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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSJune 3, 2012Gregg PopovichSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Practice Day Q. Coach, there were times that we had to check to see if Kawhi Leonard was still a rookie. What's made his transition to the NBA so good? COACH POPOVICH: It's just who he is. He doesn't get awed by anything. He's got a tremendous work ethic and hunger to be a good player. He just absorbs things, whether coaches tell him something or Timmy or somebody from another team along the way in the season, a retired player in town. He just absorbs everything, and he's trying to do his best to guard arguably the best player on the planet. He is a rookie, but he's maturing pretty quickly. Q. What was your assessment of play in 9 minutes? COACH POPOVICH: He did a good job. He did a good job. Q. Would you anticipate using him again? COACH POPOVICH: We'll see what the game calls for. Q. How do you fix turnovers? COACH POPOVICH: Turnovers weren't our problem. They were in the past. Last night we did a pretty good job on Westbrook and Harden. You would think if you could do that, you'd have a pretty good opportunity. We were there in the fourth quarter. It was a 2‑point game, a 4‑point game, a 5‑point game, until Kevin took over at the very end. But their bigs shooting the way they did last night really put them over the top or kept them ahead most of the game, and then Kevin took over at the end. But the turnovers weren't the problem. Q. Is that a new wrinkle for you guys to work on, Serge and Perkins, their offensive game last night? COACH POPOVICH: Well, they're 1 of 4 teams out of 30 left in the playoffs. They're a hell of a team. So everything is a problem. Q. What do you have to do better on their bigs or when Kevin goes off like he did last night? COACH POPOVICH: What do we have to do better? Well, they have to participate a little bit. All those bigs shooting 22 for 25 is pretty incredible. Maybe they'll do it again, but I don't think so. We'll play the same defense, and if they don't shoot as well, it won't be because of our defense, it will be because they didn't shoot as well. So that's always part of it. With Kevin Durant, we tried a lot of different things last night, none of which worked, but we'll have to settle on one or two things and try to do a better job. Q. Why is Green struggling so much? Is there anything you can do to get him back on track? COACH POPOVICH: He's doing the best job that he can. Sometimes players make shots, sometimes they don't, but his effort is great. Q. Have you noticed a change in your team's attitude in the last two games after having won 20 in a row? COACH POPOVICH: No, no. Q. You talked last night about the need to play four quarters. Are you surprised that's an issue interest Game 5 and here on? COACH POPOVICH: Well, it's an issue in every game. We talk about playing 48 minutes from the first game of the season to date. That's nothing new. Coaches talk about that all the time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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