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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 30, 2012Gregg PopovichOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Practice Day Q. Last night you said execution, sometimes it's the way you want it to work, and sometimes it's a miracle. What did you see last night? COACH POPOVICH: Our offense saves us. We scored. That is the only reason we won is because our defense wasn't very good. They get inside us, they turned us over. They scored off of turnovers. They got to the rim. We did a really poor job interiorwise compared to Game 1. The offense, as I said, was pretty good. Q. How do you get this team appropriately frightened to go in and play at Oklahoma City? COACH POPOVICH: They're always that way. We've been that way for 15 years, so that won't change. We respect everybody. Q. Is it a challenge keeping them focused on this series and not looking ahead to the finals? COACH POPOVICH: No. Q. What does the 20‑game win streak mean? COACH POPOVICH: Nothing. Q. What does 9‑0 on the road mean? COACH POPOVICH: Nothing. Q. Describe Oklahoma City for us. What are the challenges of playing‑‑ COACH POPOVICH: It's flat. It's clean. Good people. Nice place to live. That's really all I know about it. Q. How about the team? COACH POPOVICH: One hell of a team. Maybe the hardest team we've ever played against to guard. Unbelievably talented, committed. They're aggressive, they're physical. Obviously, well‑coached. It's a team that creates a myriad of problems and they're consistent. They just keep coming at you. They're in the Western Conference finals for a reason. Q. Will they play better at home? COACH POPOVICH: I hope they don't. Chances are they will. But it's not like they've played badly and we've played well. It's a game of changing momentum and runs and that sort of thing. We've scored down the stretches in fourth quarters when we needed to. That was fortunate for us. Who knows if that's because you're at home or because you executed well. It's always a little bit of both. The 2‑0 won't faze them. They'll come out and play a great game at home. It will reinforce their confidence and their approach. So it will be a heck of a Game 3. Q. What do you say to your guys going into Oklahoma City talking about holding serve and things like that? Oklahoma City has said it's their turn and they're going to come out and hold serve. How do you prepare them to go into a hostile environment, whether it's Oklahoma City or anywhere? COACH POPOVICH: We won't do anything. They're grown. They have kids, they have families. They know the deal. They don't need to be beaten over the head. They've been there before. It's more important to concentrate on turning the ball over or executing on offense, figuring out how to shore up the defense. Those things help you win.  The other things are what you write about. Q. DeJuan said it's been a challenge for him as he's grown to find that happy middle. How have you helped him find that? COACH POPOVICH: That's a great question. He came in as a scoring point guard and pass wasn't really on his mind very much. So from the very beginning, we talked about you're here and John Stockton's over here, as far as the way you play. We don't think you're going to become John Stockton as a passer, but if you can come down toward the middle a bit, you're going to be that much more effective and help your team win that much more. He's done an amazing job of learning the differences. It's always a decision making process. Is it time to score? This guy's open, how do I get him off?  All sorts of things. It's been a process, but he's been wonderful at it and gotten to the point where he's at now. He does both. He'll make a mistake, and I'll get on him, like I did in year one. And luckily for me, he has the character to accept criticism, and he'll try to do it better. But he's been wonderful? Q. How does it feel to be a trendsetter? Saw somebody wearing your coat outside? COACH POPOVICH: I haven't paid much attention to it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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