(On what the game will come down to…)
“Nothing. It comes down to the guys playing. Seventh game of a series. It’s about the players, they step up and they play.”
(On how to implement changes on defense from Game Six without a practice, or if the players just know what to do…)
“Every game is different. It plays out differently in every sense. Who’s on the court. What the time is. What the score is. That’s a bad time to have some defensive breakdowns. It’s both ends. The team that executes the best, as trite as that is. That means taking good shots, not taking contested shots down the stretch. Not turning it over. Playing good team defense, getting a stop, getting a rebound to follow the stop. That’s what both teams are trying to do. So the team that executes those types of actions the best down the stretch of a game is usually going to be the winner.”
(On how much psychology enters into a game like this, and if the Mavericks might be thrilled to be here, while the Spurs would be not as thrilled…)
“I don’t know why we wouldn’t be thrilled to be here. You mean we would have wanted to sweep or something like that is that the inference here. I’m pretty sure that’s not a possibility anymore. It’s just about playing the game. Psychology is always something that exists I guess, but when the ball goes up the guys play. That’s the bottom line.”
(On if it’s cool to see so many Game Sevens in the first round…)
“I think it’s great for basketball and for the fans. It drives all the coaches crazy probably. But for the game and everybody it has been a wonderful thing.”