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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURSJune 12, 2007Gregg PopovichCLEVELAND, OHIO: Game Three COACH GREGG POPOVICH: That was a great game. Both teams played pretty good defense, I think, and that's what the night was all about. We're trying to stop LeBron and trying to stop some of the three-point shooters, they're trying to stop Manu and Tony. We ended up being fortunate enough to win the game, so we're thrilled about it. Q. On the last play, did you want your guys to foul before the shot? I know this is a debate you guys go through, but Bruce did grab at him. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: He did make a stab at him, and we talked about it. That's it, I guess. Q. And can you talk about the contribution you got off your bench tonight when you were probing for some offense? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I don't remember that happening. I'm just thrilled by Bruce Bowen. You know, he's guarding somebody that's going to be a Hall of Fame player when it's all said and done, obviously. And he's playing for -- I don't know what he played here, 43, 44 minutes, and he scored 13 points and got nine rebounds. What a yeoman effort on his part. I just thought he was fantastic from beginning to end, and I think he really set the tone for our team. Q. Three-point shots tonight really were a big difference in this game. Was that by design, or were you just taking what the defense was giving you there? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Right, we never -- it's difficult to go into a game and say tonight we're going to take threes or tonight Timmy Duncan is going to shoot 28 times. It's best that one takes what's given, and that's what we tried to do. Q. Just to belabor Mike's point, what did you tell your team in the final time-out? What did you tell them to do? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I'd rather keep that to ourselves. Whatever strategy we're going to use, it's nothing amazing, but I would rather just keep it to ourselves. It might happen again. Q. Is this a game where it's a matter of one team has been there, done that and experienced it, and another team hasn't been there, done that and experienced it? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I don't know the answer to that. I do know that our core players understand that, especially in playoffs, that the games last for 48 minutes oftentimes, and we've seen every kind of crazy thing happen, positively and negatively. So you just never stop; you keep going. Perhaps that experience in that regard does help. Q. Cavaliers were penetrating in the first half. Did you guys make a defensive adjustment in the second half, or did they seem to just settle for the outside shot? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I don't remember that happening. I saw a different game than you. It was 40 to 38 at the half, wasn't it? We set the western world of offensive basketball back ten years. So there couldn't have been too much penetration. Q. Would you have ever thought that you guys would have been able to win that game like that with Manu only scoring three points? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: No, I wouldn't expect that. I would think that Tony and Manu and Timmy would have to be great to win these games. But that's not going to happen all the time. You know, those three guys -- it's not going to happen. That's why I think Bruce picked up a lot of the slack. His nine boards are as important as any points he scored because these guys are so good on the board and they hit the offensive board so hard. Bruce concentrating in that regard was huge for us. But hopefully Manu will have a better game on Thursday. You've got to give them credit. They played good defense, also. It's not like we beat them by 20. We ended up being the fortunate team at the end of the game. We hung in there, we won, but they played just as hard defensively as we did. Q. Home court, home rims, and yet 3-of-19 shooting from three. Is that your defense playing well or just they misfired or what do you attribute that to? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: It's always both. They got some wide-open looks that didn't go, and that was fortunate for us. Other times we did contest some threes and do a good job, so it's a little bit of both. Q. Are you happy with your defense -- COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I'm happy with anything tonight. You could name anything and I'm happy (laughter). Q. Given the rules changes, given everything that's going on, is this as good a defensive run as your group has had in some time, just throughout the entire playoffs? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think I can honestly say that these three games is the best defense we've played all season. This is the best defense we've played in the playoffs, and it's been back to back to back, without a doubt. End of FastScripts |
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