|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURSJune 14, 2007Mike BrownCLEVELAND, OHIO: Game Four Q. LeBron had a pretty late night last night. Is there any concern about fatigue, or can something like that -- you work off of momentum, you know, adrenaline for the next 24 hours or so. What's your thoughts on that? COACH MIKE BROWN: You know, again, I don't know. It's a great question for him. But I don't think so. He's a young guy. I'm sure there's been a few other nights where he stayed up pretty late and came and played the game of basketball, so he should be fine. Q. How much have you seen LeBron grow during this playoff run, and do you have an example of that growth? COACH MIKE BROWN: You know, there's so many of them, but they're real subtle. Just being in some of the tough situations that we've been in, you know, the biggest one that probably stands out is in the Detroit series where he got clobbered a couple times at the end of Game 2 where the ball should have gone his way and it didn't. He bought in and led us with the no-excuse attitude. That's huge for a guy as young as he is and as inexperienced as he is this deep in the playoffs or that deep in the playoffs to have that mindset and be able to stay composed and come up in front of you guys and say that. Q. How would you say these six weeks have influenced his growth as a player? COACH MIKE BROWN: You know, it's huge. Going through this experience, just like going through the experience last year, is irreplaceable, not only for him, but I can feel it for myself and I'm sure for the rest of the guys in the locker room. This has been a great experience, and we're looking forward to it lasting a lot longer. Q. Can you give us an update on Larry and who's going to start at point guard? COACH MIKE BROWN: I wish I could give you an update on Larry. I have not talked to our doctors yet. If he can go, he will start. If he cannot go, Daniel Gibson will start. Q. It seems like Bowen has done a better job against LeBron than he did in the last round against Williams for Utah. Have you seen something that the Spurs corrected defensively that you thought he could take advantage of? COACH MIKE BROWN: LeBron and Williams are two different players. Williams as a point guard, he's used to having the basketball in his hands, where LeBron is a little bit bigger, and yes, he's quick, yes, he's explosive, but Bruce is very quick himself. He's quick enough to guard some of the bigger guards, but it's a little tougher for him to guard the smaller guards. Bruce's activity and his ability to take away LeBron's airspace has made it a little tough on LeBron. But having said all that, even the last game, he's gotten some point-blank looks that just have not gone in, and if some of those go in, maybe it loosens Bruce up, maybe it loosens the Spurs up, not just his legs but maybe some of the open jump shots we had. And it makes it a lot easier for him to go to work. But just two different types of players. And then again, they couldn't help as much on the run all the time because Boozer was really, really hurting them on the glass or in the pick-and-pop. He's popping and hitting them for shots, so they can't help what's going on with the run and so on and so forth. Q. You talked yesterday a little bit about body language as it related to LeBron. What's the body language of your guys right now that you've seen in the last 24 hours here? COACH MIKE BROWN: I thought it was good. You know, we won't know until we get out there and tip it up and play the 48 minutes. But, you know, being in the position that we're in now, I think our guys understand that it's one day, one game at a time. That's been our motto the whole year and even the entire playoffs. Just looking at the body language, I don't see anybody that's down. Q. Given the circumstances of trailing as you do, you look at the game from a coach's standpoint as saying, I'll try anything, I'll substitute quicker, I'll do anything, or do you look at it as we're one shot away in Game 3 from winning the game, and maybe stick with what we do? COACH MIKE BROWN: That's a good question. You've got to do a combination of both. As we go along, or as the game goes along, you know, I feel like I have a pretty good feel of what I may need to do in terms of taking risks, whether putting this guy in or that guy in. It's a fine line because once you start going there, if it doesn't work, especially in a situation like this, then everybody can just emotionally get drained from it, and you might have 15 minutes to go in the game and those 15 minutes could be the longest 15 minutes of your life because emotions are going. I hope I'm answering your question. It's just a fine line. It's going to be a feel throughout the course of the ballgame whether I take a big risk or not. Q. Going forward, what do you want this team to be offensively? What do you envision for this team offensively going into next year and into the future? I mean, style-wise, especially with some of the young guys that you have developing right now? COACH MIKE BROWN: You know, I want to be an opportunistic fast-break team that attacks. Some of the better teams in the league are the ones that are capable of playing at a pace where both teams are going to score in the 100s. But then if they play a team that likes to grind it out and score in the 90s or the high 80s, they're capable of doing that. I'd like to be a team that can play any style on any given night. But offensively, our main stay is on the defensive end of the floor. I love the pick-and-roll game. I love guys that know how to drive and kick. So we want to make sure that we head in that direction. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|