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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAGIC v CAVALIERS

May 21, 2009

Mike Brown

CLEVELAND, OHIO: Practice Day

COACH BROWN: We got to give Orlando credit. They did a nice job in the second half getting out in transition. They didn't turn the ball over obviously in the second half like in the first half, and they got some easy baskets off our turnovers. Also, you know, their pick-and-roll game was -- Rashard hurt us in the second half and didn't hurt us as much in the first half. I think those are the two biggest things. And then Dwight was terrific.

Q. Mike, in looking back at the films and that, Stan made a change with the starting lineup putting Courtney in because he felt he would defend the dribble better, with the penetration guys. Sasha hasn't been used a lot lately but is long, tall, athletic. And with the matchups, is that something that you are looking at for Game 2?
COACH BROWN: I mean, Sasha can play. Again, we could play all of those guys in terms of shots. Wally has to stay ready because their number can be called at any given time. Wally has played against some athletic guys and done a good job.
Everybody on Atlanta's team was athletic. Gib was played against those guys. Everybody on the last team also had some size when Gib's played and has done a decent job. So Sasha is a guy that we may consider. He just has to stay ready like the other two guys if their number is called.
It is not anything right now that we're set in stone going into this game saying, hey, Sasha will play and he will play in front of one of the other two guys.

Q. Are you concerned about the bench right now and what you're getting or not getting?
COACH BROWN: The focus, it is a little different, too, because we know coming off the bench we're not deep with our rotation. Like, I didn't play Gib much. So it wouldn't be quite fair for me to say, I need to get five to six points from Gib, especially the way I played him last night.
You expect to get a little scoring from Joe, whether it is five to ten points, whatever it is, some rebounding.
You would expect to get some scoring from Wally if you are playing Wally. I didn't go to Wally like I have in the past on the post. I gave him one post touch -- one post touch, yeah.
But Ben's not necessarily on the floor to score. So when we go to our bench, usually it's going to be a little bit from Joe; if Wally is in the game, a little bit from Wally. And then the reality of it is, we are going to get a bulk of it from Delonte and Mo, and that's why they are on there with the, quote-unquote, second unit in the beginning of the second quarter.
So our bench production in terms of points could be a lot of times a lot different than what other people's is because our two best scorers are our starters and they are on the floor and they are getting the bulk of the play calls, especially with LeBron out of the game.

Q. Do you need to make a lot of adjustments defensively?
COACH BROWN: No, I don't think we have to make a ton. They hit some tough shots, and you got to give them credit for doing that, especially down the stretch. You know, we have to make sure, you know, that we do a better job on Dwight and also that we do a better job in their pick-and-roll game.
We need to make sure -- I mean, we need to probably have a few minor adjustments in those areas. But we had an opportunity to win the game, and Rashard make a heck of a shot down the stretch to win it.

Q. Looking back, what do you expect to have to do differently going forward?
COACH BROWN: One of the things we have to do, we have to get the ball reversed. We thought we were too stagnant through parts of the second half, and being stagnant allowed them to zone out and lock in very easily.
So we got to get the ball moving from one side of the court to the other. We got to get bodies moving. We have to do a better job of falling into something.
We got into a mode where we came out and basically gave LeBron the ball and stood and watched for long stretches of the shot clock, and that can't happen against the defensive game in Orlando.

Q. Being away from the playoff-speed basketball and not playing, did that catch up to you in the second half?
COACH BROWN: I don't think so. Again, we had a long layoff against Atlanta. And I know Atlanta and Orlando are two different teams, but I didn't think it bothered us then and I wouldn't say that it bothered us now.

Q. For both teams, you and Denver, the teams that had time off, struggled down the stretch. Maybe there is something to that long layoff?
COACH BROWN: No (laughter). No, I mean, again, I don't think -- I think I kind of would contradicting myself and a little bit of hypocrite if I came out and said, Yeah, yeah that long layoff hurt us now. But I don't think it hurt us against Atlanta, you know?
Yeah, Denver lost, so on and so forth. They had a long layoff, but we are two different teams in two different situations, so on and so forth. So I don't think so. Maybe some people may -- maybe even some of our guys may. I don't know, but I don't think so.

Q. Was there a sense of shock that you guys lost. I am sure you didn't go in thinking you were going to sweep these guys. But first game at home, was there a little sense of shock?
COACH BROWN: A sense of shock on my part?

Q. Yeah.
COACH BROWN: I mean, you don't ever think you are going in losing. So you are -- you know you are playing against a good team. So it's -- I mean, I wasn't shocked but in the same breath, I was disappointed that we lost, you know. Not a sense of shock, but I'm also not sitting here saying, I expected to lose or anything like that because I didn't. I expected to go in and get a win.

Q. All the players have said this is a must-win. Do you view it the same way?
COACH BROWN: Yeah, for us we have to go into every game thinking it is a must-win. And the one thing that we have to understand is if we don't win, that doesn't mean that the series is over. Again, we have been in the boat before. We were down 0-2. Been in the boat before. We were down 0-1, whatever, and we figure it out.
So we have to understand every game is a must-win knowing that after one loss, after two losses, after three losses, the series isn't over for anybody. You got to play until somebody wins four games.
Having said that, yes, I mean, I'm going into every game thinking every game is a must-win because you only have so much time to try to win that series.

Q. Talk about Stan Van Gundy, what's his style of coaching?
COACH BROWN: I mean, he is a good coach, you know. He is passionate about what he does and, you know, he is an intelligent coach. I think he does a nice job with his ball clubs. I respect him from that standpoint.

Q. Anything about his style when you see him from the other side of the floor that you notice?
COACH BROWN: I ain't looking at him too much.

Q. I know.
COACH BROWN: I mean, no, he just -- he is coaching (indiscernible) like almost every other coach is and you can tell, you can see that he wants to win.

Q. (Question about Mo Williams.)
COACH BROWN: You know, a competitor like Mo, you know, he is going to always obviously believe in himself like we do, too. If he doesn't shoot well in his mind, he's going to be a guy that steps up to the plate. And in his mind, you can tell him how it is, how he's going, you tell him how it is. We all believe in him. We know he can knock down most of the looks he got last night. He gets those looks again, he will accomplish it and knock them down.
In terms of him being hard on himself, I think that's just the competitive style.

End of FastScripts

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