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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS v PISTONS

May 27, 2007

Mike Brown

CLEVELAND, OHIO: Game Three

COACH BROWN: What a ballgame. I thought we did a solid job defensively, especially down the stretch in the fourth quarter. We just covered for one another. We didn't always technically get it right, what we were supposed to be doing defensively, and when there was a breakdown, they trusted one another, they helped one another and they communicated, and we found ways to contest shots.
I thought offensively down the stretch we were good. Detroit is a really, really good defensive team. Defensively they team you out of your first option, your second option and sometimes your third option, so our guys did a nice job, a heck of a job, just moving the basketball and playing random offense. But we played random offense the right way. We set screens, we moved bodies, we moved the ball from one side of the floor to the other, and we had some great looks in that fourth quarter.
I thought that Daniel Gibson was huge for us, not only offensively, him knocking down some shots and being aggressive driving to the rim, but defensively.
Again, they're a talented team, and when they run pick-and-rolls involving Chauncey and Tayshaun, a lot of times we switch those things, and that puts a guy like Daniel, who might be 5'11", maybe 5'10", he's a little fella, and it puts him on a guy like Tayshaun Prince, who's 6'9", and he does a job of harassing him as much as possible until he can get some help. He did a nice job of sticking his nose in there, he did a nice job on Chauncey, and then he did a nice job of knocking down shots when he was open.
I thought Z and Drew played a great second half for us, and Sasha had an overall good ballgame, but the guy that was big for us was our guy, LeBron James. He was aggressive the entire ballgame. He set the tone for us offensively, and I thought down the stretch he hit some big shots for us. He had 12 points, three assists, two rebounds and zero turnovers in the fourth quarter. That was the difference in the ballgame. We need that aggressiveness from him, especially at that point. He was huge for us the entire night.
The pull-up jump shot that he hit to bring us up by four, all I can say is wow, unbelievable player.

Q. You've talked about LeBron growing as a leader through these playoffs, what did it show you today that he came to the gym so early and put so much work into pregame and talked about what he felt his responsibility was even before the game even started?
COACH BROWN: It was great. I thought he came to the gym early a couple of times during the year. I guess he told you guys he didn't, so I guess I'm wrong. That was terrific. Again, he set the tone. He knows this is his team. He knows we go as he goes, and he's not afraid to step up and take responsibility for it, and that's what he did today.
Again, he set the tone by aggressively driving to the basket. He put the onus on the referee to call a charge or a block or whatever you want to call it, but he's coming.

Q. Larry Hughes only played about four minutes in the second half, was his foot injury or whatever happened to his foot in the first half any of the reason for that?
COACH BROWN: Yeah. I was watching him play, and you know, he was doing okay for us, but he was limping. You know, I felt sooner or later it was going to catch up to us. So I went with Daniel Gibson, and it was just because I saw him out there limping and I didn't think -- I thought sooner or later it was going to catch up to us, and so I made the change.

Q. What did you mean by "random offense," and when did you guys use that?
COACH BROWN: Well, we had sets that we were running down the stretch, but they just loaded up and tried to take the first option away and then take the second option away. We feel like we have a lot of stuff if the first option and second option is taken away that we can get to or go to, and our guys did it. They didn't just hold the ball and keep it in one spot. They moved the ball from one side of the floor to the other. Sometimes we moved it back. We set pin-downs at the right time, we popped at the right time, we drove it and kicked it at the right time, and that's stuff that you work on all year and you hope to see unfold in situations where you're playing against a very good team when they take you out of your first or second option. You hope to see that kind of stuff happen on the floor.
When a team is able to do that, just to play basketball when the first or second option is taken away, then you can become a very good offensive team.

Q. They didn't play really any zone in this whole series until the last few possessions of the game, did that take you guys a little by surprise?
COACH BROWN: No, they played it earlier in the game. They went to their 3-2 zone and they were playing boxes and elbows because we had LeBron in the middle of the floor, we had Daniel Gibson, who had been shooting the ball well, on one wing, and Sasha, who had been shooting it well on the other wing, and we were going to play pick-and-roll and roll Z down and let Drew find the roll. If they were going to pay that much attention to LeBron, we knew that he would drive it, draw the defense and find the open guy. He made a great pass to Daniel Gibson, who had a wide-open three, and that usually goes down.
Again, if they play boxes and elbows like they did tonight late in the ballgame, we've got to be able to step up and make plays and make shots, and if we do, that might get them out of it some.

Q. Was there anything you guys did differently tonight in the last two minutes of the game, or was just the end result of the game different?
COACH BROWN: I thought we were aggressive. You know, I thought on both ends of the floor we did a nice job of being aggressive. We weren't back on our heels. Usually a lot of times against that team, they're the aggressors coming out in the third quarter, they're the aggressors at the end of the ballgame, and I thought our guys did a solid job attacking and not settling. And then LeBron stepped up and put us on his shoulders, and he said, come along for the ride, and we all hopped on, including me.

Q. Can you talk about going to Z in the beginning of the third quarter there just for some stability to get some baskets, to avoid that third quarter problem out of the gate?
COACH BROWN: Well, one thing I wanted to try to do is try to spread the wealth a little bit. We've got to try to make the other players work some, so I went to Z some tonight, I went to Drew there for a stretch tonight, and I even went to Sasha. I have to keep doing that during the course of the ballgame and not try to force feed LeBron all the time. I've got to let other guys score some baskets or get some looks for us because they may get rolling. You know, they may have big games for us, and Z did; he shot 50 percent. Drew almost shot 50 percent. Sasha shot over 50 percent. We need that from other guys. That was the difference in the ballgame.
So going to those guys, Drew, Z, I've got to keep doing that whether it's the beginning of the first quarter, beginning of the third quarter or during the course of the ballgame. I've got to keep getting those guys some looks.

End of FastScripts

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