NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 16, 2005

Gregg Popovich

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think sometimes this season he's been great, he's a rookie. He's done a heck of a job but he's a rookie. He's learning a lot. He's learning about the players in the league with every game, and he's been outstanding for a rookie. But there are going to be games where he's a rookie. And unfortunately the last game, he showed a few of those tendencies. But for the most part, he's been really good for us as a backup.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, when you see Sam, tell him that overall, Ben is the Defensive Player of the Year and has been several times. So I think that speaks for itself. And Rasheed's length is difficult for everybody. You know, he's probably one of the four or five most talented players in the league, and defensively, he does a heck of a job on everybody. So together, that's a tough unit for Tim to go against.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Okay. I'll get serious.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, if it's a trend, so be it. But we're going to play the same way we've played all year long, with the hope that we value the ball a bit better and don't let them have such a free evening at the offensive boards.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Actually, maybe I did, but I didn't mean to. (Laughter) And intent is what really counts in life, you know.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I did mention "fool's gold," but honestly I didn't mention it in reference to if you run or if you fast break or anything. I just mentioned it a couple of times here or there throughout the playoffs the last couple of years as far as, don't count on home games. If you're thinking you can go home and get this win or that win, that's fool's gold. Every game is important you play in this game, and that's really what I used "fool's gold" in reference to.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Knowing full well that I never said "fool's gold" in relation to running.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think that for us, running has been an important part of what we do. I mean, it would be foolish to tell Tony and Manu that, you're going to come down and I'm going to call a play every time and we're going to run a halfcourt play. Perhaps we got into that a little bit too much last game. But we have to have a pace against these guys, because in the halfcourt, they are tough to play against. Transition buckets are important for us. They have been all year. We're probably better at it than most people think because of those two guys, and we didn't do that last game. Part of the reason was because we gave the ball to the opponent before we got across halfcourt and that wasn't good.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: It's been up and down. Obviously the bench didn't help us a lot last game. But previous to that, we had some good nights. Robert has probably been our most consistent player off the bench. In general for the bench players, we need them to continue to have the focus, the competitiveness when they step on the floor, because they are going to get bumped and hit and pressured and they can't back off from it. When they step on the court, they have to be in attack mode, so to speak, and last game, I don't think we did that. I thought we were pretty tentative.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: You know, Manu can take as many shots as he gets as long as they are good. I think any coach will answer you in that fashion. I mean, he's always in attack mode, so if he has things available to him, he's going to do it. Last game was a little bit odd for him because his rhythm was off for a variety of reasons and he didn't really get that time on the court to get a rhythm and get going. He does a pretty good job. He might shoot a bad shot here or there in a game, but not very often.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: We do it every practice -- well, that's an exaggeration. But every week of the season, we're doing press offense as part of our warm-up and that sort of stuff. So press offense was something that we did do again yesterday.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I wish there was a machine that you could look into his head, and it would print out what's going through there. He just beats himself up. He blames himself. He gets disappointed in himself, and as the next game comes, his cup fills again and he comes with a renewed focus. I said nothing to him -- well, I did. I sat next to him and said, "Do I need to say anything or do you already know what I'm going to say?" And he, (nodding). I said, "It's been great talking to you." And I went the other way. And that was our meeting. (Laughter).

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: The things I do are amazing. (Laughter).