NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 19, 2005

Larry Brown

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I'd love to have the last two games, you know, be like the way we play. I think we're going to have to play great tonight to be honest with you, but I can't explain it. You know, I think, like I've said over and over again, teams that have done all the little things have been the teams that have won, but it's surprising when you consider how many times they are in ballgames over the years, they very rarely get blown out. For the most part, you know, we competed at a pretty high level, and don't seem to give up. It's been a strange series in that regard.

COACH LARRY BROWN: I did during the Miami series, Game 6 when I came over here. But since then, you know, my goal is to come back. I'm confident that I'll figure out a way to be well enough to do this. And if not, you know, it's been great. But I haven't really thought about it nearly as much as I did maybe two weeks ago.

COACH LARRY BROWN: No, it hasn't had any effect at all. Mentally, you know, there are times I get down a little bit, but at this time it's been fun to watch the way my team has responded to some difficult circumstances, and watch the way they compete and play, and in The Finals with San Antonio, a team I admire and a coach I admire. This has been a lot of fun for me. Yesterday, two days ago, I got to see Batman with my son, and yesterday we had a little pool party with his Little League team. I went to a baseball game and now I get to coach. So it's been fun. It hasn't impacted me at all. I'm just enjoying this because I know, as long as I've been in this, this has not happened to me a lot. So this has been a wonderful run.

COACH LARRY BROWN: You know, I look back on last year, and it was incredible that we ended up winning when you consider all the pitfalls we had, you know, so many games that we really had to win and we stepped up and did it. Until you're involved in a series that goes through The Finals, you don't realize how fortunate you are to, one, even have an opportunity to compete for it. And then this year, to kind of consider that we're a marked team right from the get-go, and with all of the little things that have happened this year, it's remarkable, I think, that we are right back here with another chance to compete for it. But still, when I walk in the locker room and I know how much our guys are enjoying this and how much I appreciate this opportunity, it's well worth it. I will never take this lightly. You know, I don't think these opportunities present themselves very much, and then like you said, I never even thought about it. It's mind-boggling to me that you can win multiple titles as competitive as this league it, and then to win back-to-back. You know, Joe talks to me often about what it took to get to the position to win two championships, all of the heartbreaks that they had. But I think they only help you. But it would be, you know, I think it's much tougher to defend it than to win your first one.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I think they try. I don't think you go into a game and get to this point and not feel like your team is going to try, but circumstances happen. You know, I think I said it after Game 3, we played great, we played a perfect last 14 minutes, and everybody that I've ever spoken to said, you don't start watching an NBA game until the last quarter. And then the last game, we were perfect; they played less than perfect. I think Pop will be the first one to tell you. But this is not easy. You don't get to The Finals unless you're a darned good team, and I don't think any speech by a coach after you coach a hundred games is going to motivate guys.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I remember being a college coach, the Final Four was always anticlimactic. A lot of teams don't play up to their best, but they did to get there. You had to do it, to win five straight to get to the final game. Sometimes things just happened. But I made a statement to my team today at the end of shoot-around. I said, you know, you realize where we came from after losing the first two games, we were kind of fragile, and they all jumped on me and said, "We weren't fragile. We just played bad." I said, "Well, I was fragile." But I said, "We have to play our best tonight to win." And I fully expect that's going to be necessary.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I was really blown away watching him play. You know, I tried to go to a lot of games when I could because, one, I really respected the coaching that was going on, they were doing a lot of neat things, especially his team. I had heard that Kevin O'Connor is a good friend and being in Utah, I had heard about him, so I watched him last year. He was very skilled, you know, like a poor man's Bill Walton. He could pass, he had great hands, he had a really good touch around the basket. He wasn't unbelievably athletic but athletic enough, and real long. It's so difficult to find big players. You know, Coach Smith always used to tell me, "Find great players with big feet and big hands. You can't teach either one of those things." I think he has that.

COACH LARRY BROWN: They said it's a win/win, us being in The Finals with Pop. Whatever happens to me is a win/win. If I'm fortunate enough to keep doing this, because I do, you know, in my mind I still have the passion to do it. That would be great. And if I don't have the opportunity, I'll get to smell my kids and be around them a little bit more, because there are a lot of things as a coach -- I thought about this. I haven't had a day off in the whole season, not that I've worked, not that I feel like we worked, but it will give me opportunities to not miss games and to see my daughter skate or just hang out. And I'll be 65. When I look around this league and see how fortunate you are to stay in it for as long as I am, it will be okay.