NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 9, 2005

Gregg Popovich

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: We were down defensively for a long time and Manu Ginobli did what you saw him do, and that was the difference in the game. I don't think we did anything to separate ourselves like, "we ran this play really well or we did this really well." Manu had one hell of a night and we did play good D in the second half. We boarded well, so we put ourselves in a position where we could win a basketball game, but offensively, it was Manu Ginobli. He was something else.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: No. Manu, frustration isn't part of his personality, he just goes. He doesn't get frustrated. He just, you know, if anything, he might get angry at himself for making a mistake or that sort of thing, but nothing holds him back in that regard.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Yeah, you know, I have no idea. That's a subjective sort of situation. Who knows. Maybe sitting around before the game, maybe the hype, maybe everybody was nervous, or maybe they were rusty from the layoff. I don't know. I don't care, I don't think about things like that. I just know that we started out pretty poorly and we got better as the game went along and we came together and played the way we needed to.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Glenn did a great job. Obviously he's been sitting around, and again, trying to get in shape, but he played some pretty good D. He got a couple boards for us. You know, he's got a good -- he's got a big body out there. He gave us a few minutes on Prince because we had a little bit of a foul trouble situation there early, and he gave us good minutes. He really helped us tonight.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: It's huge. You know I say Manu did this and did that, but Timmy had 24 points and 17 rebounds and he had blocks and played some great D tonight and did some wonderful things tonight, and I just ignore him. He gets the same treatment David Robinson got; you take it for granted every night. Trust me, Timmy appreciates Tony and Manu when they do what they do, and tonight it was Manu. And it does make it easier because they can't key on him and we can move the ball better, spread the court better and it's huge to have the guys do what they do.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: No, he's always energized. Seriously, there's not one thing that, you know, makes him get going and makes him step it up a level. He plays at that pace all the time.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: It was a little bit of both. I thought we got out of kilter in the first half and I think everybody was trying to do it themselves. The ball didn't move very well. Manu tried to get it to done, Tony tried to get it done, Timmy tried to get it done and Detroit is too good defensively and they switched a lot of the pick-and-rolls and if the ball stops, and get pounded you're not going to score and we got 35 points. The second half, the ball moved and that was a real key for us to get that going.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I asked them if it wasn't too much trouble, if I wasn't being too pushy, if they could execute what we were trying to do, and if it didn't make them too angry if they also wanted to play some defense on the other end, that would be great. (Laughter).

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Oh, sure. He's the key to the whole deal. He's got to be respected down on the block or wherever we put him, and he spreads the court initially because of his presence. There's no doubt about that. It's just that those guys, you know, can attack and with the rules the way they are now, every team is looking for attack guys, and we all do it. Every team has guys that are catching it out of double teams and really taking it to the hole and either doing it themselves or kicking it to somebody else. You know, the rules help everybody in that regard. Timmy, he's the beginning of it, though. He doesn't have to be the end all the time now. That's the important part.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, we wanted to do that. What we didn't want was for them to beat us up on the offensive board. Tayshaun does a good job of it, and Richard, as far as smalls are concerned. And obviously their bigs do that. With the defense on both teams being so good, we didn't think we could afford to give up extra possessions in that regard, so we didn't go in thinking we were going to do X or Y, we just wanted to stick with them on that aspect of the game.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I mentioned in a pregame little deal here that we would not be here without him. He's been fantastic through the end of the season and through the playoffs and not really knowing the system, like he's out of spots tonight where he wasn't supposed to be and he's still learning what's going on on both ends of the court. Considering that, for him to go out and do what he's done, I think is really fantastic for him, and for us.