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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 25, 2014Scott BrooksOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Game Three Oklahoma City – 106 SCOTT BROOKS: I liked how as the game went on, I liked how our defense got better as the game went on. We were active, did a good job of helping for one another. Our bigs did a great job protecting the paint, protecting the basket, but that's what they do. They've done that all year. Obviously Serge came in and gave us a big lift, not only on the defensive end but the offensive end. Our offense was really good in the first half, and then I thought our defense really did a good job in that second half of really keeping them from getting easy buckets. Q. You go from losing by 35 to winning by 19. Can one person really have that big of an impact? SCOTT BROOKS: You didn't watch the last three minutes of the game? You know, Serge is a great player. He's been a big part of our success. We've won a lot of games and won a lot of series with him. We obviously missed him the last two games, but that's part of sport and you have to deal with the injuries. We're disappointed we didn't play better. We're a prideful group of guys, and we bounced back tonight. We always talk about that: Bounce back ability, and we had that tonight. Q. Their combined foursome of Leonard, Green, Parker and Diaw, 14 of 46, was your defense closing out on the shooters a lot better besides Ginobili? SCOTT BROOKS: To hold this team to under 40 percent is a tough challenge, but we did it tonight. We played great defense. We did it one game. We've got to come back and do the same thing in a couple of nights. That's not easy to do, they have a good point guard, they have good bigs, they have good shooters, but you have to be able to have multiple effort. Every possession we talk about that, it's not just coach talk, it's real talk. We have to be able to do that all the time, and this is what they‑‑ if you want to beat them, you have to have that maximum effort for 48 minutes. Q. KD and Russ both said they felt like they needed to be better. They both were tonight, but what did you like most about what you got out of them? SCOTT BROOKS: Just their ability to continue to lead us. What they do on the practice floor, in the locker room, in huddles is growing day by day, year by year. They've done a good job of leading us. They're great players. They're great players, and they're going to be great players for a lot of years. But the thing that I love their improvement over the years is their leadership. They have to continue to empower and continue to make their teammates better, and that's what the great ones do, and I thought they did a great job with that tonight. Q. Jeremy seemed to impact the game some with his length and shooting. What does it say about a young guy to be able to stay ready even when he hadn't played, in his preparedness? SCOTT BROOKS: He has to, all of our guys. You have 13 active players, they have to be ready. You never know when you get your number called. You have to be ready. I thought he did a good job in his minutes, made a couple of buckets. Defensively he still has to continue to stay focused and lock in on his man. But I thought his activity was good as the game went on, as he played. But he can make shots for us, he just has to continue to be ready. Q. In Game 2 some of the guys sort of lost their cool, lost their way a little bit. How did you get that back in Game 3, and is that something you talked about? Was that out of character? What was different in Game 3? SCOTT BROOKS: No, we're an emotional group. It's an emotional game. You get frustrated when you get your butt kicked, and if you don't, you don't have a team that's good. You want that. I'm not saying that we should have a bunch of technicals, but you should show that emotion and that passion when you're down. It's not a good feeling. I love the fact that we came back and we played a better game. We played a better game. I thought Reggie did a good job of getting in the paint and attacking some of their weak‑side defenders, and that's what we have to continue to do. We played a good basketball tonight, and we have to do it again Tuesday night. Q. Your perimeter defense on their guards was really good, especially Green and Parker. Ginobili got loose a bunch. Did he just got hot? SCOTT BROOKS: Well, I thought we closed out on Boris four times. We made mistakes on his close‑out, and he led to four passes to Ginobili for his threes and two of them we closed down the corner in the wing that you couldn't do anything other than what we did. He made the two incredible shots. That's what he does. He's a special player. It doesn't matter how old he is. He is a special basketball player. He's a winner and he's competitive and sometimes when you don't think his shot is going to go in, but he wills it in. We have to do a better job closing out to all of their shooters. They have a team full of 40‑percent shooters. Q. You say we're an emotional group. It's an emotional game. You get frustrated when you get your butt kicked. You made wholesale changes to the starting lineup tonight and the guys coming in off the bench. Can you maybe describe how frustrated you were by how things had gone the first two games and why you needed to make that change? SCOTT BROOKS: Well, I knew that we were a better team than losing by 30, 35, 33? 30s. That's not us. I mean, other than it was us that night, we're a much better team than that. I have a lot of respect for San Antonio, but they're not that much better than us, and we knew that. We wanted to play a better basketball game. I thought the guys were prepared. The guys I threw in there‑‑ Serge obviously gave us an emotional and a playing boost. He's a good player. He helps our offense. He spreads the floor. You have to be able to guard his jump shot and he does a good job of rolling and catching around the basket. And defensively he blocks and he alters shots. Q. What did you think of Reggie's initial kind of role in the starting lineup alongside Russell Westbrook and will he remain in the starting lineup? SCOTT BROOKS: I like that he did a good job on Green. The first play in front of our bench he got pushed off and he got some separation. He hit the three on the right wing. I thought that was his only mistake on Green. He has to continue to lock in on the defensive end. We can't give this team open shots, and if you're going to do that, they're going to make 40 percent. It's not a game, it's a season they've done it, and we can't give them open shots, and I thought Reggie was good. Offensively he's been a very good, improving player over the last three years with his offensive game. He makes threes. He's over 40 percent in the Playoffs, 42, and then he makes shots around the basket, and that's what he did tonight. Q. Is he going to remain a starter? SCOTT BROOKS: What do you think? Q. When in this whole process did you know what you might get from Serge? SCOTT BROOKS: Well, I saw his workout yesterday. I knew that he was going to do what he does. He's a very good basketball player. And he's improving. Once they cleared him this morning, I knew that we were going to get a good effort. I knew we were going to get a total commitment every possession, and that's what he does. He's a focused basketball player. He's intense, he's passionate, and he cares. He loves playing with his group of guys that he plays with. He protects them off their mistakes, but our guys do a good job protecting him, too. He made shots tonight. He's a shot maker. He doesn't need the ball for a long period of time, he just needs it for a second and he gets that shot off. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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