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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 27, 2012Gregg PopovichSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game One Oklahoma City Thunder 97 Q. "I want some nasty." COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Why would you say something like that? Q. Because that's what you said. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I said that? Q. Yes. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: The heat of the game, stuff comes up. It was like‑‑ I thought that it's a great question for a lot of reasons. But I thought that we were playing for most of the first half, and even at the beginning of the third quarter, a bit unconfidently, kind of on our heels, a little bit unsure of ourselves, on the dribble too much, ball movement was the same as usual. So I talked to them about they've got to get a little bit uglier, get a little more nasty, play with more fiber and take it to these guys. Meaning you have to drive it, you have to shoot it. You can't hold it. We caught the ball, we just held it. They're long, they're athletic, they're really something else. If we hold the ball, it's not going to hurt. We need to be active and aggressive. We got that way in the fourth quarter. Q. Shortly after you said that, Duncan took the charge. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: The charges we took really helped change the game. Made stops in the fourth quarter, the defense turned up. And the charges were a big part of that. I thought Stephen Jackson did a really good job for us down the stretch guarding Kevin Durant, which is like an impossible task basically. But he made him work hard. And I think that combined with the rebounding and the charges, it really fueled the defense. But at the other end, we didn't turn it over. We turned it over 14 times in the first half; I think the second half probably three or four, I haven't really looked. But not many. That was the big difference. We played a very sloppy first half. Q. Could you talk about the aggression that Manu played with, particularly if the fourth quarter in the final eight minutes. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: That's Manu's game. He's a scorer. He's somebody who we depend on to create and make things happen. Whether it's shooting or driving or assisting somebody else. That's what he's done for us his whole career. And it's very important to us. Without that we have a tough time winning. Q. In addition to Manu, the bench play was really aggressive. Can you talk about that. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: You know, I thought that the people that came off the bench, Tiago and Matt Bonner, Gary Neal and of course Jack played aggressively. I don't know that it was anything amazing. It's the Western Conference Finals and everybody should be aggressive. Q. You ended up going small most of the fourth quarter. I don't think Boris played at all in the fourth. Was that what was going on in the game at the time? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: We just thought that was‑‑ gave us the best chance defensively and offensively at the other end for shooting and getting back in the game. We were down by nine. We thought we needed that to generate a little bit of offense. Q. You guys had not been tested a whole lot during these playoffs. Was there any part of you that wanted a game like this, especially to start a series, to really‑‑ COACH GREGG POPOVICH: We wanted it about 15 games ago. At least I did. Q. How would you rate your team's effectiveness at what appeared to be the strategy of really crowding the basket anytime Durant or Westbrook was driving to the hoop? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, any team at this point in time wants to play team defense. And we can't guard them one‑on‑one. There's no way. So team defense is even more important than it was during the regular season. Weakside D and doing your job as a team defender. We can only guard them as a team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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