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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURSJune 10, 2007Mike BrownSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Two Q. Can you talk about the match-up problems that Manu causes, not just with the Cavs but teams in general? COACH MIKE BROWN: Manu? I'll tell you what, he does cause a lot of natural problems with anybody because he's deceptively quick. He's not quick like TJ Ford or Tony Parker, but he can change gears very quickly. He can go from third to third, first to fifth, fifth to second. And I don't know a lot about baseball, but he's also like a pitcher that has one of those great change-up pitches with a great football. That keeps a defender off-balance. He can shoot the three, he can get into the paint and finish with a floater and pull up short. And as we all know he's athletic and explosive enough to get to the rim and dunk the ball over seven feet. When you're able to play with that change of pace and be extremely effective like he is, it makes it hard for anybody to guard, especially when they put him in pick-and-roll situations. Q. You know his style. How difficult was it for Pop to adjust to that when he came here? COACH MIKE BROWN: His unorthodox style? It was difficult. Pop already had gray hair, but I'm sure if he was a blond haired guy or a dark haired guy he would have gotten gray quicker. Manu just goes out there and plays. He's very passionate and very spirited about the game. He's a guy you don't want to put too many restraints or restrictions on, because it may look crazy out on the floor but at the end of the day it's going to result in wins, and that's what you want. Q. What was the wildest thing that you saw him do? COACH MIKE BROWN: I saw him do all types of crazy things. You know, he'd come down and fake a behind the back pass and make a zip pass to the side, and nine times out of ten it's going to work, but every once in a while when it doesn't work it drives the coaches crazy. But the thing that makes it a little awkward is Manu's reaction and expression is the same. He doesn't really get too excited, doesn't really get too down. He's just like, oh, well, I'll get him next time. I think it makes it tougher for a guy like Pop. Q. Looking at how they played LeBron in the first game and with Larry not being 100 percent, can you talk a little bit about Zydrunas Ilgauskas and just what you need out of him offensively in this series as it goes forward, and just what they're doing as far as concentrating on him, as well? COACH MIKE BROWN: They're doing a great job. They're playing him physical and they're contesting all his shots. But obviously we need some scoring from Z. He's one of our big guns, and he's going to have to give us something down on the low block. And then when we get him in pick-and-roll situations he's going to have to knock down some jump shots to loosen the floor for our guards to be able to penetrate and score. Z knows what he has to do offensively. Defensively he has to continue using his length, but he and the rest of our big guys have to do a better job of boxing out Duncan and Oberto because they generated too many second chance points in that Game 1. Q. Some of the third quarter problems that have happened in the postseason, is it still a fluke, or have you questioned anything that maybe you guys are doing at halftime or of that nature? COACH MIKE BROWN: No, we're just not coming out ready to play, and I've got to continue trying to do a better job of getting our guys focused into the third quarter and getting our guys to play with a sense of urgency instead of coming out and kind of floating. And that's what happened to us a couple of times, especially when we play these veteran ball clubs that have been here and know how to turn it up a notch, a team like Detroit and obviously San Antonio. Those are guys that understand how important it is to start that second half off the right way. Q. Same halftime speech and everything, you haven't changed? COACH MIKE BROWN: I don't change a lot. I try to find a rhythm in something and then stick with it. You know, the only thing I can keep doing is keep reminding them about past third quarters. We can add and tell them to try to get lay-ups as opposed to jump shots. Q. There's always so much talk about a team's first time here and the distractions and how much bigger it is than what they might have anticipated. How has your team dealt with these two days off after not a great first game, and what have they generally done during these days off? COACH MIKE BROWN: I don't have much clue what they've done these last couple of days (laughing). Our families are in town. I truly believe that we should cherish the experience being here, but not just by ourselves, our families are big supporters of ours throughout the season and they deserve to be here. So they're here, and I'm sure a lot of them spent some time with them these past couple of days when we haven't been practicing. But it has been experience in terms of the media that you have to deal with, the scheduled practice times and so on and so forth, and it's something that we have to adjust to and adapt to. I believe our guys will because a lot of our guys hadn't gone as far as the Conference Finals and they figured that out as they went along. So we have to do the same thing or else if we don't, then we allow these distractions to get to us, then there will be more results like Game 1. Q. Have you seen any difference in them being around these two off days compared to when you have two off days during the season, say? COACH MIKE BROWN: Yeah, the one thing, that I know that they're antsy. They want to get out there and they're ready to play. You know, they want to get that ball thrown up and get after it because we did some things technically wrong in Game 1, even effort-wise it wasn't there all the time because we might have been a little too juiced and not focused the right way. But our guys are ready to get out there and see if they can put a ballgame for 48 minutes the right way. And if we do, we're going to give ourselves a chance to win. Q. You talked during the Detroit series about early on not taking the ball into their big men more physically. Is that something you feel that you didn't do in Game 1? COACH MIKE BROWN: Yes, sir, no doubt about it. We have to do a better job. Tim Duncan is a great player, but he's a great shot blocker. His timing is probably better than a lot of the guys in the NBA if not one of the best ever. But he's not real athletic, but he's so smart that he understands angles and so on and so forth. So our guys have to continue, kind of like Rasheed, they have to continue trying to take the ball straight to his chest and make the referees call either a block or a charge. Like I told our guys against Detroit after Game 2 or after Game 1, one of the two, where Rasheed had ten blocks and they changed a lot of shots, I said, hey, guys, if somebody fouls out because they get too many charges I'll be the first one to take the blame and say you did exactly what we asked to help us win the ballgame tonight. Q. I'm curious for you to describe Sasha's development in the years that you've coached him, and where do you see him down the road in this league? COACH MIKE BROWN: Was Sasha's dad better than him? Q. I don't think so, no. He never played NBA. COACH MIKE BROWN: A lot of great players didn't play in the NBA. I'm always wondering because I heard good things about his father. Q. He was pretty good. Just describe his development during the years that you've coached him, and where do you see him down the road? COACH MIKE BROWN: Sasha has got a chance to be really good. When we got here, you talk about a talented offensive player, he's extremely talented. He can shoot the three. He can put the ball on the floor and shoot the pull-up. He can get to the rim and finish with a dunk. There's nothing he didn't do offensively. Then when you watch him you've got to be careful because he's quicker than you think, and he's more explosive and athletic than what you think, and the last thing is he's bigger and longer than what you think. So with those intangibles he's a pretty good offensive player, and he was great from day one when he got here. But the thing we kept watching him do or not do is defend, especially in the first month or so before training camp playing pick-up ball he wasn't defending, and then starting training camp he wasn't defending, neither. I had one of my assistant coaches go to him and tell him you're really talented, we just need you to defend. He was dead serious, he looked him in the guy, and he said, "My offense is my defense." So we said, okay. We sat him down for about a year and a half so he could think about it (laughter), and he thought long and hard. And now if you talk to him, I guarantee you he'll tell you he's got to defend. To stay on the floor he's got to defend. More than anything else, watching him development on that side of the ball has been really exciting for me because there's nothing I can teach him offensively. End of FastScripts |
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