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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURS

June 13, 2007

Tony Parker

CLEVELAND, OHIO: Practice Day

Q. A non-basketball question. Your CD has been released in San Antonio. Tell me your thoughts on your rap album being released there in town?
TONY PARKER: I'm very happy, very happy. We had a lot of demands in San Antonio. The record company in France got a deal with ATB, so it's great to have it in San Antonio.

Q. We've already gotten a couple of emails, a couple fans saying -- it's obviously all in French, but they absolutely love the CD and they can't put it down. What's your response to those couple of emails we got?
TONY PARKER: Oh, it's great. It's great. I'm doing that for fun, so if people can enjoy it, it's even better. So hopefully the half in French they'll enjoy it, and hopefully it will teach them French along the way.

Q. I know you haven't won it yet, but when people start talking about a fourth title in nine years and becoming one of the all-time great teams in NBA history, what does that mean to you and this team to be considered in that category?
TONY PARKER: It is great. Hopefully we can finish it tomorrow, and it's a great feeling. Like I said last night, I feel very blessed to play for San Antonio. I feel very lucky because, coming from France, you know, I never expected that. Growing up and getting up at 3:00 in the morning, watching Michael Jordan, I never thought one day I'd kiss that trophy. So it's a great feeling. Hopefully we can stay focused. It's going to be a big game tomorrow, but it's definitely been a great ride, you know, playing with that team.

Q. Will you copy Michael when you win a fourth and jump on the table and do the whole four fingers thing?
TONY PARKER: I don't know. In those kind of moments you go with the flow and you don't know what you're going to do. It's going to be a hard one, but hopefully we can do it.

Q. Can you just kind of take us back to your beginnings in San Antonio compared to where you are now, the physical play that the guys were subjecting you to in the very beginning, the first year when Tim wasn't talking to you too much, and 2003 the possibility of a trade and Jason Kidd coming in. You seem to have gone through a lot and now on the verge of winning a third title and marrying a successful actress.
TONY PARKER: There was growing pains for me, but I can't complain because I was in a great organization. But at the same time, you know, Coach Pop was really, really hard on me, always trying to push me and looking for perfection. I thought I was doing pretty good, being 21, but it was never enough. I could score 14, 15, it was never enough. Sometimes I felt like it wasn't fair, all the criticism.
I think I will never be at that point today if I didn't go through that. When I look back, you know, I learned a lot from that, and it made me stronger and it made me want to become one of the best point guards and become an All-Star and lead that team to championships. It was hard at the time, but now I'm very happy that I went through that because now I'm very happy where I'm at. I think I appreciate it better now because 2003 was a tough time for me because I was 21 and we just won a championship and they wanted Jason Kidd. It's hard to accept because I felt like I was the best point guard for that team.
You know, it worked out for the best, and even if it was harder, I'm going to repeat myself, but I was happy to go through that because it made me a better player.
Now I have a great relationship with Timmy and it's a privilege and an honor to play with him. And with Pop, it was like a father-and-son relationship. And even sometimes, you know, I thought he was crazy, but it made me a great player.

Q. Yesterday Daniel Gibson gets the start with Larry having the injury and being out. Did you notice a difference defensively in how he played you and how they played you early on? You seemed to adjust as the game went on, but did you notice the difference right away?
TONY PARKER: The key for me was to be patient. In the first quarter I barely -- I didn't do nothing the first quarter because they was playing good defense and the pick-and-rolls, they was trying to like double-team and stuff like that. I was just trying to run the team and wait for my moment to be aggressive and attack the basket. I didn't want to force anything. And the team was playing well. You know, Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley and Brent Barry and everybody was playing well, so I was just trying to blend in and wait for my turn.

Q. As the games close, do you now, with the confidence and being where you're at, do you sense a moment where I can take over or I can step up and give us a boost?
TONY PARKER: Oh, definitely. I tried to do that through the whole playoffs. I think that's where I improved the most, outside shooting and run the team and control the tempo and know when to be aggressive and to take big baskets, big shots.

Q. You talked about watching games at 3:00 in the morning? Can you just set the scene where in your house you'd go watch those games, if you remember what specific Finals you watched?
TONY PARKER: I watched all the Chicago Bulls Finals. I watched all of them. You learn a lot watching that. When I first came in the league, you know, a lot of people was surprised by my knowledge about their history of the game. You can ask me any question and I'll try to answer it the right way because I watched a lot of tapes and a lot of games.

Q. Did you have to convince your parents to let you stay up that late?
TONY PARKER: I didn't tell them (laughter). I didn't tell them. I was sneaking and watching them.

Q. Down in like the living room area?
TONY PARKER: Uh-huh.

Q. And then the next day would you practice some of those Jordan moves?
TONY PARKER: Yeah, I always practiced. You know, when you're small you're always trying to repeat the moves and post-ups and fadeaways. But I was a point guard so I can't do fadeaways and post-ups, but I was still trying.

Q. When you go back to December and January and you guys were having so much trouble getting traction and Pop was saying that the defense was the worst he had seen in eight years, what was the level of frustration for you guys, and did you ever doubt that you could reach this point?
TONY PARKER: We never had doubt, but it was definitely frustrating, because in 2006 we played our best season, you know, record-wise. We had 63 wins and 19 losses and were just having a great season. And then we lose in the Semifinals against Dallas, tough loss in Game 7. And I felt like we were going to come back strong in 2007. I felt like the fact that we lost, we're going to play with a lot more energy, we're going to have some fuel. We had a lot of up and downs. It was not the season that I was expecting, but we clicked at the right time.
Sometimes it happens with good teams; it takes a long time to click, and we definitely clicked in the playoffs. I think our win in Detroit just before the All-Star break and we started that winning streak, I think that's when we definitely started playing well.

Q. Did those struggles sort of better prepare you for what you've faced --
TONY PARKER: I think since I've been with San Antonio we've always played better in the second part of the season, regardless. After the All-Star break we always have a great record. It's just I felt it was frustrating because we lost in 2006, and I think we felt like we were going to have a big season in 2007 because Phoenix and Dallas was playing so good.

Q. Watching all those Bulls championships, how many MVPs did Michael win in the championships? Do you remember?
TONY PARKER: Six.

Q. What would it mean to you if you were named NBA Finals MVP?
TONY PARKER: That would be unbelievable. That would be unbelievable. But I still think Timmy is going to get it because he's our franchise and he's a superstar. But if they want to change, why not? But still -- I'm joking (laughter). But still, there's one more game, and if we win the championship, I'll be very happy with that. And if it happened, I'd be the first one to be very happy.

End of FastScripts

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