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NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 17, 2012Scott BrooksMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Three Oklahoma City Thunder - 85 COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, I thought that was a very intense playoff game. I thought we did some good things, corrected some things going into this game, and I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win. That's what you want to do on the road. The game was basically anybody's ballgame that fourth quarter. We did some things, we missed some free throws. Normally we led the league in free‑throw shooting percentage, but we missed some free throws tonight and turned the ball over in the second half too many times. But I thought we did a lot of good things. Give them credit. They're a very physical team. I thought both teams played about as hard as they can play. Both teams were very physical. They made some plays down the stretch, and we didn't. Q. Two questions: One, you played really well a good part of the game but you had two stretches where sort of meltdowns, which is what people expect of a young team. You never really had done that before. What happened midway through the third quarter? And then also that stretch in the fourth quarter, and when Kevin got his fourth foul you also took Russell out after a series of mistakes. What was your thinking going without both of those guys? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, Kevin got four fouls. We fouled too many times. They got to the free‑throw line 35 times, we got to the free‑throw line 24 times. We've got to do a better job defending them without fouling. Kevin had five fouls on him, only four free throws. He has to be able to get to the free‑throw line. That's when we're at our best. Took him out because he had the foul trouble right there. And then Russell had a bad stretch of about three or four bad possessions. I took him out to kind of calm him down and put him right back in the game. I had done this before. He was about to come out with about another two minutes to go, but it was nothing other than that. We had a bad stretch there, but we actually overcame that. We got back up 10 and we had two corner threes right in front our bench. Then they had six free throws and they made all six, cut the lead from 10 right there down to 4, and the quarter it was a one‑point game. That's NBA basketball. You've got to deal with it, you've got to move on from it, you've got to learn from it, you've got to get better from it. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. We've got another game Tuesday night. If we play with the same effort we did tonight‑‑ I have no complaints the way we played tonight. A couple of things that we normally‑‑ we missed free throws and we turned that ball over too many times in that fourth quarter, I thought, in the second half. Q. You played very well the first half, kept close to the Heat. Second half you didn't play a whole lot with your big guys, especially not with Serge Ibaka. Is there a reason for that? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: They play a small lineup, and we had three good choices. I thought Perk was really good tonight. He did a lot of good things on the rebounds, he did a good job on Bosh, he did a good job of clogging the paint, and you've got to pick. I've got three great options, and I thought Serge was good, but I thought Perk was really good tonight. Q. Not to belabor the point, but Westbrook sat the last five minutes of the third quarter. Do you feel like you surrendered some momentum at the end of the third quarter and maybe pushed all your chips into the fourth quarter? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: No, because you've got to rest the guys sooner or later. It's hard to play guys‑‑ you can do it occasionally, play them extended minutes. It's hard to play 24 straight minutes at the point guard spot, because every time you've got the ball or every time you're guarding the ball. I took him out a couple minutes early just to settle him down, and put him right back in. That's coaching, and we moved on. It's nothing against‑‑ he had a bad stretch. He turned it over, and he took a tough lay‑up. Q. You mentioned Perkins, did he give you the toughness that you were looking for over the last couple days? And what do you want to see from your guys over the next 48 hours before next game? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: We've got to practice tomorrow, film session, just pick some things that we can improve on and keep getting better on things that we did well. I thought both teams‑‑ it's an intense game. This game was down to‑‑ it was a fourth‑quarter game. We did a lot of good things. I really believe that a small play here or there really could have helped us, one more stop, a couple more free throws could have changed the outcome of this game. Q. You alluded to it, of course, earlier, but when you look back at tonight, the two fouls on the threes, are they going to be the plays that stick with you the moment as far as maybe a moment where this thing started to turn? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Yeah. They stepped up and shot threes and we fouled them. That's the bottom line. We fouled their three‑point shooter, gave them six points when we were up 10. Nothing you can do about it other than we had a great contest. Unfortunately we got the foul called on us, but it was the right call. We fouled both shooters. Q.  Are you finding it harder and harder to score here in this series? It's the first time you've faced a top‑five defense in the NBA. Is that more attributed to you guys or the Heat? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I think you've got to give them a lot of credit. They're a tough team. They're a physical team and they get into you and they make you work for every shot. I think both teams are doing that. Both teams are great defensively. That's why we're here. We're the top two or three teams in the league defensively. We're going to have to do a better job. We have to do a few things that we can make some improvement, but they're a very good defensive team. I give them a lot of credit. But like I said, there's two good defensive teams out there. Q. Can you explain the possession that ended in the Russell Westbrook three‑pointer with about 30 seconds left. What were you guys trying to get on that possession, and then the inbounds pass Thabo threw it away to Wade? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, we were trying to attack quickly in transition. If we had something, try to score quickly, and it was a scramble play. It was a broken play. He had a wide open three. Russell made some big shots for us all year. I had no problem with that shot. And then the side out‑of‑bounds play, just turned it over. Q. It's the second game that Kevin Durant is in foul trouble. Going forward would you like to protect him some, like not match him up against LeBron or something? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I mean, foul trouble is part of the game. There's a lot of guys you just have to play. You have to play the game the right way, and you're going to get some fouls called against you. Unfortunately he had two games in a row where he had some foul trouble. But Kevin is an aggressive player. I'd like to see him keep attacking, and hopefully he can get to the free‑throw line himself. He only had four free throws tonight. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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