NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SPURS v SUNS

May 28, 2005

Mike D'Antoni

COACH D'ANTONI: I think he's going to play normal. Joe is physically great. Never seems to get tired anyway, so he's off 11 days. I think we'll just check his production, if he's playing well with the mask and going well, I don't think wind-wise he will struggle. I think he might be rusty, then we'll play it by ear, but he will start and then kind of just gauge him as the game goes on.

COACH D'ANTONI: Hopefully he will be able to stay in front of him. I think the biggest thing that will help us is keeping Steve (Nash) off of him and not running all over the court and he can stand over Bruce (Bowen) especially and they can be pals and stuff (laughter.) That's the thought. And Steve will have to guard Parker some, but it also creates a lot of cross matches and they like to pressure Steve up a little bit, Tony was talking about maybe he has to pressure the whole game, well he has to find him first. Maybe we can run a little bit out of that kind of formation, see how that works.

COACH D'ANTONI: I think they know, no. We have got guys -- so much news out on TV, they are up on everything. They know that the Red Sox won. They follow sports. They know where we are. They know the team that we're playing and the hole we're in. I really believe none of them have doubt -- they don't have any doubt that we can win and we can win this game and the next game. And they are ready to go.

COACH D'ANTONI: Yeah, I don't know. Every doctor says no problem, and with the mask he really -- he can get hit right on it, he won't feel it. Only anxious moment is whether he plays well or not. I don't think physically -- if we were anxious, he wouldn't play. We hear it from everybody that he has no more chance to getting hurt than anybody else on the floor, so --

COACH D'ANTONI: I think he's cool with that. He knows that. He knows how important he is to the team. But at the same time, he won't play if he wasn't well and then you -- he's a big piece of what we're doing, but just having him back is good for him. He wants to play in the Finals. I think for the guys on the team, that's the biggest thing. Then after that, what he can produce he will, and but whether we win or lose, definitely not going to hang on his head.

COACH D'ANTONI: We have to find out any of those three things we can stop, that would be the first priority. Because some of the stuff you can't stop. Tim (Duncan) is going to be Tim. And the biggest thing, we just would like to keep some -- first game I know Parker had 9 layups. He's probably had about, I don't know what he's shooting exactly, but more than half are layups. And we're not going to be able to completely wipe that out. But instead of giving him 9 let's give him 4, 5. We don't need to stop -- I don't think you can stop Parker, Ginobili and Duncan unless they are having bad games, but you can limit them a little bit. That's the thing we really are focused on is our -- what can we control. You can't control how good Duncan, is but you can control a loose ball, not going after a rebound, not getting back three times. We let Duncan -- Parker last three games had three layups that all five guys didn't run back and we watched the film, talked about it. That's 6 points. That's the difference in the game. Not one time do they not execute a conscious play where they have to get back. They do that every time. We almost did it every time. Almost is not good enough against a team like them.

COACH D'ANTONI: I think the only one that can be a factor is Steve (Nash). That's the one we watch. And although he's responded really well and he's played unbelievable, so I don't know if it's affecting him or not. I do think there are periods, maybe two or three minute stretches and like third quarter that you can see him go down just a little bit, might be a couple of turnovers. Then I had to bring Leandro (Barbosa) in, give him a couple minutes, then he comes back. He closes out games. I don't think he's getting worn down to close out the last five, six minutes. I think there's a stretch in there where he's getting a little fatigued. Maybe being off the ball is going to help some. If we can, Joe (Johnson) will play some depending on how Joe is doing.

COACH D'ANTONI: I don't know if it's youth or it's just some habits that we have that we have to correct now. Whether that's being young or just not being experienced -- I don't know. But those are things we can correct as we go along. I do think that with losses they will learn and hopefully they have learned tonight. So those are things if we want to be a champion and we have talked about it, defense, assign a loose ball here and there, getting back when we can, those are things that make champions. We're good enough to be champions talent-wise, not quite there yet as a team, you know, the last two games. We need to get there quickly.

COACH D'ANTONI: No, that's why they are so good because they can also -- they are playing with us offensively. Even doing a better job defensively in the fourth quarter than we are. We're probably shooting 56 to 60 percent in the fourth quarter, and they were shooting 70 percent. That has been an undoing both games. A lot them. But, again, three or four times we did not pursue the ball or have that desperate attitude that one play causes us to win or lose. We did not have that desperation in Game 1 and Game 2. Youth, not being there, not knowing, I don't know, I just know that we have talked about it we need to get better. Again if they win, you know, sometimes you know when Ginobili is splitting people or Duncan turning in, you are not going to stop that. You pick your poison. And Brent (Barry) is 6 for 10, shooting 60 percent in this series. Makes it tough. But again, I still think it comes down to one or two plays that we just didn't do.

COACH D'ANTONI: I would hope -- I think everybody can do it. It does help to have some of the best players in the game, Stoudemire and Marion and Nash running. You know, I think there's levels of offense and stuff, with you there's a lot of great players in the league that have talent to be able to do it.

COACH D'ANTONI: Good question, I doubt it. I don't think he would have played, just because you know, in January we're close to first place and you would, you know, just give him extra week or so to get well. But just because of where we're and the urgency of it definitely is a factor.