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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 27, 2012Scott BrooksSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game One Q.  With Kendrick playing 30 minutes or more the last four games of the last series, I'm assuming he's pretty much over his injury, or about how much? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, I will say this: He is as tough as they come. I've never‑‑ there are few guys I've been around that are as tough. He's not‑‑ it's a day‑to‑day thing and we have to continue to treat it, but his toughness helped us win that series last series against the Lakers. He's still‑‑ I mean, it's still ‑‑ every day we continue to treat him and get him better. Q. With the six days off, you would think he would be more or far along as far as recovery‑‑ COACH SCOTT BROOKS: It does help having time off. It definitely does help. But you have to continue to be on top of it. He has to continue to do treatments and everything. He's feeling better, but definitely has to continue to do the work‑‑ put the work in. Q. How would you describe Russell's attitude heading into these Conference Finals versus last year's Conference Finals? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, I think as we all know, Russell is improving every day. I thought he's having a great year and he's having a great playoffs. He understands his role and his job very well. He has to continue to execute every game. He's 23 years old and really has an opportunity to get better the next three or four years. He's not a finished product. He works extremely hard, and he's leading us to a place we want to get to. Give him a lot of credit. He puts the work in every day. He doesn't get frustrated with the things that are said about him. And when you're in this league, you have to be that way. You can't worry and get frustrated by every remark that's said about you. You have to do your job and try to do it as best you can. Q. Was he once frustrated by every remark? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I'm never‑‑ he's never come to me and said you guys are pretty hard on him. But he understands that we're in a position that we're all going to get scrutinized. But you have to be able to handle that as a player and as a coach. You have to be able to handle that and not get too high, not get too down, because that's what professional sports are all about, is to perform at a high level. And if you're not at a high level, people are going to question it. Russell's efforts have always been good. That's what I tell our guys. Your effort has to be 100% of the time. It's hard to play well in this league and it's hard to do that every night. It is impossible to play well every night. But your effort has to be there every night. Q. They've made significant changes with their bench from the last time you played them in the regular season between Diaw and Jackson. How does that change how you prepare for this team? And how much different do they look from the team you all played in the regular season? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: They were good when we played them, obviously. They beat us. They're a good, talented team. They play well together. They have a high IQ for the game, and they understand each other's role, and they help each other out scoring and help each other out stopping teams from scoring. Jackson and Boris are terrific basketball players. They're smart, they're competitive, they understand the game very well. They know where to be very well. Blair is also a good player. As we know, everybody in this league knows, we know what type of player he is. That just tells you how good they are.  He doesn't get a lot of time right now, but then they're still winning, and he's a terrific player. Particularly against us, he's 20 and 20 at times. Q. Before you became a coach and you were watching the Spurs, did you ever think about what it would be like to coach their big three? And now you have a big three of your own growing. Do you see any similarities in the early years or anything like that? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: You mean after I finished playing? Q. Yes. COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I was hoping they would fire Pop and hire me. That didn't work. Their three is good. Their three is ‑‑ probably will go down as one of the best threes ever, when you have Duncan at his level of play and the years he's able to do it. And he's still doing it.  His numbers are as good as they've been. They've just lowered his minutes. Now they've increased the minutes. Ginobili and Parker. James, Kevin and Russell, they're incredibly talented players that work hard. I think they are going to be‑‑ they're good now, but they're only going to get better. They're a great group to coach. They're coachable. They want to be coached. They understand team concepts very well. There's no question that that's a big part of our success, because they do that. They do it every night, and they do it every day in practice. There's no question there's times they don't do that. They are ‑‑ for the most part, they really believe in work and they believe in each other. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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