NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 19, 2005

Gregg Popovich

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: It was interminable. That was all. You don't have a loss and like to sit on it that long. It was just terrible. We had some good dinners, watched a couple movies, went crazy, bounced around the room for a while, worked out 14 hours a day and that's about it. At least it's here. I'm glad it's here.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I hope not, because that would be an ugly scene.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I thought he was outstanding. His talents speak for himself. He's got great hands, he can shoot it, he's got the moves on the block and he can play out on the floor, but what impressed me the most is he's a fantastic passer. He's a really big-time passer and he really understands the game. He knows how to play with other people. He knows what's going on, whether there's a flare, back-pick, a screen, a pin-down. He knows about how the ball should be delivered, where it should be delivered from out on the post spot, out on the floor. A very gifted individual.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: The biggest challenge of repeating is health, first of all. You've got to be healthy every year, and that's difficult to do in this league. And secondly, to have the focus -- it's easy to say, but to keep the team happy with their roles, performing their roles, people don't come out of themselves and try to be different because it's already working and you know how it fits; you're probably going to have a change in personnel, one or two people, and they have got to make it work like it was before. So I think managing that is very difficult in addition to the health. That's why I was in awe of the Lakers you know, and then what happened with the Bulls, I think people just -- Joe Blow, or Nancy Jones, sitting in a chair watching the NBA, they have no idea what kind of a feat that was for the Lakers and the Bulls to do what they did. It's impossible.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, I'm disappointed. You know, I think he's unbelievably knowledgeable in the game, a fantastic career of many years, and getting along with everybody in the world, has been labeled and changed by one incident in his life, and that's really unfortunate and short-sighted on a lot of people's part in our league. And he deserves an opportunity someplace, and somebody will be very happy if they did figure that out. I didn't even know the guy when I hired him as an assistant three years ago, and I talked to a lot of different people, I knew what I was looking for, and he's been fantastic for me. When I told Timmy and Manu that he might be leaving if things worked out with another team, they were like in shock. They would rather have me leave than him (laughter). They love the guy to death. So we were disappointed. But there's a lot of good coaches out there, and (Dwane) Casey will do a great job. He's a hell of a choice, and it doesn't mean that somebody is better than another. We just wish that P.J. would have gotten a shot.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Probably 90-10 in favor of the mental.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I'm expecting Timmy to be very competitive tonight, very focused on doing anything that has to be done to win and demands a great deal of his teammates as well as himself. As far as what he's done the last couple of days and how he's responded, I'm sure that all of the analyzing that you talked about and everything, he hasn't noticed any of it because he's not going to sit and watch TV and read the newspapers. That's the last thing he does. He's just spending time beating himself up on his own.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: He reads your stuff, though, I'm sure. Nobody else's though.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think this team is more athletic. It's younger on the perimeter. It's much younger, but it's much more athletic, and I think more capable of reacting to what has gone on the last two games. And I'm very, very anxious and interested and excited about the game tonight, because it's going to tell me an awful lot.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, you know, I'm going to have to see it to believe it, that he's not going to keep coaching, because that's what he is. And personally, I can't imagine him doing something else for more than a day and a half (laughter). So I'm not holding my breath, waiting for him to do something different, but if he did, I think it would be a loss for everybody, because everybody has done great things, writing about Larry, keeps you all busy, it's like Phil being with the Lakers again, it's great to have him back in the league because he's a hell of a coach and it brings attention to our league and that's always good. Larry is one of those special category guys with (Pat) Riley and Jackson. You don't want to lose people like that. You hope they are in the business as long as possible.