NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 16, 2005

Larry Brown

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I think he's smart and knows what he does best. He's a great mid-range shooter, he's in great shape, he's relentless in terms of not giving up and trying to get in position to score, but, you know, he's playing against a great defender and a great defensive team. So I don't think any night is going to be easy. He's going to have to, you know, really work hard and we're going to have to do a good job of getting him open and getting him in position to make shots. You know, last game, the fact that we got out on the break, forcing some turnovers, got him some easy baskets. You know, I think that's got to be really important for us, because their defense is so good once it is set.

COACH LARRY BROWN: I don't know if technicals help anybody. He is really a leader of our team. I think he's the most underrated defender I've ever coached. You know, when you look at the way our league is changing now, to have quickness with your big people is vital, with as many pick-and-rolls as everybody plays. So your big guys have to be able to get out on the floor, and there's a lot of times they probably have to switch and guard quickness yourself. So he's a great shot-blocker, he's an underrated rebounder. Offensively, even when he doesn't score, he's a threat. Big people, if he's out on the perimeter, have to go out and play him. So sometimes it opens it up for other people, maybe driving to the goal. He's a better post player than I thought. I think sometimes we neglect him a little bit down there, but he can impact the game without scoring. It helps us, obviously, when he does score. I think every time he scores 20, we won. So that would help. We've got to find ways to get him the ball more, especially against their defense.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Yeah, we had no shot of winning, and we were a pretty deep team last year, Mehmet Okur, Corliss (Williamson), Mike James, along with Lindsey and Elden gave us a great bench. But once Rasheed came, especially from a defensive standpoint, he took us further than we could have ever thought of going.

COACH LARRY BROWN: You know, we haven't done anything differently. We got blown out in Game 2, but I think for him, that was a big game for him. He scored and made some great plays, you know, gave him a lot of confidence. I think he carried that over in the last game, and then, you know, when he was in during that run, he got some easy baskets, running on the break, got a couple offensive boards after we stole it, and you know, he was a big part of our team all season. We haven't been going to the bench very much, but he was almost like a starter for us. So if we have any chance of winning, we need a couple of our big guys to have good offensive performances, and he's got to be part of that.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Wow, you know, they beat the Spurs four straight, but I think when we got them, you know, Karl (Malone) was a little banged up, and we decided to really make an effort to not let certain players beat us. And from that standpoint, it might have been a little bit easier for us, you know, on the defensive end. I don't think you have an answer for Kobe and Shaq, but with Karl being so limited, and Gary (Payton) having a tough matchup on the defensive end itself, and the way they play, it was a little bit easier for us defensively. But against San Antonio, with Robert Horry playing at such a high level, with the fact that they can post Timmy up and put four guys that can shoot the ball on the perimeter and make the three, as well as shooting the three, I don't think the Lakers shot outside very well, and that took a lot of pressure off us. Then, I think they are a more up-and-down team, you know, getting up the floor. So transition defense, you turn it over, it's more difficult. And then I don't think the Lakers, you know, they were a very good defensive team; this is a great defensive team, and we have trouble scoring. We've had, you know, all year, the last two years, and when you are doing that against a great defensive team that's making shots, that puts a lot of pressure on you.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Us?

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, really, and I don't think people realize this, Mike James didn't play a whole lot until the Lakers series, and then he played with Lindsey just to kind of change things up. And then with the Lakers, you know, when you play against the triangle, there's always two guards out there. There's ways you can pressure the two-guard front a little bit easier than a one-guard front. But Lindsey in the last game, Lindsey got out and pressured, especially when they went to their bench, and, you know, our big guys are pretty active. I don't think we've done enough, you know, to try to disrupt. We're not as deep. Carlos is not the defender Mike James was, but he's a pretty good offensive player. But as well as they have been executing, San Antonio, we had to change up just to create some tempo, just to get them out of their rhythm. I don't know if we can always do that, because Pop will certainly make an adjustment. But we couldn't do it if we didn't score, you know, and I think the important thing is if we have good offense, then maybe we can change up once in a while. And if we can get points off turnovers, God, it takes pressure off us on the offensive end.

COACH LARRY BROWN: I mean, we write on the board, you know, "Play hard, play unselfishly, try to guard, rebound the ball." You know, Game 1, we got murdered on the boards. Game 2, we turned it around but still got beat on the scoreboard. But you can't give San Antonio second shots when they are taking a lot of jumpers. And if we can rebound effectively, it allows us to run because, you know, they take a lot of perimeter jumpers, a lot of baseline jumpers, so sometimes that allows to you get numbers, and again, it's so hard for us to score. But we didn't rebound with five guys, I didn't think, in Games 1 and 2. I didn't think our guards got people off the board. The beginning of the game, Ben blocked three shots and I think they laid up all three of them back in the basket. So we talk about rebounding with five people in every possession. And on offense, we try to rebound with three and a half. Against San Antonio, sometimes it might be only three because they run so well. But that's always a priority with our team. But that being said, in order to be an effective rebounding team, you've got to play awfully hard, and I think they played a lot harder than us in Games 1 and 2.

COACH LARRY BROWN: No. I think what happened to Ginobili last ballgame is they didn't get out on transition, where he's a great finisher. And the fact that we were able to score, we were set defensively, and I think we got out on screens a lot better and kind of said, hey, we're going to live with him making a jumpshot with the hand up and not letting him get to the rim. I don't think I've ever seen a player get 27 points on eight shots. You know, Charles Barkley, I always go back and look at guys that were efficient. Charles Barkley used to have unbelievable numbers, you know, 35 points, 15 shots. Reggie did that a lot when I coached Reggie Miller, but I have never seen that. And not only the fact that he got 27; he made every hustle play, he never took a bad shot, hit open guys. But last game, he didn't get easy looks. There were so many plays in Game 1 where he took it from the top of the circle to the rim or from the side up to the rim, and we didn't even have anybody there. It seemed like the other night, you know, we had guys contesting shots. And Ben starting off with five blocks in the first quarter might make you think a little next time you go to the goal. But with Kobe we basically knew where our help could come, and we told our team, we can't allow him to beat us. You know, we have to have him earn every basket. So if we have to double-team him and make somebody else beat us, we were going to try to do that. And you know, you saw that series, a lot of guys didn't make shots that normally have done that for them. I think that was one of the reasons we could contain him. And then they didn't get out on transition a lot, I think, against us, either.