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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAGIC v CAVALIERS

May 29, 2009

Mike Brown

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Practice Day

COACH BROWN: We felt there would be a Game 6 so come down here as soon as we can.

Q. When did you tell the players (indiscernible)?
COACH BROWN: I told them at the shoot-around. We obviously can't get -- there is a good chance you can't get the plane in the same day. So we got that plane stuff all worked out well before shoot-around.

Q. More than just the motivational factor that I'm sure you were looking for, what does it mean now that you guys can sleep and not have to travel?
COACH BROWN: We're in town. We don't have to travel this afternoon or anything like that. Obviously, we -- the players got in bed and rested up until now, which allowed us as a staff to get some work done. Now, when we meet with the players, we ourselves can get a little bit of rest tonight, too, and then have a shoot-around tomorrow to get after it a little bit more and then play tomorrow night.
But we felt rest buys timing-wise. And, also, we're a confident group. We just felt there was going to be a Game 6. My wife and kids are on their way down now, so we got their tickets, too, after Game 4. It is just one of those things if you believe, you have to have some breaks go your way just like they did. It can work out for you in all different ways.

Q. How confident are you there is going to be a Game 7?
COACH BROWN: If there is no Game 7, our season is over so we're here to win Game 6.

Q. You guys have lost four times this season here. What do you have to do differently this time to get a win?
COACH BROWN: Have to keep doing what we're doing but stay composed. I think that's the biggest thing because down the stretch against these guys, except for the game we got a behind kick, we've kind of come unraveled a little bit, whether it is offensively or defensively.
And if you -- if you stall out for one or two possessions down the stretch against the Magic, as well-coached as they are, as good of players that they have, you're going to lose. So we have to continue attacking, continue being the aggressors and make sure we limit our mistakes down the stretch on both ends of the floor.

Q. Mo got back to being Mo. Any reasonable doubt that he won't be able to continue that now that he's found his rhythm?
COACH BROWN: I have the utmost confidence and trust in Mo. I'm not even thinking twice about it. If he feels like he is open, let it go. There is no doubt in my mind in any way, shape or form that Mo's not going to come through for us.

Q. The small line, (inaudible) has been going in that direction. Do you feel it gives you certain advantages in the matchup that you were having trouble with?
COACH BROWN: We have gone small. The tough part about it is when Ben Wallace got healthy, we didn't play much small ball at all there for about a month. And so to say the least, we were a little bit out of rhythm, a little bit out of sync.
And I think that bothered us a little bit from going small ball earlier in the season -- in the series, excuse me. But we've gone to it. It's looked pretty good for us at times, and we'll continue exploring it indefinitely.

Q. Wally seems like he has been battling in the post.
COACH BROWN: Rashard is a very good basketball player. I mean, he's an all-star. You are not going to stop Rashard. You just hope that you can make him work for his shots. That's all you can ask for when Wally is guarding him, especially if he tries to take it to the post.
Wally has been guarding postup players all his life. He is actually better at that than guarding guys -- than guarding the quicker perimeter guys.
So we're okay if Rashard wants to take Wally to the post. We'll just have Wally battle his tail off. If he picks up too many fouls or can't get it done, we'll either go double team or we'll change the matchups.

Q. How important is it to get Dwight into foul trouble?
COACH BROWN: We believe we can still win whether he is in foul trouble or not. If I could, I'd like to get him in foul trouble -- I'd like him to pick up his sixth foul after the 29-second mark of the first quarter, if that's possible. No, not 29, the 30-second second mark. That would be the 11:28 marker of the first. If we can get him to pick up his sixth, we're good.

Q. The strategy that you used throughout the fourth quarter of LeBron at the top of the key and kind of dictating every possession. Do you even worry even for him it is too much of a load to keep going that way every possession?
COACH BROWN: Yeah, I mean, for anybody it could be a load. That's what makes him great, is he has the capabilities of coming through with that. And the more we can stay away from that the better. If we only have to go to that a couple possessions, then great.
But the bottom line is you put a guy at the nail -- what we call the nail, the middle of the floor, and he spaced the floor the way we spaced it, they are going to have to come off somebody. They'll probably double team him there.
And when that happens, we just have to make sure we knock down downed shots because we are going to get some looks. He is a big guy and he can throw over a lot of double teams, especially at that point on the floor.
So we expect him to come double and we just have to make sure we are reacting the right way to the double team.

Q. Why did it work so well last night?
COACH BROWN: Just because of the spacing. It's tough. You got to basically have one big that's working close to the basket, and that big has to be guarded by Dwight. So if Dwight steps up, then Bron's a good enough passer to find that big, slash him to the rim and find the dunk. It is hard for Dwight to step up and react to another seven-footer slashing to the rim, dunking the basketball.
And then we just kind of keep everybody else spaced. So if you leave one of those guys, you know, it's going to come down to -- it's kind of -- in a sense, it's kind of what they do. It is really simple. But based on the type of players you have, you have three shooters out there with LeBron and a big that can slash and dunk. They play pick-and-roll and they roll Dwight down the middle of the floor and you got to tag Dwight.
If you tag Dwight, they will kick the ball out to three-point shooters. And if the three-point shooters make shots, Stan is a great coach. If they don't make shots, then I'm a great coach (laughter).
So understand I think -- I know one thing, I feel one thing we agree upon is you got to have players and try to put them in the best position to have some success. I think at the end of the day, your players especially with Dwight, Rashard and Turkoglu and Bron and Mo for us have to make plays.
So if Bron gets doubled at nail, then he's going to find somebody that's open and somebody has got to step up and make the shots just like Orlando has done throughout the series.

Q. What do you like most about your defense coming off last night going into Game 6?
COACH BROWN: We feel like we have a game plan defensively against these guys. I will tell you the one thing I have enjoyed about the series is, you know, with the team that they have, the type of team they have, it has really made you have to dig deep down into your team and your philosophies and so on and so forth on that end of the floor and figure out how to be consistent within what you have.
And we feel like -- after the first two games, we did not feel comfortable with the way that we defended. But Game 3, 4 and 5, we felt a little bit of a comfort zone there. We just got stagnant, turned the ball over a couple times down the stretch and that cost us.
But we do feel comfortable -- comfortable about what we're doing defensively, and now it's a matter of us just going out there and trying to play a little bit harder than Orlando, trying to come up with the 50/50 balls to get the extra possessions and so on and so forth and catch some breaks.
We caught a break in the one game we won when LeBron hit the 3. And, you know, they caught two breaks and hit two 3s being down two. So you got to have some of that when you are at this point in the year also.

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