NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 21, 2005

Larry Brown

COACH BROWN: We made them. You know, we took more shots than them again. They took 28 threes, we took 17. That's usually more than we take. But we happened to make them tonight. They didn't. They were 4-for-13 the first half and 4-for-15 the second half. That was huge. But we had a lot of guys come off the bench and help us. Lindsey gave us some great minutes and obviously Dyess had to play because Rasheed got in such foul trouble again. This is what our team is about. I kept fielding that question about how we could get ourselves ready to play again, and I've been with these guys for two years, and they don't disappoint me in terms of their desire to win and their respect for each other, so this was -- maybe that helped us make some three-pointers.

COACH BROWN: Well, we put ourselves in that position, so got no other alternative but to show up and compete. You know, I know people look out there and reflect on the way some people act, but this is a competitive group of guys that I think care about each other enough to go out every night and put themselves in a situation where they will give themselves a chance to win. We talked about it in the dressing room, everybody made a big deal of the shot Horry made and who made the mistake. I ask my guys every day just to play hard and play unselfishly, and I can deal with any mistakes with effort. I talked to them before the game, I didn't want them to worry about not making hustle plays and think about the consequence. That's what these guys have been able to do.

COACH BROWN: Well, you see him when he's not in the game, he's into it, cheering guys on, and he's an unbelievable competitor. I think to a man, everybody felt terrible about the way he took that loss the last game. I think that was the big, big thing in the game tonight. I mean, they care so much about him. But we needed him down the stretch. We had a lot of guys really step up; that obviously makes a huge three, makes a big baseline jumper on a pin-down with Rip, got a couple key rebounds. I said this last year when Joe made the trade to get him, he won us a championship. We were not ready to take that next step. And now he's giving us a chance, along with all those other guys, to go Game 7 and try again.

COACH BROWN: Well, I got on him a little at halftime, he was 4-for-11, 4-for-10, something like that, I thought some of the shots on the baseline, we had a new clock, were a little quick, I was telling him, just take his time. But aside from that, his defense in the first half I think really was a huge factor. You know, he pressured Parker and got our intensity up, even though we were down one point. But he makes shots. You know, I was a little upset at myself in Game 5 because I was trying to get us to go to him late, and we kind of forgot about him. He missed one shot or two shots. But, you know, he's an offensive player, and an underrated defender. When he's making shots, it seems like it opens it up for everybody.

COACH BROWN: I really don't have an answer for that. Maybe we're shooting too quick. (Laughter). You know, they will hear that from me. Again, I'm repeating what I said prior to the game and yesterday, we're trying to understand that we've got to, instead of worrying about every quarter, we have to worry about every possession. And I keep telling them, I've talked about this my whole life as a coach, you know, try to get a great shot, we have a chance to get fouled, the high percentage shot, a chance to rebound the ball, but without all of those things happening, get yourself back. You know, we've had that ability. But then you look at who is back there. You know, Chauncey was MVP in the playoffs last year, and he's done a remarkable job under difficult circumstances dealing with me, but he takes care of the ball and is conscientious in what he does.