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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSJune 4, 2012Gregg PopovichSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Five Q. Pop, this series hasn't experienced the playoffs going badly on the last shot or the last possession the shot to win. Thunder in years past have not been great with that. This year in the playoffs granted three‑game winners in the last 20 seconds. What have you seen that makes them better in the last 24 seconds than they used to be? COACH POPOVICH: He's arguably the best player on the planet. Q. It's not any more complicated than that? COACH POPOVICH: Not really. Q. Do you think (Indiscernible) takes those shots for Dallas? COACH POPOVICH: There is a reason those guys get the ball in those situations. Q. Who is he giving the ball to in the last 24 seconds? COACH POPOVICH: That's a secret. Q. Do you think that if there was a gap, that Durant and LeBron would be closing it? COACH POPOVICH: We're playing Oklahoma City tonight. We're not interested in who is doing what against who. I just care about Oklahoma City. Q. Is Danny Green starting for you tonight? COACH POPOVICH: I'm not talking about my lineup. Q. What did you have for dinner last night? COACH POPOVICH: I went to a very good Italian restaurant, and had duck confit. It was fantastic. Q. Did you just curse me out in some language (laughing)? COACH POPOVICH: No, you've got to widen your horizons. There is not a whole lot going on. There is a whole world out there. Q. What do you have to do to get Tony Parker more open looks or more space? COACH POPOVICH: I'll try to be smarter and just try to get in a situation where he feels comfortable. We can't concentrate on one guy trying to get something done for us. What we've got here as a group. We're not an isolation team of any sorts. So it's not about Tony's got to do this or this guy's got to do that. We have to do some things. Q. Stephen Jackson seems to be having a phenomenal series offensively, and many threes, I think. Anything in your mind to use him more tonight? COACH POPOVICH: We've been playing, I think, a little more as the series has gone on. We like him on the floor. I don't know how much he's going to play. Depends on what the game calls for. But he has done a good job. Q. You went for a few minutes with a bigger lineup and used him and Leonard both, I think, at one point the other night. Did you like the bigger lineup? COACH POPOVICH: What would be a smaller lineup? Q. He went in for Ginobili. You didn't have Green or Ginobili. You had Parker, those two, and two bigs for about two minutes, I think. COACH POPOVICH: That's still‑‑ I don't know what you're getting at. Q. Well, I think they're bigger than Ginobili and Green? COACH POPOVICH: They're taller. Q. More physical too. COACH POPOVICH: Maybe so. You're probably right. Good call. Q. Whether it's bigger or smaller, did you like that lineup? COACH POPOVICH: I only like the lineups when we win. Q. Coach, you talked about putting in four quarters, specifically in the second. COACH POPOVICH: See, now there is a question that's going to make sense. Q. 61‑34 they've outscored you in the second quarter of the last two games. What have you noticed about that? COACH POPOVICH: We have sucked in the second quarter. I don't know what else to tell you. The third game we're ahead at the end of the first quarter, and the last game we're tied at the end of the first quarter. You know, if you're on the road, you feel good about that in the Western Conference finals. You have a good start. Everything is hunky‑dory. And then it just left a crack in both of those quarters. The whole third quarter you're fighting to get back in it. So we've looked at who is on the court, what we're doing offensively, and mostly we've lost our pace in the second quarter. Gotten to the half‑court game. With these guys, that's tough. They're quick. They're long. They're athletic. They are what they are. They're really tough. At half court, the big guys are shot blockers and they move also. We have to be there, and you can't turn it over, because that just exacerbates the whole deal. If you're not scoring and you turn it over on top of it, then all of a sudden, it's a 10‑, 12‑point game. Q. Diaw wasn't in the best shape to start the year or the season. What made you think he could be as effective as he turned out to be for you guys? COACH POPOVICH: He's such a skilled player. He's got size. He's a very skilled player. He's a veteran. He knows how to play. It doesn't take him much time to work into the system. So if you have somebody with those skills and that size, and he has a good IQ to go with it, you do it. Q. Do you at this point not take any chances and have to remind them that the home court is not a cure all, or do they remind themselves of that? COACH POPOVICH: They remind themselves. I don't want to be trite, but I said it before, they have kids. They're grown. They have families. I don't have to lead them around. Every game adds a little bit more importance. You'd like to win your home games, and if win on the road, that's great. But they don't need me to beat them over the head with that. Q. Bonner's not been making shots in this series. But has he been on the court and effective for you? Has your spacing been good with him on the court? COACH POPOVICH: Yeah, they respect him. They've done a good job getting to him. He's having a tough time getting shots off. So they know he's out there. And he spreads the court. But, again, I give him credit. Q. Is Kawhi convinced he's a guy you can use in crunch time in the fourth quarter? COACH POPOVICH: Sure. Yeah, I don't mind having him on the court. He's going to make mistakes. He's a rookie. But you love having guys on the court that can compete and work as hard as he does. You know, he's going to end up being one heck of a player as the years go by and he gets educated. He really knows who the heck he's guarding. He's going to be a good one. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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