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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURS

June 7, 2007

Mike Brown

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game One

COACH MIKE BROWN: San Antonio was terrific. They were terrific, especially defensively. They defended us very well, didn't allow us to get in the paint at all, and when we did get in the paint there were three bodies there. And when we did kick the ball, they did a great job of spreading out and contesting our shooters.
Having said that, we've got to make sure that we continue trying to drive the basketball, continue trying to get in the paint. But we have to have multiple drives and kicks so when we kick the ball out, we've got to try to drive again and then kick it out and drive again until we can get in there for lay-ups or for fouls. But you've got to give them credit. Not only that, I thought most of the loose balls they got on the floor and got after.
And then they beat us in some other hustle areas. I thought on the offensive glass they really hurt us by getting 13 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points. So you've got to give them credit. There are some things I feel we can do better as a team, and we have to do those things better in order for us to win. But you've got to give them credit, especially with Manu, Tony and Tim, their big three, scoring the basketball the way they did.

Q. They came out of the time-out in the second quarter and Tony kind of took over the game and gave them the lead again. Just talk about his role in that and what you're going to have to do to stop him?
COACH MIKE BROWN: Tony was terrific. I thought when he wanted to get to the rim, he did, most of the night. And he had us on our heels, whether it was in transition or in an iso or playing pick-and-rolls. We have to do a better job of keeping him out of the paint and see if he can beat us shooting the ball or swinging it and having somebody else shoot it. But he was good getting in the paint tonight.

Q. Have you ever seen LeBron struggle like this in your two years as a head coach, and how much of that was the Spurs and how much of it was maybe just opening game jitters?
COACH MIKE BROWN: You know, I've seen him struggle before. He struggled mightily tonight. They did a great job. They closed down the paint, and we tried to play second pick-and-roll with him. Their bigs did a good job jumping out and containing him and blitzing him, so he wasn't able to get to the paint, and the couple of times he did get to the paint, he wasn't able to finish because they're bringing bodies, not just one, but they're bringing two, three bodies, and he's faced it before.
But the thing they did really well when they drove the basketball is got to our shooters. We didn't do a good job of closing out. When he kicks the ball we've got to make them pay when they spread out by looking to get into another driving kick.

Q. Parker's penetration, it seemed like your guys ran at him a lot and he went right by. Was that by design to try and make him give up the ball or was that a break down defensively?
COACH MIKE BROWN: No, not supposed to run at him.

Q. Was that part of the problem?
COACH MIKE BROWN: Some of it, yeah. We did. We've got to know our personnel a little bit better. Tony is one of the quickest guys in the NBA, and he's already going to get by anybody almost that's guarding him. So, you know, we've got to live with one or two things. Do we live with him at the rim or do we live with him shooting jump shots and beating us, and if he shoots jump shots and beats us, then so be it. But we've got to understand our personnel a little bit better out on the floor.

Q. With his quickness and Larry's injury, any thoughts about a line-up change with Boobie (Daniel Gibson) maybe getting more playing time or a start to try and counter Tony?
COACH MIKE BROWN: No.

Q. You talked about LeBron struggling mightily. How did you see him deal with that mentally at different stages throughout the course of the game?
COACH MIKE BROWN: You know, at times he was pretty good, and at times, you know, he wasn't. You know, there were times when he would just pound, pound, pound, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, and then shoot a three or shoot a leaning shot, and some of the shots he hit, but we have to do a better job as a staff and as a team and he's got to do a better job for us at making sure that we move the ball, move the ball, and get some pretty good shots, because again, that team, they're sitting back and they're waiting on him. If we bring the ball up and just try to get into a spread and have him attack, it's not going to work because they're sitting at elbows and boxes and they're closing out to our shooters really well. So we've got to make sure we get into something. If we come down and we're in early, we've got to set screens better, we've got to cut harder, and we've got to move better. When one guy catches the basketball we can't have five guys standing in an iso or one guy playing the pick-and-roll. We've got to do a better job of moving bodies.

Q. With what you know about him mentally you know he's going to make the game adjustments. But with what you know about him and how he reacts to games like this, how do you think he's going to react to this in terms of emotions and mentality?
COACH MIKE BROWN: He's a guy that I don't think I've ever seen him rattled or flustered after a game like this. You know, situations like this when he faces defenses for the first time, a lot of times, too, he's pretty patient, so he'll read, read, read, read, read, and once he gets used to a defense, he's been pretty good for us. Hopefully this was great for him tonight to be able to experience what they're trying to do to him, and we as a staff, we as a team and he as an individual can make some adjustments come Game 2.

Q. You've obviously known the Spurs for a long time. What do they do that's so good when they find one star player that they want to shut down? What are the key things that they do?
COACH MIKE BROWN: They're doing basically what Detroit tried to do to us. They're selling out on LeBron. When he has the basketball, he plays pick-and-roll, they're putting two guys to him. And they're pulling a third guy over. And if he gets into the paint, they've got three guys around him. So what they're doing is they're saying, hey, somebody else beat us. So we have to continue moving the basketball when he gets doubled and tripled, which he did sometimes, and he found some guys that were open. Boobie hit a three I think in the game because he got doubled and we set screens and reacted the right way to the double-team. The San Antonio are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing to LeBron and we as a staff have to figure out how to help him and the rest of the guys on the floor.

Q. You mentioned you're not considering a line-up change, but with how well Gibson shot the ball again tonight, do you think he'll get more playing time in this series?
COACH MIKE BROWN: Yeah, he'll get some playing time. He played well for us on both ends of the floor tonight, and obviously, like you said, he did shoot the ball well. He'll be out on the floor for us. It's one game, and we're going to go back and take a look at the tape and we'll make some adjustments, and I'm sure they'll make some adjustments, but one of them won't be a line-up change.

End of FastScripts

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