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NBA FINALS: SPURS v HEATJune 16, 2013Tim DuncanSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Five Miami Heat - 104 Q. Tim, the other night you said that Manu maybe needed to be less selfish. What did he do tonight that you saw that allowed him to be so successful after struggling so much so recently? TIM DUNCAN: I just thought he was a bit more aggressive. I know that's kind of the answer to everything. He's a bit more aggressive. He looked for his shot a bit more. And on top of that, just let the game come to him. He made some great plays, got the floor spread for him, got to attack the basket. Just got more opportunities more than anything. I think that's what it came down, just get more opportunities. Q. Tony just said that the criticism that he heard about Manu in the last few days bothered him. How much did it bother you guys as a team knowing everything he's contributed to this organization? TIM DUNCAN: A tremendous amount. A tremendous amount. We're not a team or an organization that kind of points fingers in that respect. I know it's on the media to find out what's wrong with everybody, what happened whatever game, but he's such a huge part of what we do. And how far we've come. And you can see it tonight in how we played and the results of the game. So we're always confident in him. We don't look at the stats and say, hey, it's his fault or his fault or his fault. We know he has it in him and we hope he can bring it for at least one more win. Q. Tim, you were more aggressive yourself tonight, and especially on that spin move you pulled out from about 2000‑‑ TIM DUNCAN: I waited for my opportunities. I played off the pick‑and‑rolls. I got to open spots. I played off of people more than anything. It's what's being given to me this series. It's what my role is. And I'm just playing that. Q. Speak to the growth of Danny Green from last year at the end of the Conference Finals, when he was sort of out of the rotation after Manu made his start, and then to now be a prime player on this stage. TIM DUNCAN: Yeah, he's been unbelievable. Especially on this stage. He's shooting the ball so well. We're asking him to defend Dwyane Wade and LeBron and all these guys. He's got a lot on his shoulders and he's stepped up and answered the bell. He's been unbelievable. I hope he doesn't wake up and keeps playing this way. Q. You and Tony talked a lot about having to have a perfect game or playing more perfect than the Heat did in Game 4. Is that what we saw tonight, perfection? TIM DUNCAN: Yeah, we played more the minutes better. We still had too many turnovers. We still ended with 18 turnovers. That's still a bit much. But we shot the ball a lot better, moved the ball a lot better. We moved their defense very well. And we had a lot of guys attacking and making shots. So if we're going to turn the ball over that much, we have to play as well as we did. We still have things we can clean up in that respect, which is great. If we can take care of those turnovers, because we can't expect to shoot that well in every game, but we just need one more. So hopefully we can. Q. Tim, you guys have been a part of three, four championships here. How much does resilience, confidence, pride, you know, just determination play a role in games like this where you absolutely have to get this win going into a tough situation? TIM DUNCAN: Experience plays a role. We've been in situations like this. We've been together for a long time. So that definitely plays a role. I think we're just trying to do all we can to will it to happen. We hope we can respond better next game than we have after wins. That's the one thing we want to clean up. I think every one of us wants this very badly from the top on down. We're trying to play that way. We just need to put it on the floor and understand the kind of energy and the kind of aggression they're going to come with next game, and counter that with continuing to play well, moving the ball, and finding ways to find open guys. Q. Tim, yesterday Manu is out there talking about retirement seemingly because he can't put into words why his game isn't there. I'm just wondering did he seem at all dejected to you? And when he found out he was starting, did you see anything different in him in terms of coming out with some pride tonight? TIM DUNCAN: He did seem dejected. He was obviously‑‑ he's a competitor, an extreme competitor. And he wants to play well and he wants to help our team do well. Just like a lot of us, we lose games and we take the blame for it. He's just the same way. And he wanted to play well. He wanted to play well really badly. I knew he would come out tonight. I knew he would play well. Q. When did you know that Manu was going to start? And I wonder was it just the case of Pop telling all that he was going to start? Or was there any internal dialogue whether or not that could be the type of thing that could spark him? TIM DUNCAN: Everything that happens happens because of Pop. He makes all the calls. He let us know yesterday that he was going to start, and we were all excited about it. Q. How excited are you just for Manu? It's been such a tough playoffs. You said he's dejected. TIM DUNCAN: I'm really excited for Manu, for his performance tonight, but we need him to do it one more time. We need one more win. We need all of us to show up and play well. We'll be satisfied and happy about all that stuff if we can win one more. Q. Tim, can you address the fact that LeBron, Wade and Bosh were quite productive in Game 4. Talk about the defensive assignment and intensity to reduce their numbers tonight on the offense. TIM DUNCAN: We honestly didn't change a whole lot. I thought we put a little more effort into it. We cleaned up a couple of mistakes. We're just trying to make their life as hard as possible. There are three incredible players that obviously have gotten their team to this point for three years in a row. They're some of the best players in the league. All we can do is try to do the best we can to make their life as hard as possible. I thought we did a better job in the open court, trying to keep them in front of us, not giving up lay‑ups like we did in that past game, that last game, and in that respect that changed the game a bit for us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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