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NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 14, 2012Scott BrooksOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Game Two Miami – 100 COACH BROOKS: Well, I love the way that we came back and fought, but it's tough to make up 17 points. Like I said, I liked the way we came back and fought and made it a one‑possession game at the end. But when you get down 17, too many things have to happen well for you and perfect for you. But I give our guys credit that we did fight, come back, but we can't afford to have‑‑ that's two games in a row, first six minutes down 10 or 12 points. We've got to come out better. Q. Kevin, again, big fourth quarter and all, but only six in the first half. How can you get him off to a better start or those middle periods? COACH BROOKS: Well, we missed some shots. We took some bad shots, but we also missed some shots. It's going to happen. You're not going to make every shot, but we have to do a better job of coming out with a defensive toughness. That's what we've done all year. I thought they established their game and they played attack basketball right from the very start, and they had us back on our heels, and then we took some bad shots and bad bounds coming back, and they were getting opportunities in the paint, wide open threes, and it's tough to overcome when you have a bad start. Q. Is there one thing that you would attribute the slow starts to more than anything else? COACH BROOKS: You know, we just have to come out better. We missed some shots. I thought the first three was a great shot, and we had chances for offensive rebounds, and then we missed some shots. We gave them too many easy shots. When you miss shots that's part of the game, but you can't go back on the other end and give them too many easy shots. They're a great team. They have three amazing players, and they all three had great games. Q. How instrumental was James in the first half just keeping you in it, and then what were you able to do in that fourth quarter to give yourself a chance? COACH BROOKS: Well, we played much better in the second half. Even in the second quarter we played better. James had a good aggressive game going. He was making shots, he was making good decisions, but in the fourth quarter we just fought and kept battling, kept fighting, kept giving ourselves an opportunity. We came up short, but it wasn't short because of the effort, it was just short because we got down 17. It's tough to come back. They're the best team in the east, we're the best team in the west, it's just tough to come back from 17. Q. You got a chance to tie with 12 seconds left. Tell us about the play. Looked like you got a pretty good play, and what you saw in terms of Kevin's shot. COACH BROOKS: I thought Derek did a good job of finding‑‑ Fish did a good job of finding KD on the left baseline, and he attacked the basket. He missed that shot unfortunately. That would have been a nice opportunity for us to make that or get to the free‑throw line and send it to overtime. But unfortunately we didn't get the play, and we moved on. Q. Is there something a lot of us don't understand, because it seems like when you have problems, the ball gets stuck. You don't move it, and you dig yourself a hole. Is it a difficult thing to try to work your way around that by moving the ball better? COACH BROOKS: Well, there's two good defensive teams. It's hard to score in this league against a very good defensive team. But we have to do a better job of moving the basketball. We've done a good job all Playoffs long. I didn't think we did that in the first half. We took too many bad shots; that's the bottom line. And then we got down and we had to play with desperation. But we cannot play‑‑ we just can't get down 17. Like I told the guys, we're a much better team to be down 17, but we have to come out with some toughness, we've got to come out with force and energy, and all of us have to be on the same page of just fighting every possession. Q. Can you talk about the foul trouble that Kevin got into early and the impact that had on his performance? COACH BROOKS: Yeah, he had some tough calls, but that's the way the game is played. You deal with the fouls. I don't think it affected his minutes, like most times you play through it. He got in some foul trouble, made a couple of fouls that‑‑ that's just part of it. You just have to fight through it and play. I thought he did a good job in that second half. Q. Talking about your slow starts, have you thought about changing your starting lineup for Game 3? COACH BROOKS: No, not at all. We just lost 30 minutes ago, so‑‑ I just think we were missing shots. We didn't come out with the defensive toughness, the disposition that we need to play with. We have to do that first, and then if it doesn't work, then we'll think about doing other things. But right now we have to play better from the very start. Q. On Kevin's shot to try to tie the game, obviously a little bit of contact with he and LeBron getting tangled there. Garden variety stuff or enough to throw him off a little bit? COACH BROOKS: That's one play. We have so many other plays that we could have done better to put us in a position to stay closer in the game. I'm not going to get into that. I haven't in the past, I'm not going to start doing it now. It was a play, he didn't get the call. The bottom line is we play aggressive basketball, we play tough basketball, and we didn't do that to start the game. The last minute, I won't even look at that. I'm going to focus on the first six to eight minutes of the game. That's more important than the last minute of the last play of the game. You know what, he missed a shot. Q. Despite Kevin having foul trouble, he still had 32 points but only three rebounds and one assist. Was there something the Heat was doing to slow him down or keep him inactive in some areas or was it just an off day? COACH BROOKS: Well, definitely we want Kevin to have more than three rebounds and one assist, but we have to do better.  We have to rebound better as a team. I thought we had some important opportunities to get some defensive rebounds, and they came up with big offensive rebounds. They made three incredible shots. Battier's bank, top of the key, I think there was two or three seconds on the shot clock. He had a phenomenal bank shot on the left side in front of our bench. And LeBron had just an incredible shot, also. Those are great plays for them, and it was tough to overcome. But our guys fought, played, and they didn't put their head down after those tough plays. They kept fighting, charging ahead. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time at the end. Q. You like your small ball lineups a lot, but what made you pick Kendrick Perkins to stick so much in that third quarter over Nick Collison? COACH BROOKS: He's one of our better players. We have three good choices: Serge, Nick and Perk. I thought Perk‑‑ Perk is our best screener. He gets guys open. He scores by setting screens, and there's no stat for that, but that's what he does. Small ball, medium ball, big ball, that did not lose the game. Toughness lost the game. We didn't come out with the toughness that we need to come out with. We're an aggressive team, we're a physical team, we are a ‑‑ defensive mindset was not where it needs to be, and hopefully we change that going into Game 3. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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