NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 11, 2005

Larry Brown

COACH LARRY BROWN: I don't know, maybe we've got to think about doubling him in certain situations. We've got to figure out a way to keep him in front of us a little bit better. You know, we switched a lot on him. Usually when we switch, we try to take something away when we switch. I think a lot of times in this last game, we just switched without taking anything away, and that, you know, got him isolated on the big person, which made him even more effective. But he played great, you know, he was just remarkable. I thought his effort, you know, he made some great plays to score the ball, but just his effort and his aggressiveness was great. Then we got to make him defend a little bit. I don't think we put him in a position where he had to work defensively as maybe we need to make him work.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, I would think that Chauncey is always a bright spot. I think he's always played great for us, and the bigger the game, the better he seems to play. But you know, we don't win with our guards taking most of the shots. We don't win when we don't get to the free throw line. We don't win when we don't rebound effectively. So, I think those are things we've got to do a much better job. To their credit, you know, they did those things effectively. You know, they scored in the paint, either by posting up or driving to the goal. They dominated us on the board. And you know, we all realized how great Manu and Timmy were, and you can probably feel confident they will be great again, but they had a lot of other people, I thought, made huge contributions. So it's important that we get contributions from everybody, as well.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, we have it and they have it. Bruce and Nazr are starting on a team that has a chance to win another championship. You know, Joe Dumars I think, and he talks to me about this all the time, we always look around the league and talk about guys that maybe haven't made it at places and look at them and say, maybe they have been at the wrong place at the wrong time; we've got to find those guys. And then we try so hard to put character guys in a positive situation and a good culture. So you have that in Chauncey. I don't think it was a fluke he was the third pick in the draft, and I don't think it's a fluke that he was the MVP in The Finals. I think it was a kid that didn't give up, got in the right situation. You know, Flip Saunders gave him a lot of confidence and I thought he played better there. Then when he came to us, Rick Carlisle, you know, put a lot of responsibility on him and he played great for Rick. He's just steadily improved. But not giving up, you know, is something that I think you've got to give him a lot of credit for.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, somebody told me that just before I got in this room. We have trouble scoring 90 every night it seems like. But they are a great defensive team. They have got great perimeter defenders that can keep people in front of them. They have great shot blocking, they have rebounding. They have great coaching. You know, their coaches, I think, emphasize the importance of stopping people. I think that's a priority with Pop, and the players have bought into that. Then their offense is predicated on moving the ball and taking good shots, which generally makes your transition defense pretty special. I guess the last thing, a lot of teams play closer to the vest, you know, when they get into the playoffs. Maybe the possessions are down, which, you know, causes the scores to be down a little bit. I know the league doesn't want to hear that, but that sometimes happens.

COACH LARRY BROWN: Well, this is a good group. I mean, you look in the locker rooms of both these teams, they are good guys. I think it's been a priority with these two franchises to make sure you had a good culture in your locker room and guys that have pride and respect for the game. You know, I like this situation because all I have to do is coach. I don't have to police anybody and I know what I'm going to get every night. Again, I think it starts with management. You know, we've got a general manager who has been through this before as a player. He understands how important it is to have good, tough competitive guys in the locker room, and they all like each other. So that's why we're here.

COACH LARRY BROWN: More than guacamole. I was 15 then. I made this comment, "The only thing I liked about San Antonio was the guacamole." The guacamole dip. So then they had this for like eight days, they kept playing that sound byte. There was a lot more to it because their coach said something about me, and it was Bob Bass at the time. So they had that ten-cent beer night and people were hitting me with after avocados and throwing dip on me. I remember walking through the crowd, people were punching me. In the ABA, that was -- you know, that was typical. So it was an interesting experience. But you know, I came back and coached here and I found out I liked it a lot more than the dip about San Antonio, but it was pretty intense. Ten cent beer, huh? Thank you.