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NBA FINALS: SPURS v HEATJune 16, 2013Gregg PopovichSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Five Miami Heat - 104 Q.  Pop, when did you make the decision to start Manu tonight? And what did you tell Manu? Manu talked a little bit about a conversation he had with you. What did you tell him about‑‑ COACH GREGG POPOVICH: That's just family stuff. Q. When was the decision made? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Some time in the last couple of days. Q. Coach, the decision to start him, was it as much to try to get him going as it was matchups? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: A little bit of all of that, yes. Q. How do you feel like it worked out for you? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Fairly well. Q. Coach, other than starting Manu in the starting five tonight, what do you think he did different from the past games, although he was hitting more shots, but in terms of his game? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, Manu is a competitor, he just keeps pushing, and he does what he does. I mean, he's come to practice and worked on his shot. He's seen film. He has confidence in himself that he should just continue to compete. That's what he's done his whole career. And tonight he played his best game in a while. So it was obviously very helpful. Q. Pop, how would you describe the bond that Manu has with the fans in San Antonio? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Oh, the bond. The bond. He's obviously very popular. He's been here a long time. He's helped us have a lot of success over the years. One can imagine since he speaks the language of a lot of the people who live here, it endears him even more. So when you put that all together, he's a quite popular young man. Q. Coach, you had a nine‑point lead in the first half. You knew they were going to make their run in the second half. Can you talk about the adjustments your team made during that time. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: We didn't make any adjustments. We just took the hit, and I thought our guys did a good job of continuing to play, not get down. And you just keep playing. We didn't change defenses or put in a trick play or any of that kind of stuff. At this point it's about competing. Players playing well and people competing. Q. Talk about the growth of Danny Green from last year's playoffs to now, and just what he's been able to do in these Finals. Now he's the all‑time single Finals record holder for threes. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, the whole season has made him more confident. He's been somebody that has gotten a lot of minutes, basically has a green light, and when you do it for 82 games, the only thing left is to see if you do it when the real lights come on come playoffs time. He's pretty well answered that question. Q. Pop, you obviously took the 3‑2 lead going into Miami. Now trying to finish it out in Miami, can you discuss or would you discuss the fact that you can close it out in Miami. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: You just go play Game 6. There's no magic to it. It's basketball. It's not that complicated. Both teams will compete their fannies off. Players will play well or poorly. Coaches will try to help them as much as possible, and the best team will end up winning. Q. Does Danny's trajectory as a player remind you at all of Bruce Bowen? He becomes a specialist and finally finds his niche. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I guess they both are similar in the fact that neither one of them has any moves; they just shoot it. (Laughter). They don't really dribble or do anything else. They just shoot it. So in that sense, they are kind of similar. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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