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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS v PISTONS

May 24, 2007

Mike Brown

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Two

Q. You've talked about how aggressive you want to be, do you think the Pistons may be more aggressive themselves?
COACH BROWN: Oh, yeah, they will. They're going to come out. They're going to be really aggressive, no doubt about it. They know that they're going to have to play hard for 48 minutes because our guys are going to try to do the same. So I don't expect anything different from any of those guys. They're all competitors in that other locker room, so I expect them to come out hard.

Q. Are you planning on maybe using someone else on Rip?
COACH BROWN: What do you mean? To start the game?

Q. I mean, Sasha had him most of the time last time. Are you planning on anyone else maybe?
COACH BROWN: Larry covered him and Eric did, too. So it was a combination of those three guys. You know, we'll do -- we'll mix it up. Sasha will have him some, Larry will have him some, Eric may have him some, Daniel Gibson may have him some, also.

Q. Will you just talk about the defensive effort that LeBron has been putting out lately. He seemed to be all over the court, as I saw it, the other night. I was wondering what you thought of it.
COACH BROWN: He was solid for us defensively. That's an area that he has to continue working on and continue improving, which he is doing, because he faces a lot of guys that can score the basketball at that forward position.
So not only does he have to defend his man and help with the team defense, but he has to continue to defend and rebound like he's been doing in order for us to be able to initiate the break.

Q. Was that a good game for him defensively? Was Game 1 good for him?
COACH BROWN: Yes, he was solid defensively, yes, sir.

Q. Did you follow the lottery and do you have any thoughts on whether that's fair? Obviously Cleveland won a couple years ago, now there's some concern that the worst teams really aren't getting the best chance to win.
COACH BROWN: All I know is I'm glad it's the way it is right now (smiling).

Q. When LeBron has one of these things where a couple days of second-guessing, national media and all that stuff, how do you and he in a sense deal with that, if so at all, and how do you deal with that?
COACH BROWN: He's had the weight of the world on his shoulders. You guys know better than me because you've been probably following him since the 6th grade or at least the 10th grade or so. He's fine. He knows in his heart he feels like he made the right play, and I'm living with whatever play he makes in that situation. He was aggressive. The only thing I want him to do is drive the basketball. There was only I think two times since I've been here that I thought he could have done something different at the end of the game: Once I think he took a three in Charlotte, and I think he took a three, too, against Miami or something like that, when I thought he could have driven the basketball.
Other than that, he's made tremendous decisions down the stretch with the basketball, and there's no ill effects on his part. He was loose today at shoot-around, he was loose at breakfast, so there really was nothing to talk about.

Q. Is one of the reasons you like the way it worked out the fact that you might not have to face Greg Oden and Kevin Durant more than twice a year?
COACH BROWN: No, I was just happy because LeBron James is here and I'm here.

Q. What do you think about the likelihood of those guys going to the Western Conference?
COACH BROWN: You know what, I wasn't even thinking about this year's lottery, I was just thinking about the lottery four years ago, whatever. I mean, they had this system, I don't know, in place for I don't know how many years. It brings an added dose of suspense of something that could easily, if they knew who was picking when, could easily be something that is rather boring or uninteresting to people, but it makes it really interesting.
You know what, I didn't watch those guys play a lot. People tell me that they're impact players that can change a franchise, an organization, and if that's the case, then I'm glad they're going to impact the West first.

Q. The other day in New Jersey when LeBron that first quarter kept pushing the ball and going to the rim a lot in the first quarter, is that by design, or how does that come about when he plays like that?
COACH BROWN: You mean in transition?

Q. Yeah, I think he picked up like six fouls in the first quarter. He was just going to the rim almost every time he touched the ball.
COACH BROWN: You know, LeBron has a green light to do what he wants, especially when he gets a defensive rebound and pushes the basketball because when he's in the open floor like that, it's very hard to load up on him, it's very hard to send double-teams because it's so random and the defense isn't set.
When he gets an open floor, if he wants to attack, hey, that's great. We encourage that. You know, he's got to be aggressive against this team tonight because if he doesn't attack in early offense or in transition, we're going to face a lot of very good -- not just good, but very good set defenses with some solid schemes.

End of FastScripts

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