. We both love the game. We both feel like we've benefitted so much by being part of this. I think if you consider who we played for, and whose influenced our lives, we've been really blessed. You know, I played for Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, John McLendon, I've been involved with Pete Newell. Our assistant coaches, you just name it, we've all had a lot of people that have looked out for us and given our support, so we're similar in that way. Then I think we love what we do. I don't think anybody loves it any more than Pop, except maybe me.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, that's just him and who he's about. I don't know if you people realize it, but he was at Pomona-Pitzer making, I don't know if he was getting paid, I don't know if they paid coaches then, Division III. He was on a sabbatical and he was supposed to go to North Carolina and then Kansas with me and then on to San Diego with Hank Egan. I got him out of Chapel Hill as fast as I could and he thought he was just going to sit around and observe and we made him a coach. Lo and behold, he ended up coming here with me to San Antonio. We scheduled Pomona-Pitzer Division III school because they didn't make much money. We gave them a big guarantee, and I gave his team the pregame speech in our locker room, and I told them to enjoy the moment, "We're going to kick your ass. Let's move on." But, you know, we established that kind of relationship. It was his way of maybe thanking me, but I've benefitted it more than he has with this relationship.