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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 26, 2014Caron ButlerOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Practice Day Q. What did you think of Russ's defense last night? CARON BUTLER: It was great. We were just watching the film, and he did a great job of just engaging and keeping his body on Tony or whoever was the ball handler and doing a great job of getting over the screens and his effort was great all throughout the night. Q. You guys made a lineup change yesterday and you did it in the Memphis series, too, with you going in. All three games it's worked great. Why do you think you guys have responded so well to a starting lineup change? CARON BUTLER: I think because what you see right now after practice, everyone staying engaged and just staying ready and knowing that at any given time, anything can happen. We made a little tweak and guys were ready, and ready for the moment. Q. You've been in several places and maybe other teams do that. The Thunder haven't done that in four years. I don't think Scotty made a lineup change other than dictated by trade or injury. Could you tell it was a big deal the day he put you in the lineup? Could you tell it was sort of a major decision? CARON BUTLER: It didn't seem major just because it wasn't like across the airwaves or people biting their nails or scratching their head. It was just an adjustment. Playoff basketball is about a ton of adjustments. You see a lot of adjustments coming out of timeouts, and Coach Brooks and we made an adjustment in that series, in the Memphis series, and we made one in this one, as well. Q. You didn't have it easy growing up. When you see somebody that came from a background like Serge where he grew up in the middle of a war zone, how do you think that sort of has an impact on things that a lot of people might consider big moments like basketball? CARON BUTLER: Well, to touch on that, I will say that's the reason‑‑ that's one of the main reasons when I kept getting asked repeatedly, do you think Serge is going to come back. Is he out for the Playoffs, and I was just like, I think he'll be back. In my head and in my heart I just felt that way the whole time just because of what he's come from, and he's been resilient and been able to overcome any type of adversity off the court. So this little thing right here with an injury, I was just like, if it's a will, it's a way, and he has a lot of will, so he's going to be out there. Q. At any moment did he come to you and ask you when you came back, when you fractured your hand and came back for the Playoffs? CARON BUTLER: Yeah, he asked me a couple times. I came back from a couple crazy injuries, so he was just asking me, you know, how did you feel. I just want to be able to give something, and I was just like, man, just you being out there is going to give a ton. The crowd is going to give us that lift that we need. Everyone is going to be engaged, and it's just going to make your brothers, be us, just work that much harder out there on the court, seeing you out there. We definitely did that, and he gave us more than a lift. Q. How important is keeping your composure as a team for the next game? You didn't see a lot of adversity in the last game, but going forward how important is composure? CARON BUTLER: Just keeping everything in perspective. It was just one game, and obviously you want to continue to protect home court and get another one and even the series. Just continue to execute our offense and continue to move forward and build off the momentum from the last game. Q. Is there anything to be read into this team's level of trust in each other? CARON BUTLER: Definitely. We saw a lot of situations like that just in the game where Russ and Kevin and Reggie, the guys that's usually our play makers was drawing two and three people at a time and doing a great job of just finding guys in rhythm and trusting the pass, and that's extremely important. Q. (Inaudible) increased pace last night, getting to the offense quicker. How important is that to really try to extend San Antonio defensively, what they're trying to do to you guys? CARON BUTLER: You know, it starts with defense, and if we get stops and we get good stops and get out and thrust our offense and play at a good pace, we feel good. We feel good. We get a lot of open looks, and Kevin and Russ have a lot of lanes to drive and do what they do, what they're great at. We just have to continue to hang our hat on defense, rebound well, and strengthen the court. If we continue to do that, we'll be fine. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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