NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 9, 2005

Tony Parker

TONY PARKER: He played great. Hit some big baskets. He got us going and in the second half, with Timmy, both of them made a key basket and I thought that it was huge for us, for our energy because we start very slow, a little bit of rust and out of rhythm. And finally in the second half, we tried to do better and we found our rhythm.

TONY PARKER: That was a tough call. Manu, he got mad after that and he didn't stop penetrating. He kept attacking and finally the fourth quarter, he hit some big baskets, that one in the fast break and that big three he hit late in the fourth quarter.

TONY PARKER: Like the whole team, like the whole team. We need to understand that every time we're going to penetrate, we need to protect the ball and be strong. I thought I got fouled a couple times, but that doesn't matter to me. You have to keep going and be strong and just try to make some stuff happen. We know it's going to be very physical with Detroit. They have a very good defense.

TONY PARKER: Going to try to attack, same like Manu and try to help Timmy out. He's doing the best he can inside and we need to help him try to score and try to get some easy baskets for Brent and Bruce Bowen on the corners and try to get some offense. You know, it's going to be low scoring in this series, and so anything we can help is going to be good.

TONY PARKER: Definitely, they kicked our butt in the first half, and finally in the second half we did a better job. We just have to make sure that everybody is rebounding, me, Manu, Bruce, we need to try to help Timmy and Nazr. We can't expect them to take every rebounds, because Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince especially is a very good offensive rebounder.

TONY PARKER: A little bit of both. A little bit of both. A little bit out of rhythm and a little bit of Detroit. You know, they play very good. They had a very good beginning of the game and they got a great start. Just have to make sure in Game 2, we have better energy and better start because we can't let that happen two times in a row.

TONY PARKER: He had a good game. He had a good game. Early in the game he hit some shots, hit a couple threes and that got him going. In the second half, he had some tough shots in the post-ups and fast break. I just have to make sure I don't let him get going early in the game. He's a great player and he's going to score some points.

TONY PARKER: Maybe they used a lot of energy early on in the beginning of the game. I thought our energy picked up in the fourth quarter. I don't know Detroit felt, but I'm sure they are going to watch film and see what they can do better in the fourth quarter and that's what's going to happen against Detroit for 48 minutes. When we have a bad start, we kept saying in time-out, we have to keep playing and it's going to be a long game, and finally is the half. We had some good stuff happen for us and I'm sure Detroit is going to think about that.

TONY PARKER: Oh, I'm sure, definitely.