NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 19, 2005

Gregg Popovich

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: We drew up what you saw. We put all the people where you saw we put them, and Rasheed double-teamed, things changed and Manu made a great pass.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: He was unbelievable. We started the overtime with Nazr trying to get the tip, and we were fortunate enough to get it and stuck him right back in because throughout the fourth quarter, he was unbelievable. We had to keep him on the court as much as we could, and he read the floor great. He drove it, he got to the open areas. He's just got a great sense about him. He's a really smart player.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: That's who he is. That's one of the things he does. He does other things, too, but what people notice is that three, obviously, that he shoots.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I just thought that really whether we were right or wrong at the time, I just thought he wore down. I thought he played too many minutes in L.A., you know, his final year, and he just didn't have anything left at that point. But the way the league is going and the way people are playing, it's good to have a four man who can shoot the ball and spread the court. I think he's still fairly young. It's not like he's 36 or 37. So we decided because of his leadership, because he's going to have a summer to rest, if we guarded his minutes, he might be able to be really helpful to us in playoff situations. So we kind of limit him during the year.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Yeah, I was really worried about him, because he does have a problem in there and he keeps reinjuring it, but obviously it doesn't stop him from being aggressive. He made a great play, the lane opened up and he did something that was very aggressive and usually that works out well.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, Robert -- no. That's not why Robert was there. Robert is almost always there. He's there a lot, to handle the ball in those situations because we think he makes great choices. He's got the length and he can see things out there. So he's there quite often. No, we did not know they were going to trap.

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Is there another question?

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Any other questions?

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think initially they were a little bit down, understandably so. But I thought Manu, especially, he went over there and grabbed Timmy and talked to him, touched him and, you know, got to him on the bench. And the players were great about supporting each other at that point and remembering that we're starting over again and we had to have that energy. We couldn't afford to hang our heads. I thought they helped each other in that situation really well.