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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: JAZZ v SPURS

May 30, 2007

Jerry Sloan

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Five

JERRY SLOAN: I would like to say congratulations to the Spurs. I think they did a terrific job. They have got a great team. Their staff had their team prepared as well as anybody we played against.
I just wish them well moving forward on their behalf.
Any questions?

Q. Coach, I think I saw a comment from you early in the season about the Spurs how they can get on a run that just demoralizes you tonight. Is that what happened tonight?
JERRY SLOAN: They got a great start. They came at us really hard. We lost faith as far as anything we wanted to do. They destroyed our will to want to play. And that was really -- to me, that was the whole thing that started the ball game off.
They started hard on both ends of the floor. We started shooting jump shots and we abandoned our offense right away. And we never could get back into it the rest of the night. They put us where they wanted us all night long.

Q. Coach, you talked a couple of times about how you don't like to call them a young team. But the fact that they were able to destroy your will in the first quarter, is that chocked up to experience?
JERRY SLOAN: I hate to think that's what it has to be. Maybe they will do it again next year. Are we going to grow up and say we are not going to let those things happen? We hope that doesn't happen. For guys to learn to play forward, hopefully be in a position that they're in some day, that's one of the things they have to overcome.

Q. Jerry, does tonight's loss color the run that you were able to get?
JERRY SLOAN: There is never a happy ending if you don't win it all. You end up the season as a loser and that's never exciting. I have been in this business for a long time, and never -- if you don't win it all, that's what you end up as. That's a pretty bitter pill.
The only thing is, are you willing to come back and try it again and that sort of thing.

Q. Do you still feel like you were able to accomplish that goal of getting in the playoffs?
JERRY SLOAN: Our team got to the playoffs. I think that was something that was very critical. I said at the beginning of the year they've got to get to the playoffs.
Now they see what it's about, up and down. Up against teams that know how to play and know how to do things. You can't take pot luck out there and expect to beat a team like that.
You need to be able to execute and go from there.

Q. Is it pretty clear to you that Deron did not -- was not at full strength as far as his foot goes tonight?
JERRY SLOAN: I was reluctant to -- I asked him if he was ready to play and he said he was. I put him out there, and he said he should be okay.
I think he struggled. He had his uniform on and that's the way it is.

Q. Jerry, what the Spurs were doing to Boozer, why do you think he was ineffective as he was tonight?
JERRY SLOAN: A lot of it is because we quick-shot the ball. You quick shoot the ball against him, they are going to bury you on the err end of the floor in the offense. They execute and make you defend him. If you don't set some screens, try to help each other, they set some screens, tried to help each other. Tried to make good shot selections, and that's where we got into trouble.
I think we had two or three really quick shots in the game and they are coming at you. They are going to defend you. I think we lost it a little bit right there. It's their game now. I'm out. One more.

Q. What do you think is the greatest accomplishment of Coach Popovich.
JERRY SLOAN: I think he has done a terrific job. He got that team ready to play the last part of the season, and they didn't back off. They buried their head and went forward and played as hard as they could.
They have got guys that they know what they can accomplish as soon as they step on the floor. You got to guard Duncan. You got to guard the people in the corners. Parker is a terrific player. They got a lot of great pieces to a great team.

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