NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SPURS v SUNS

June 1, 2005

Tim Duncan

TIM DUNCAN: Do exactly that. You celebrate it for a little while. And it's a great time for us, got a week until we get right back into the mix. Love a little shorter time, but you can't beat that. Manu (Ginobili) is a little dinged up, and I am a little dinged up. Tony (Parker) could use a day or two with his knee. We're all going to take that time to heal, but also to stay as sharp as we can.

TIM DUNCAN: It felt all right. Once I got warm, it kind of went back and forth because my opposite ankle isn't healed either. So I played through both of those. It wasn't -- it didn't hold me back in any way. I think once that first five, six minutes passed and I got warm and I was moving around, I felt pretty good.

TIM DUNCAN: I knew I had to put together a better performance than I did the last game, whether it be lack of focus the last game or just a bad night. I didn't want to have one of those again and I came in here just to rectify that, whatever that may be, whatever that may mean. I wanted to put together a better game, give our team a chance to win and not be what I call a hindrance in that respect where I go and miss 9 free throws and can't finish plays, things like that. I just wanted to have a better game.

TIM DUNCAN: Honestly, those guys are amazing. They are an amazing offensive team, Steve (Nash)and Amare (Stoudemire) and especially those two, they are the catalyst to it. But all the other guys that are out there ready all the time ready to go. We had a tough time with everything they did, but we were just persistent with what we did. We stuck to a game plan. They scored on it. They got layups sometimes and threes sometimes. But we stuck with it. In the long run we felt it was going to work out for us, and it did. As for the tip in, I think it was just an out of bounds play with 4 seconds left, something like that, and I actually thought I got by Amare. I thought I had a layup, Shawn (Marion) came out of nowhere. I had to get it up over his hand and I didn't know if I had a chance to go in or whatever. But as soon as I hit the ground, I just went back up with it, popped back up to me, I had a chance to tip it in.

TIM DUNCAN: Amare (Stoudemire) is usual. He had an incredible -- another incredible game. He's extended his game so much. He was the hitting 15, 18 footer tonight like it was nothing. And with his athleticism and his ability, just knowing that he's going to get even better, it's kinds of scary. But just glad to get out of this series. Those guys -- they played very well, and we were just ecstatic to get out of this series as is.

TIM DUNCAN: I just told him he had a great series and that I have no doubt that we'll do this again, we'll be back in this situation in years to come. And they have a very good, young talented team and we hope to be back here facing them again.

TIM DUNCAN: Like who?

TIM DUNCAN: Bruce (Bowen) and Tony (Parker).

TIM DUNCAN: Beno is an excellent 3-point shooter. He doesn't get the opportunity as he does, but he's an excellent 3-point shooter. We love him shooting the ball. He took some great shots, ball swung and he was right there and we love him taking those shots. But it's a big boost off the bench especially. Any kind of score we can get from anywhere, especially with the series as is when we're getting up to the 90s and 100s and above we need scoring wherever we can. He's just ready. I think that's what we're going to need from guys going into this final series against whoever it may be. We're going to need some great play off the bench from a lot of different guys.

TIM DUNCAN: I think a little bit of both. I can make an argument for a little bit of both. But I just -- I just don't like playing bad games. And when I do, I love to have a bounce-back game and put a performance together. I don't like going out there and feeling like I left something on the floor that night that I shouldn't have, that I could have done something different with. And you get in situations where you are in a bad game, in the middle of a bad game and I am as guilty as anyone getting down on myself and not playing through the entire game. I do need to get better at that, but at the same time, I am what I am.