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NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 19, 2012Scott BrooksMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Four Q.  Your road to The Finals has been tough, maybe even tougher than Miami's. You gained some confidence and experience between all those series, but we keep seeing some big mistakes at the end, maybe some bad shots, maybe some turnovers. Have you talked to the guys about that? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I think we've done some things very well. I think we've done some things that we need to work on. When I talked to our guys, we talked about things that we need to work on. We point those things out, and we talk about things that we've done well, and we point those things out. I think that's part of coaching. That's part of leading our group. You have to teach them. You have to also empower them, and you also have to demand that they do things the right way, consistently for 48 minutes. I think our guys have done a great job with that. It's the little things, a play or two here or there, that we need to correct, but that's basketball. That's NBA basketball, playoff basketball. You're not going to play perfect. And I tell our guys all the time, I'm not going to coach perfect, they're not going to play perfect, but the effort has to be there, and it has to be for the right reasons, and it has to be for the team. Q. For those of us that aren't around your team every day, do you get a feel walking into the locker room before the game if it's a really sharp night or a night where you might have to grind a little bit? Does your team give off that vibe to you at this point in the year? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: No, I never get that feeling of, okay, we're ready to play, or we're not ready to play. I don't know. I mean, maybe I haven't coached long enough to know the mindset of the team collectively. But our guys come out and they play hard. I know one thing, that we're going to play hard every night, and it's not always going to look pretty, but the effort is always going to be there. I never have to worry about that because we all have a level that we have to maintain. But we had a good shootaround, but we always have good shootarounds. We hope to have a good game tonight. We hope to have a good start and a good finish and a good middle quarter and a good third quarter. We want to play good basketball. We want to play consistently very good basketball. That's what it takes to win. They've done a good job of making a few more good plays than us. Q. What's your biggest concern about tonight? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Biggest concern? There's many. I mean, there's many concerns. They're a very talented team. I mean, LeBron is as powerful as any player in this game. Wade can create a lot of problems. Bosh is a guy that plays good basketball. But their toughness is good. But I feel that we just have to match it and play good. But if I had to pick one, we just have to play better. Q. A lot was made earlier today about Serge's remarks about LeBron. How has Serge been today in terms of dealing with the fallout from that? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I haven't seen him. I just was aware of it during our shootaround press conference. I didn't know what Serge said initially, but I thing is, the fact of the matter, Serge, he said what he said. I don't know, I never really talked to him about it. One of the things I did mention is both guys are very hard to guard. I don't think anybody can guard the two best offensive players in the game one on one. You need a solid defender and you need a very good team defense behind it. I haven't talked to him. I understand that Serge is an incredible human being. He's super smart. I mean, he's a smart guy. I don't really know other than that. Q. You and Durant looked at each of his five fouls after Game 3. What was the takeaway from that? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: He just has to be‑‑ there's concern, you don't want your players to get in foul trouble. He has to be careful. He has to be solid on offense and defense because it's the fouls that‑‑ not the ticky‑tack, I don't know the right word, just the soft fouls that we can't have him do. I liked the one foul that he tried to take a charge because that's what Kevin is about. He's about team defense, and he tried to take a charge on LeBron. Not a lot of guys do that, and he stood his ground. Unfortunately he was a split second late. But you can't worry about fouls, you really can't. He had two games in a row where he's gotten into foul trouble. If he gets a third game, we've just got to deal with it. That's what great players do. He hasn't really had this problem in the regular season. He's had it not a lot in the postseason other than the last two games. Q. Talking to your guys after the Spurs series, they were saying, hey, we're playing pretty good but we can play better. Lately I haven't gotten that same vibe. Have you guys regressed or is the Heat that much better than the Spurs? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I think both teams are‑‑ the Spurs are in the Conference Finals for a reason. They were right there with us. We were the two best teams in the West. And Miami is here because they're the best team in the East. They're both very good teams. They're talented teams. They both have great experience, and they play well together. I still think we can play better, but we've always said that. Even when we've won a bunch of games in a row, we've always come back the next day and say, guys, we've still got to get better. That's how our guys are wired. That's the mindset of our team is to keep improving. We hope to play better tonight. We hope to play for 48 minutes tonight. Q. Following up on the question about the fouls, I think by my count there was only two fouls that Kevin got the last game that were against LeBron specifically or that LeBron drew on him. Is too much being made of whether or not Durant versus LeBron is causing the foul trouble, or is it a general thing for Kevin, or is it specifically about LeBron? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, it's two fouls on him, there's no question. You get basically five free ones, the sixth one you're done. But we have to do a few things, and hopefully it works tonight. But he has to still be aggressive. We want Kevin to get to the free‑throw line himself. We feel that he's one of the best attack guys in the league. He can handle the ball from any parts of the floor, full court, coast to coast and half court, but we want him to get to the free‑throw line, also, and he hasn't been able to do that in the first half of these three games. Q. We've reached a point in the series where all these historical numbers and statistics come into play: When a series is 1‑1, the team that wins Game 3 goes on to win 85 percent. You go down 3‑1, no team has ever come back in a 2‑3‑2 format, but your guys have an ability to ignore those numbers. What is it about your guys you feel like it is? Is it the youth? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, you can look at numbers and break them down, and a lot of people do that, and you can twist them any way you really want to twist them. I look at the guys constantly every day. I get the privilege to lead this group of guys. And talking about numbers, down 3‑1, 2‑2, whatever it may be, the bottom line is you can win a basketball game if you play well. If you get involved in the history of the stats, I think you throw that out the door. I tell them, guys, look at me. I'm 5'11", not very talented, my opportunity to play over a decade in this league was zero percent chance. I did it. It's not about numbers, it's about how hard you're willing to work, how much heart and desire you put forth, and do it together collectively as a team. We have a group of guys that do that night in and night out, guys that I'm proud of the way they play, the way they act, the way they respond, the way they conduct themselves, and that's all I care about. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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