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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURS

June 7, 2007

Tony Parker

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game One

Q. Tony, coming out of that time-out in the second quarter, you really caught fire. What did Pop say to you guys to get you going?
TONY PARKER: Well, me personally, he told me to be aggressive. He told me to get to that Phoenix mode, you know, when I played against Phoenix and was going under all the time, and so he told me, shoot 25 times if you have to, because if I'm not aggressive we can't do nothing because they're going under every pick-and-roll, and that's what he told me. He told me to stop thinking about it because I was trying to be in between, between passing or shooting. So when your coach says that, it helps. So then I played free and I got out in the second quarter and carried on second half.

Q. During that time he was really calm, too?
TONY PARKER: He was not panicking. It was just the first game. It's going to be a long series. Every game is going to be very tough.
Pop, you know, very calm, and told us what he wanted us to improve and try to get better. You know, we didn't play for a long time so the first time was try to get our rhythm back and try and get in that mode.

Q. They're such a good team at taking charges defensively. How did you avoid the contact and still manage to get to the rim?
TONY PARKER: Try and go faster than them, you know. Try and go faster, try to think ahead at what they're going to do, make quick decisions, even if I have to pass it early or if I'm going to go all the way, just the timing, when I penetrate try to think ahead. Varejao is one of the best at doing that, coming under the players and taking charges. He got me in the second half and in the fourth quarter. Hopefully it'll be the only one and I'll try to do a good decision every time.

Q. The second half did you guys make any major adjustments in the locker room and come out in the second half with a different approach, or was it just better execution?
TONY PARKER: Not really. We just said -- Pop talked about execution and being more focused and bring more energy, play tougher than the other team played with a lot more intensity. We didn't do nothing special. I think we just brought a lot of energy in the second half and made sure we get a lead, and we kept it. We had a good lead, 18 points, and then Cleveland made their run and they came back. But overall, second half we played better on offense, and defense we did a better job.

Q. Talk about just the defensive game plan you guys had on LeBron tonight.
TONY PARKER: We were just trying to contain him, make sure we don't give him any lay-ups, any dunks. Every shot make it tough, and just stay a little bit on the pick-and-rolls, not just hedge and leave right away, make sure we stay on him and force him to pass the ball. I thought overall the team effort was great on defense. Everybody was focused on LeBron. Every time he got transitioned, everybody got back, shadow, make sure we don't give him easy ways to the basket because he's strong and he gets a lot of easy baskets like that.
Overall everybody was paying attention to him and make sure we don't give him any easy stuff, and the basket he got, it was two like tough threes. We'll take that.

Q. Just a follow-up. Were you surprised at how LeBron struggled tonight or when you watched Bruce work against a guy are you just kind of accustomed --
TONY PARKER: I think it's a little bit 50/50, maybe a little bit. He just missed shots and that's going to happen. A little bit it was good defense by Bruce. But I'm not worried about him. He's going to get back and he's going to be aggressive. He's showed before, especially that series against Detroit. So we've got to stay focused and make sure we don't give him easy stuff because he can store a lot of points really quick.

End of FastScripts

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