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NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 21, 2012Scott BrooksMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Five Oklahoma City Thunder - 106 COACH SCOTT BROOKS: First I'd like to just start off congratulating the Miami Heat. They did a fantastic job. Coach Spoelstra did a great job of coaching that team. We ran into a team that was tough to beat tonight. But I thought they did a great job in the series. Q. Can you just talk about how proud you are of your guys for sticking together and staying kind of as one even though this was a tough series? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, I just told the guys, we didn't win a championship this year, but they gave it a championship effort all season long. It's something I'm proud of. I love our guys. I love what they're about. They're winners. Unfortunately we didn't accomplish our goal of winning the championship, but I thought we gave great effort all year long to put us in this position. Q. Just talk a little bit about how this series got away from you guys after that promising Game 1. COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, it always comes down to Game 2. We had a bad start. We fought back. Got down to the last possession. Games 3 and 4 it came down to three or four possessions they made and we did not make. Today they were just on fire. They had everything going, everything clicking. Mike Miller had seven threes, Battier had a bunch of threes. Their layup game, drive game. They just took it to us tonight. It's unfortunate we couldn't handle all the things that they were throwing at us, but they beat us. They beat us fair and square. They were the better team in this series, and like I told the guys, there's nothing to be ashamed of. They gave everything they had, it just wasn't good enough this year. Q. It seemed like they weren't hitting threes obviously but most of them were uncontested. How come you guys had so much problems getting out there? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: They were coming at us right from transition. When you don't make shots against them, they are so explosive in transition, and they were not taking the ball out of the net too many times tonight, and they were getting back at us in transition and having numbers on us. We were trying to stop the paint, and when we were doing that, they were hitting threes. And when we were trying to stop the threes, they were driving to the basket and getting lay‑ups. Like I said, they're a heck of a team. They played very well tonight. They deserved to win, and they beat us fair and square. Q. It looked like offensively you got a little panicky, a little sloppy, doing things you don't normally do, silly dribbles and forcing things. Is that something you can sort of learn from if you're back here next year? Guys can sort of look back and say, hey, remember how we played, we can't do that anymore? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Yeah, you know what, there's no question we didn't play well tonight. A lot of things on both ends of the floor didn't go our way. But you've got to give Miami a lot of credit. They were so aggressive defensively, they were challenging every dribble, they were challenging every pass and they were challenging every shot. They got offensive rebounds. They really played a physically intimidating brand of basketball tonight. Like I said, we didn't play well, but a lot to do with it is because they played extremely well. Q. You guys have improved the last couple of times you've been bounced out of the Playoffs, you've identified some stuff and gotten better at it. I know it just happened, but what can you identify right now that you need to get better at to be able to beat a team like this? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, it's always‑‑ just looking back quickly, this just happened, but the last three years we lost to each champion, the Lakers, the Mavericks and the Heat. So we've done something good to put us in a position to come back every year to get better and advance a little further in the Playoffs. That doesn't guarantee that the next step is a championship. It's hard to get here. You have to really play well and have some good fortune. There's things that we have to work on. I've never used age as an excuse. But we've got some incredible experience these last three years of being in the Playoffs, and it kind of‑‑ it has helped us get to this point and to compete at this level. But give Miami credit. They have really talented players. It's obvious they have great experience. They were here last year, and they had a bad taste in their mouth. There's no question, when you experience that, there's something more to that next time you get back. Like I said, it's not easy to get here. Give Coach Spoelstra a big hand that they were able to do it two years in a row. Q. Can you describe what was going on behind, at the end and on your bench as that game ended? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: It was a lot of emotion. We have a group of men that I enjoy leading, and it's a family. You know, it's not easy to not accomplish your goals, and I think we've all kind of overlooked, even myself, how incredible these guys are. These guys are‑‑ they're just a great group of guys that give everything they have. They play the game the right way. They act like men off the court. Something that everybody should be proud of, not just me but the people that love the game of basketball and love NBA basketball. We've got a great group of guys that believe in team, believe in work, and I'm proud to coach them, and I love what they're about. You guys know Kevin, but just down the line, we've got 15 men that do it for each other every night. Q. As the series played out, in terms of adjustments and responses, what did you learn or what impressed you about the Miami operation and the coaching staff over there? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, they're a great organization. Pat Riley put an incredible team together that had a very singular goal of winning a championship. There was nothing else that was on their mind. Coach Spoelstra did a great job of leading them and fighting through a lot of tough situations and stayed the course and kept charging ahead. But I think when you play against the best, you learn. You learn. You don't get better by playing bad teams. You don't get better by playing against bad players. And we've played against the best three teams the last three years, and we've learned. Obviously it's too early to understand and internalize all the things that we will learn through this series. But just the one thing, that they play extremely physical basketball. They are a very athletic team and they use it every possession, and that's something that we will talk about. You have it, you'd better use it. We've done it all year long, but I thought as this series, especially tonight, we could have probably used a little more of it. Q. You expect certain numbers out of their Big Three, but when Mike Miller does what he does tonight, how much does that surprise you? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, it doesn't surprise me because there's 450 amazing players and athletes and competitors in this league, and anybody can step up. That's NBA, guys step up, and he stepped up tonight. That's what players do. I even had a good game every now and then. But seven threes, you don't want that to happen, but he's one of the great shooters. He hasn't had a great shooting year, but he stepped in, and LeBron is as confident as any player I've ever seen, and he has a lot of confidence in all of his teammates, and he gave him a lot of open shots. Q. But given Mike's physical inabilities coming into this series, did you think that he was able to do something like he did tonight? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I really don't know all the specifics of his injuries. I don't really get into that. If you're on the court, you're healthy. That's always my philosophy. I don't know, I don't really pay too much attention. I just know any time he's on the court he's a threat and he can make threes, and he made a bunch of them tonight. Q. Given the way these two teams are and your really young core, is this a Finals matchup you could see repeating over the next few years? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, we definitely were good enough to be here otherwise we wouldn't be here. You don't get here by just being athletic, you don't get here by having young legs in a lockout‑shortened season. You get here because you're good and you're committed to each other. We definitely have room to improve. That's what the summers are for. That's what we've always positioned our organization is respect the game, respect what you do and be consistent in that work and approach every day as a day to improve, and we have a great group of guys that believe in all those things. Q. They seemed to get a lot of stuff on the baseline, back door cuts, things of that nature, what was going on there? And also a lot is going to be talked about being the first Finals appearance for most of the players. It's your first as a coach. What did you learn coming out of this Finals that maybe you didn't know as a head coach? COACH SCOTT BROOKS:  Well, they definitely had a lot of back doors, a lot of threes, a lot of incredible plays. They have some incredible players that make incredible plays. But what I've learned, I've learned NBA Finals that you have to be good to get here. You have to have a good team, and you're playing against the best in the East. The other thing I learned, I learned there's a lot of respect that I have for the NBA Finals, NBA coaches, NBA organizations, and all the people that put this event on. I had no clue. Last time I was in it was nearly 20 years ago. It is beyond, it's bigger than ever, and there's a lot of work behind the scenes that goes on, a lot of amazing people that put it all together. The setup crew, just everybody, the ushers, it's an incredible event. It's great to be a part of it. You hate to go home and not win the whole thing, but somebody has to win, somebody has to lose. It's unfortunate we lost. But we lost to a team that played better than us in the five games, four of the five games. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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