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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURS

June 10, 2007

Gregg Popovich

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Two

COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, we played well for three quarters. And as usual, the fourth quarter against Cleveland for some reason, two regular season games and two playoff games, they scored somewhere between 25 and 30 every fourth quarter. So that was disappointing. But we're in the playoffs, we're in The Finals, we got a win, and we're thrilled about that.

Q. What memories of that spill in the fourth quarter did that bring back from your player days at the Academy?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: That's all I could do. That's the best thing I could do as a player is fall down.

Q. What is it about the fourth quarter that you're up 29? It was the same thing in Game 1, that you're there and all of a sudden they make a little run. Does that concern you?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Sure, sure, it does. They've done it four times in a row, so obviously I haven't figured it out yet, so I can't answer your question.

Q. Since '99 in this playoff run to the championships, you've guys have dominated the first two games in most of your series, but have struggled in Games 3 and 4. Are you concerned about that going into Game 3 in Cleveland or is this a different team, different year and it doesn't mean anything?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I'm concerned about every game. It doesn't matter whether it's the first game or the seventh game. So there's no less concern for one game over another one. Coaches are paranoid that way. They worry about everything.

Q. And after tonight's game, what did you tell your team about that fourth quarter?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I just told them what I thought would be appropriate.

Q. Which was?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: That's just family business.

Q. Can you just talk about the strong way you guys did start off the game, and as a coach the challenge to keep a team interested when you have a lead that big?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, that's always a challenge, but it's not as big a challenge come playoff time as it is the regular season. If you go up on somebody, you know what happened with a 24-second game, people are going to make runs. But in the fourth quarter I thought LeBron got away from us without a doubt. I thought my substitution pattern was poor and slow. I thought a couple defenses I called were inappropriate, and I think all those things combined gave us the problem in the fourth quarter.

Q. How impressed were you with Robert Horry's overall game tonight?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Robert was our star tonight. I mean, I know that Tony and Manu scored and Tim scored and that sort of thing, and you always -- you take those kind of guys for granted. But when somebody comes off the bench and does what Robert did at both ends of the floor, it was fantastic. His blocks were just as big as any points he scored, any rebounds he got. Great momentum builders, really gives the team defense a kick in the butt. He was fantastic for us tonight.

Q. Just comment on the overall bench play, particularly in that third quarter. That seemed to really set the tone for the rest of the game.
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, Robert off the bench, Manu off the bench, I thought Jacque's defense was great, and I thought they just kept the energy going and we were very aggressive at both ends of the court. I think in the fourth, as we said, LeBron turned the tables and he got away from us. He was great.

Q. Tony Parker can get to the rim almost at will against anybody, but he really seems to have the knack of doing it against Cleveland in points per game versus the regular season against Cleveland. What is it about the match-up between Tony and Cleveland where he's been so successful?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I honestly don't know what to tell you. He's had success against Cleveland. Hopefully it'll continue, but it doesn't mean that it will continue. He's a competitor. It doesn't matter whether people pack it in or not, he seems to figure out a way to be a factor.

Q. Can you talk about going to Cleveland, a place where obviously there's going to be big hype because they've never had this before, but also combine that with the poise you guys have shown throughout the playoffs on the road.
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: It'll be a huge challenge. They've played well there, and I think they'll feel a lot looser, a lot more aggressive in a lot of ways. So I think it'll be a tremendous challenge for us. I think the place will be rocking, without a doubt.

Q. You've been here two years ago, you were up 2-0, many people watching the series felt it could be a sweep coming up you were so dominant the first two games, ended up going to seven games. We saw last year, 2-0 Dallas, Miami wins it 4-2. You've been here, done this. Does that give you an edge going into Tuesday?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I hope it does, but that's what the playoffs are all about. It's hard to eliminate anybody in any round of the playoffs, and I think as each round continues it's progressively tougher. We don't think about sweeps or anything like that. We always plan for a long, drawn-out, seven-game series. If a series ends up not being that, that's great, but we plan for seven all the time.

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