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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURS

June 9, 2007

Tim Duncan

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Practice Day

Q. In the middle of the season, Pop said that he understood that you guys didn't have what he called the same kind of hunger that Dallas and Phoenix had because you had what they were looking for, and he said that you weren't playing what he called Spurs basketball at that point and that if you didn't start playing Spurs basketball, he could envision a one and out for you guys in the playoffs. I'm wondering if you can think back and point to anything or remember anything that got you guys in the right direction to the point where you are now.
TIM DUNCAN: I don't think there's only one thing. I think every year we go through the situation where we don't start off the greatest and kind of work our way into it. I remember there were times where he pointed to that fact or those guys had more of a drive than we did. I don't believe that was the case. I don't honestly agree with him on that point.
But we took some -- it took us some time to really start getting to play the right way, and once we started playing the right way, bang, we're right back in it.

Q. Can you describe for us Manu's style of play on the court?
TIM DUNCAN: I cannot describe the style of play on the court, no.

Q. Why not?
TIM DUNCAN: He's all over the place. He does -- he's great for our team because he brings the style of play where you can't really -- you don't know what he's going to do. He makes it up on the fly. He's an aggressive -- incredibly aggressive player. He just finds a way to make things happen. A lot of us play within our system, and he's one of the guys that will step out of that box, will can the whole thing and take it in a different direction.

Q. Can you reflect on what your first NBA Finals experience was like and sort of give us a window of what the Cavaliers are going through right now with all the hoopla and all this preparation?
TIM DUNCAN: It can be an overwhelming situation with the attention, with how close you are to being that final team. It can be a lot of pressure, and being here for the first time, having a young team as they do, having a young leader as they do, that doesn't help. They have very few vets that have been to this level, and you don't want to give them a lot of credit, but it really does help when you have people that have been there and have been through the situation and can kind of flow with it a little bit more.
As these games continue on, I can imagine those guys will get more and more comfortable and find out that it's still basketball and you're still out there. Once you get out on that court it's the same old game and they'll get a little more comfortable. Hopefully we can continue to play that to our advantage with our experience, but those guys are going to get comfortable and we're going to have to really bring our A games and understand that they're going to be playing their best at the right time.

Q. Can you look at tape and say, well, the Cavaliers might try this, and then you would be able to from that know what adjustments you might have to make?
TIM DUNCAN: We've looked at some stuff, and we have to imagine they're going to make some changes. We anticipate a couple things, but there's no way to really tell. You have to anticipate some stuff and be able to counter it in game instead of waiting for a whole other game and letting it slip by.
Our coaching staff is great at that. They're great at seeing things that happen, seeing things that could hurt us coming up and trying to give us a little bit of advance on it. We've done just that, and hopefully we can go into this game and do the same job in executing our game plan as we did in the first game.

Q. Pop is going for another title, yet he doesn't seem to get the same publicity or have the reputation of a Phil Jackson or a Pat Riley. Can you explain why that is?
TIM DUNCAN: For whatever reason it's what the Spurs have been labeled as. For whatever reason, we're just kind of looked by in that respect.
Honestly, I think Pop likes it that way. He's in it every step of the way. I believe he's as good as anyone ever, but it doesn't matter to him. He's about that challenge every year, about putting a team back together every year, about getting guys to play the right way, and whatever recognition comes with that down the line, it'll come in time. He'll deal without any extra needed attention.

Q. Do you think it could come from the city, a small market?
TIM DUNCAN: I can't answer that question. I don't know. I don't know why a small market would matter. Whether you win or lose games or win championships, I don't know why that would matter.

Q. Late January when Pop came out and said, hey, we're doing it with the guys in this room, we're not going to get any outside help, how significant was that at that point given Dallas and Phoenix had pushed out, and was there some anxiousness or wondering in the locker room are they going to make a move or keep this thing?
TIM DUNCAN: I think some guys were nervous, absolutely, thinking that with our sporadic play that was going to happen to give us a little bit of a boost, and I think that was specifically what we needed. We needed him to come in there, and that's the change that he decided, that there weren't going to be any changes. I think that's the news that we got, and I think it helped. I think it pulled guys together, I think it got guys comfortable knowing that something was going to happen. They were here to play and this is who we had to o it with. I think it helped guys step up.

Q. Having won three championships and maybe fourth this year. If you win it all this year, what do you think is the Spurs' dynasty is, in your opinion?
TIM DUNCAN: There have been very few dynasties. I don't know that we can consider ourselves a dynasty, but that's me on the inside looking out. Dynasties are the things that the Lakers of the 80s and the Celtics, those are who you consider dynasties, teams that have done it for many, many, many years. Hopefully we can look back in a couple years and be considered something like that. But as of now, I can't imagine that we would be considered alongside those guys.

Q. Is dynasty your goal, your target?
TIM DUNCAN: Winning is our goal. What that equals in the long run, you can define it however you want to. Winning is our goal.

Q. There's been some talk in this Finals and previous before about Jason Kidd and Tony Parker and what if. What about you in 2000? A lot of people thought that perhaps you'd go to Orlando when your contract situation, Grant Hill, all that. How close were you ever to doing that? And do you ever think back, had you made that move, how life would have been different?
TIM DUNCAN: Life would have been a lot different. It was probably a lot closer decision than people even think or even know, but it's worked out the right way, to say the least, and I can't even go through all the factors that went into making the final decision to come back here. But just the organization and the people and the situation, and as I said, obviously it worked out the right way.

Q. When it seemed to get close at the time, and Orlando seemed to feel because they had Grant Hill coming and they seemed to have a good feeling about it, was there one feeling that swayed you with the Spurs?
TIM DUNCAN: As I said, it was the people and the organization here at the Spurs that I was used to, and not only the players. Of course David was here, and that was great, and I had a couple other guys here that I loved being around. But even beyond that, the staff, the coaches, guys I was comfortable with, guys I enjoyed being around is probably what swayed it in the end.

End of FastScripts

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