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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND TWO: CLIPPERS v THUNDERMay 15, 2014Scott BrooksLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Six Thunder – 104 COACH BROOKS: I thought tonight's game was something that we've done all year. We've all stuck together and found ways to win. We weren't making a lot of shots. Kevin and Russell didn't have a good first half, but they competed. The other guys stepped in, held down the fort, and made it a respectable deficit we had to overcome, eight points. Second half, they got hot. We've been a very good offensive team all year, high‑percentage shooting team. I thought our shots were much better in that fourth quarter. Q. What did you say to the players in the second half to keep them focused? COACH BROOKS: The first thing I said, I loved the position we were at, only down eight. I don't know the exact numbers. Kevin and Russell, they were 1 for 11 or 12. We were down eight. Everybody had to chip in. I said, Just keep plugging away. Multiple effort every possession. Keep playing with the pass and finding offense through our team. I thought they did a good job of being patient, being disciplined and playing for one another in that second half at a high level. Q. Can you give us an update on Serge. Do you believe it was the experience that led to some poise down the stretch you had this time around? COACH BROOKS: Well, we were only two days younger in Game4. We had some experience back then (smiling). I thought Nick stepped up. Crazy thing is Nick has taken a thousand shots from the corner, from the three‑point line, and hasn't had many opportunities this season. But I thought that was a big bucket. That was a big bucket. I love the fact that we trusted him. We see him every day work. It's nice that our guys rewarded him with a nice, clean pass and a belief he was going to make that shot. We've been good all year. We knew going into the first series, it was going to be tough. We knew going into this series, it was going to be tough. Can I tell you guys something? Next series is going to be tough. NBA playoffs. We're all fighting for one thing. It's important to us. Serge, I don't know yet. I looked at him said, Are you all right? Serge and I, sometimes we talk with our hands. He said this (motioning). We won't know till tomorrow. Q. The Clippers had success for five straight quarters. What changed in the second quarter for you defensively? COACH BROOKS: We just had to keep playing. The thing is that people forget‑‑ I don't know if they forget, they don't acknowledge it enough, they're a very good offensive basketball team. They have shooters all over the floor. They have one of the best point guards of manipulating the game and ball screens. They have two rollers that can finish a thousand feet above the rim. The only way to guard them is do it every time. You can't relax and you can't worry about the last play if they did score. We tell our guys, Reboot the computer every time down the court. Don't worry about the last play. Stay in the moment. Q.  You staged back‑to‑back double‑digit comebacks to finish off the series. What does that say about your team? COACH BROOKS: We have good leadership. Russell and Kevin have led us for a lot of years. We've never talked about not being able to lead at a young age because they've been leading this team for five or six years. They lead and our guys do a great job of supporting them, helping them, putting them in positions for all of us to have success. The unsung heroes on our team are our bigs. I say it all the time, I'll continue to say it, they set screens, do a lot of things to put us in position to win a lot of basketball games. We won a lot of games this year because of our bigs competing and putting us in position to have success. Q. Can you expound on Kevin and Russell. Kevin found his stroke and Russell did it a completely different way tonight versus the last game. COACH BROOKS: I thought Russell was solid. He didn't have a good shooting night. He had 12 assists and a lot of free throws because he was attacking. Kevin got hot in the second half. Our bigs did a good job of setting him up. Give Kevin credit. He did a good job of getting low, not letting them hold him, not letting them get away with that. He was trying to get separation from their hands. I thought he did a good job in the second half. Russell did a good job of finding him on time and on target. Q. Are you in a transition into playing the Spurs? Their bench is going to cause some issues. How do you plan on adjusting to their bench? COACH BROOKS: Thanks for letting me enjoy this win. I'm already worried about Tony Parker and their great players. You have to guard them. Good thing about it, they're only allowed to play five at the same time. We are, too. Both teams are really good. Both teams play hard. Both teams have great experience. So it's going to be a great series. Q. Talk about what did it mean winning that last game, Game5, at home and the momentum you gathered and brought in here? COACH BROOKS: The good thing about the Game5 win was we missed an opportunity in Game4. The series was very unique in that way. Both teams blew an opportunity to close out a game. Both teams beat each other pretty bad one game. I thought tonight's game was one of our best executed games from both sides of the ball. But knowing how Doc prepares, we knew we were going to have to figure out some things as this series went along. I thought we did that. Q. You mentioned the unsung heroes, your bigs. I know you don't care about perception from the outside. But do you believe you're misunderstood as some sort of two‑man show without any set offense or anything really of substance going on other than those two guys? COACH BROOKS: You know, we really don't worry about what they say about our offense, this and that. We were third in the league in scoring, and third in field goal percentage. I think that's been three consecutive years. We had a bad six or seven minutes in Game4. The Clippers had a bad three minutes in Game5, and I think they led the league in scoring. That happens. We don't get down on what people say about us. We're focused. We know that we're not a perfect team. We don't claim to be. We don't tell the world, Look at us. We just play basketball. We play it as hard as we can. We try to play with very limited mistakes. What we do try to do is play with effort every time. Russell is an effort players. He's a winner and he plays hard. Kevin is the same. Down the line, Nick, Fish, CB, Perk, the whole team. We've built this organization doing that every day. We tell you what we do and we're not trying to trick you guys. Thanks. You guys have a good night. Appreciate it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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