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NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 12, 2012Scott BrooksOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Game One Oklahoma City – 105 COACH BROOKS: Well, I thought we showed a lot of toughness in that second half, really battling and fighting for every possession. I give our guys a lot of credit. They did a great job of competing in that second half. I thought in the first half they made some tough shots. They made six threes, Battier really had a good quarter going. But I told the guys, there's a difference between guarding a guy or making a guy feel you, and I thought in that second half they were feeling us, and we have to continue to play that way. It was a good win. We have great fans who cheered us on, gave us some good energy in that second half. But it was, like I told the guys, also, we won one game, that's it. It's the first game. We're thankful that we won the game. We played with a lot of good energy in that second half. Q. Can you talk about KD, his defense overall, and especially on LeBron, and if you were concerned that that may take too much energy away from him on offense? COACH BROOKS: Well, you know, KD is a terrific player, and we all know how well he is as a scorer. He's led the league three years in a row in scoring. But he is a special player because he defends, and we are a good basketball team because we defend. And if he did not defend, we would have to figure out ways to‑‑ he wouldn't play much, and that's the bottom line. We are a defensive team, and everybody knows that. Our players demand it out of each other, and our timeouts, our huddles, is always about defense. I like what Kevin is about and he wants to be that two‑way player. He's not an easy guy to guard. Obviously we all know that LeBron is the best tacking to the rim full court, coast to coast and is not easy to guard. Q. Can you just talk about the difference you saw in Russell in the first and second half? COACH BROOKS: Well, I thought Russell really did a good job of managing, controlling the game. He had two turnovers. I thought he had the one charge, and I think he threw one over the top to KD. I think it was probably KD's fault, wasn't getting open. He had a great game, just controlling the ball, controlling the game. He's a terrific player. We want him to score. When he gets to those spots that he can knock those shots down, those are great shots for him. I thought overall he was really good. Defensively he was solid. When you guard Wade or LeBron, you have to really exert a lot of effort defensively, and he did that, and he also had enough to finish around the basket. Q. Would you agree it was a much better second half than first? He seemed to have some struggles in the first. COACH BROOKS: I don't know if he struggled in the first half. I would say, yeah, it was a better second half. But the first half, they made six threes, and they averaged six for a game in the Playoffs. The score was only seven. That's what I was encouraged. We only committed four fouls. We are an aggressive team, we are going to foul some, but I didn't think that we played with enough force in the first half. Q. Can you talk about Thabo tonight, what he brought tonight and what you envision for him for the rest of the series? COACH BROOKS: Thabo, we love what Thabo does. He's a tough‑minded defender. He understands that he has to be able to guard, guard every possession like if it's his last, and he does that. You know, he gets his hands on basketballs. He got some turnovers, some steals tonight, and transition opportunities. He didn't make the dunks, but he got to the free‑throw line. But Thabo is a very important part of how we defend as a team. His individual pride is at a high level. Q. What were your concerns about your team as it was coming into its first Finals game, and how did that play out? It looked a little bit out of character in the first half. COACH BROOKS: Well, we didn't play as well as we would have liked. They had a lot to do with that. That's a very talented basketball team that makes‑‑ they did a lot of switching. They started off LeBron on Perk, so we had to figure some things out. It took us probably a quarter and a half. But I thought we did that later in that second quarter. Just knowing our guys and being around them, I didn't see they were nervous because we were playing in the NBA Finals. To a point did it affect their game? Everybody is nervous. You're nervous until that ball is tipped up. If you're not, you don't care about what you do and our guys do. I thought they responded in that second half, really did a good job moving the basketball, taking care of the basketball. I think we only had two turnovers in that second half, and that's huge. Q. I think Kevin only got four shots in the middle two quarters. Can you talk about what they were doing to try to limit that, and also how you seemed to overcome that and still be able to have a productive offense? COACH BROOKS: Yes. That's why we're here, because we have a good team. Everybody has to participate on both ends of the floor. I did tell Kevin at one part of that third quarter, a few times, that he has to be more aggressive in his setups. They were switching, they were denying, they were forcing him to catch a ball at a place that we're not comfortable with, and he wasn't able to get the ball on top of that. But he did a much better job in the second half of the third and fourth quarter or the middle of the third and fourth. He has to continue to do that. They're just like us. They're a very good defensive team. Q. When your team falls behind 13 points in the first half, everybody is going to have nerves in Game 1 of the Finals. Do you have to say anything in terms of trying to keep them focused or poised or is that coming naturally to stay calm and push through? COACH BROOKS: Well, we have a level of play that we want to establish every game, and like I said, we were guarding them but we weren't really guarding them. There's a big difference, and I thought we did that in the second half. And when we do that, we're good. We get our hands on a lot of basketballs. We have great length at all of our positions. I thought we really did a good job of really playing defense in that second half, and that's what we have to do. We have to start the game that way. But they're a good team, and I knew they were going to come out, make‑‑ I was hoping that they wouldn't make shots, but they made shots, and we had to overcome that. Q. You guys had major advantages in fast‑break points and points in the paint. How big were those things? Was that all aggression, or what was that? COACH BROOKS: Well, we talked about a few things on offense, good screens, good ball movement, good spacing, forceful cuts, but we really talked about doing the little things. Those are the little things that we have to do, and it's little things are not for the guys that are the role players, little things are for all of our players. Kevin has to be a little thing type of player, setting the screen, getting a rebound, diving on the floor. We dove on the floor and got a couple jump balls, which was good. Same thing with Russell and James. I mean, they're very talented, gifted offensive players, but they have to do the little things. The little things tonight helped us win this game. Q. It looked like LeBron James was a rover on defense in the first half. Was Nick your rover on offense in the second half? And did them guarding‑‑ putting LeBron on your bigs allow Nick to do some things? COACH BROOKS: Well, when they put two guys on the ball, we have to figure things out, and I thought Nick did a good job in figuring it out. Actually even in the first half, Serge did a good job. Perk got a couple of dunks in the second half, but our bigs have to do a good job of finding areas because they sent two guys on the ball, and I think Nick is one of the best. We called dunker spots on the baseline and he's always been there, always finding, always ready to catch, big steps and finish. Guys did a good job of finding him. Our guys are great play makers and as this Playoffs has gone by, you can see even another step in that category, just making plays for your teammates, finding a good shot instead of an average shot. Q. Can you just talk a little bit about what Kevin was able to do in the fourth quarter, not just scoring but making plays on both sides? And what is it about him that allows him to excel in those kinds of situations? COACH BROOKS: Well, Kevin is a great player. He has to be able to do it on both ends of the floor, like I talked about earlier. He's determined to play great defense, and I give him a lot of credit. He takes the challenge every night. We've got some very good defensive players, and Thabo is one of our best wing defenders, but Kevin always wants to guard the best player, and we did that tonight. He was guarding LeBron, and we felt that was a tough match up, but he wanted to guard him. And you have to do your best to guard a guy like that, and make him take a lot of shots. And hopefully he misses some, hopefully he doesn't get a lot of easy ones in transition. Like I said, Kevin is a two‑way player and that's what really makes us a very good team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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