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 Postgame Quotes: Spurs vs. Cavs 06/12/07
Gregg Popovich An interview with: COACH GREGG POPOVICH: That was a great game. Both teams played pretty good defense, I think, and that's what the night was all about. We're trying to stop LeBron and trying to stop some of the three-point shooters, they're trying to stop Manu and Tony. We ended up being fortunate enough to win the game, so we're thrilled about it. Q. On the last play, did you want your guys to foul before the shot? I know this is a debate you guys go through, but Bruce did grab at him. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: He did make a stab at him, and we talked about it. That's it, I guess. Q. And can you talk about the contribution you got off your bench tonight when you were probing for some offense? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I don't remember that happening. I'm just thrilled by Bruce Bowen. You know, he's guarding somebody that's going to be a Hall of Fame player when it's all said and done, obviously. And he's playing for -- I don't know what he played here, 43, 44 minutes, and he scored 13 points and got nine rebounds. What a yeoman effort on his part. I just thought he was fantastic from beginning to end, and I think he really set the tone for our team. Q. Three-point shots tonight really were a big difference in this game. Was that by design, or were you just taking what the defense was giving you there? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Right, we never -- it's difficult to go into a game and say tonight we're going to take threes or tonight Timmy Duncan is going to shoot 28 times. It's best that one takes what's given, and that's what we tried to do. Q. Just to belabor Mike's point, what did you tell your team in the final time-out? What did you tell them to do? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I'd rather keep that to ourselves. Whatever strategy we're going to use, it's nothing amazing, but I would rather just keep it to ourselves. It might happen again. Q. Is this a game where it's a matter of one team has been there, done that and experienced it, and another team hasn't been there, done that and experienced it? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I don't know the answer to that. I do know that our core players understand that, especially in playoffs, that the games last for 48 minutes oftentimes, and we've seen every kind of crazy thing happen, positively and negatively. So you just never stop; you keep going. Perhaps that experience in that regard does help. Q. Cavaliers were penetrating in the first half. Did you guys make a defensive adjustment in the second half, or did they seem to just settle for the outside shot? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I don't remember that happening. I saw a different game than you. It was 40 to 38 at the half, wasn't it? We set the western world of offensive basketball back ten years. So there couldn't have been too much penetration. Q. Would you have ever thought that you guys would have been able to win that game like that with Manu only scoring three points? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: No, I wouldn't expect that. I would think that Tony and Manu and Timmy would have to be great to win these games. But that's not going to happen all the time. You know, those three guys -- it's not going to happen. That's why I think Bruce picked up a lot of the slack. His nine boards are as important as any points he scored because these guys are so good on the board and they hit the offensive board so hard. Bruce concentrating in that regard was huge for us. But hopefully Manu will have a better game on Thursday. You've got to give them credit. They played good defense, also. It's not like we beat them by 20. We ended up being the fortunate team at the end of the game. We hung in there, we won, but they played just as hard defensively as we did. Q. Home court, home rims, and yet 3-of-19 shooting from three. Is that your defense playing well or just they misfired or what do you attribute that to? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: It's always both. They got some wide-open looks that didn't go, and that was fortunate for us. Other times we did contest some threes and do a good job, so it's a little bit of both. Q. Are you happy with your defense -- COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I'm happy with anything tonight. You could name anything and I'm happy (laughter). Q. Given the rules changes, given everything that's going on, is this as good a defensive run as your group has had in some time, just throughout the entire playoffs? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think I can honestly say that these three games is the best defense we've played all season. This is the best defense we've played in the playoffs, and it's been back to back to back, without a doubt. An interview with: Q. The horrible shooting tonight by a team that was at home, 3-of-19 from three-point range, how much of that was just their shot not going or was it your defense and the way you guys were playing? TIM DUNCAN: I'd like to hope we had something to do with it. Like you said, they just didn't shoot the ball well. I thought they got some pretty decent looks. They hit some shots down the stretch there. We were up eight, ten points and they started making some shots. So the first stretch they started making some shots. Defensively I thought we were pretty solid. There weren't a whole lot of free throws on our end. There weren't a whole lot of easy looks on our end. But we kind of stuck with it. And the same with them, we made everything tough for them. Q. They made another round of adjustments putting Gibson in the starting line-up tonight. Could you guys feel you can counter everything they've thrown at you this series? TIM DUNCAN: We figured they were going to do something to change something. Gibson had been playing 30 something odd minutes anyway, so we've seen enough of him that we didn't have to make much of an adjustment. We didn't change a whole lot of what we did. We understood the kind of shooter that he was, and outside of that, we stuck with our same game plan. Q. Could you please talk about Bruce Bowen's contribution? TIM DUNCAN: Brucey was unbelievable tonight. He did everything for us. He sat down and defended for 44 minutes out there. He made some big shots for us, rebounded the ball, just an unbelievable effort on his part. You can't say enough about him. He'll get it done, and it doesn't matter if he gets one shot or eight shots. He's going to be in the same place at the same time. He's going to do the same thing. That's what defines our team, what he does. Q. After three games we've seen your defensive approach with LeBron. We know doubles are coming, we know kind of what you guys are trying to do. Do you guys feel as if he is sometimes trying to impose his will, or do you feel as if he is going at it and thinking you guys are playing very tough D and I'm going to make the smart pass? TIM DUNCAN: I think he's doing a little bit of both. I think he's starting with the approach that he's going to make the right pass, he's going to make the right play. I think they count on him enough that in crunch time he feels like he has to make plays. But whether it be the starting play of the game or at crunch time, we're doing the same thing. I think we changed one time towards the end there where we went at him on a double-team and they hit a three, and then we kind of went back. Everything else was the same, so we're going to make him make decisions, make him make shots over the top of us, and for a while there, as I said before, he did a good job of penetrating. He got a couple of great back doors, but we're going to make it as tough as possible for him. Q. Are you surprised that he hasn't tried to impose his will more? TIM DUNCAN: I think he's trying. I think he's definitely trying. We're a pretty good defensive team. We're not bad (laughter). We can stay in front of people and we can challenge shots, and we do pretty good with sticking with our game plan. It's worked so far, and we're not going to change a whole lot. Whether he tries to impose his will or not, we're going to be standing in front of him. Q. Tell us about going into the mentality Thursday night, chance to close out a team, and how tough is it closing out a team? TIM DUNCAN: You know, in my experience the Game 3 is usually the toughest game possible, and Game 4 brings a whole other challenge. It's a little bit of desperation, it's a little bit of laying it all on the line, and it's about really sustaining, because if you can sustain with people early on, they make runs, they use their energy, the crowd is behind them, and you can sustain over a half or three or four quarters, that's what it's all about. We're going to play that way. We're going to come out knowing that they're going to have their foot on the pedal and be pushing and LeBron is going to try to get to the rack and make plays and carry his team, and guys will be trying to make plays the same way. As I said, we're going to do the same exact thing. We're going to try to stay in the game and give ourselves a chance to win when it's crunch time. Q. Tony Parker took three threes tonight, something he doesn't do during the regular season. Can you tell us what was going through your mind on the third one, the one that went in, and what that says about a guy who hasn't really played well in The Finals to do it now in this stage? TIM DUNCAN: Tony has been unbelievable. He's been great. As you said, he's not really a three-point shooter (smiling), and I think the coach has said I had kind of a weird look on my face when he shot that third one. But it went down, and I'm happy about that. You know what, he's so confident right now, he's feeling so good about his jump shot. They've been allowing him to shoot the jump shot, trying to keep him out of the paint, and when you do that, you basically warm somebody up. They're able to step into shots, able to take shots, and I think they've done that for him. That was a huge shot for us to give us a bit of a cushion, and I probably was questioning it on the release, but I was happy with the results (laughter). Q. It seems to be a consensus among national media if they took a vote today he might get the MVP, yet 70 percent of TIM DUNCAN: Sure. As long as we get to four that's all that matters. Q. Being the leader and star of your team, how much pressure is on your back? TIM DUNCAN: It's a lot of pressure, especially in this situation with the Finals. But at the same time it's a lot of fun. It's playing on the biggest stage, it's playing the game that you love to play, and it's playing for the biggest prize. So it's a lot of fun.An interview with: Q. Can you talk about LeBron and the way he's played in this series? It seems like so many times he has the ball in the flow of the offense and he kind of stops and waits and you guys are kind of able to shift your defense and get into place. Do you sense a tentativeness with him as the series wears on? TONY PARKER: I don't know. I just think we're playing great defense. I can't talk about our strategy, but we're just trying to contain him. He's a great player on pick-and-rolls. We try to not give him anything easy, no lay-ups, that's our rule, no lay-ups, no dunks, and just try to stay in front of him. At the same time cover the other guys, make sure they don't get the easy threes, and we're just trying to do a good job. I don't think it's a special, magic defense, we just have to take the effort and try to stay in front of him. Q. Talk about now the mentality you guys have to have trying to close out this series. TONY PARKER: I think the same one tonight. I thought we approached the game very good. We didn't have a bad start. It's always the key when you're playing on the road in their arena. It's very loud and they're going to play with a lot of energy and confidence. I thought we did a good job in the first quarter being patient and get the ball inside to Timmy, and I thought we went out with the same approach. Play defense, don't get too many turnovers and try and contain LeBron. Q. Would it make it even more special for you guys this week? TONY PARKER: That would be nice. That would be nice, but it's going to be hard. It's going to take a lot of effort and a lot of energy. I know Q. They obviously did a better job on you tonight than in the first two games. What did you see that they were doing differently? TONY PARKER: They played a little bit like we do on LeBron. They stayed with me on the pick-and-roll. They were making sure -- like not a double-team, but making sure I give up the ball, and then the big left. So they did a good job of containing me and did a good job on the pick-and-rolls. I was just trying to be patient, make sure I don't take bad shots and run the team and wait my turn. Timmy was great tonight, Michael Finley hit a big shot in the fourth quarter, Bruce Bowen hit a lot of threes tonight, so our bench played pretty good. Q. You're not known as a three-point shooter, but you hit some clutch ones and you hit a big one tonight. Can you talk about that? TONY PARKER: I always try to squeeze one or two (smiling). Coach Pop doesn't like me to shoot threes. But he told me next year I can go back and shoot threes like my first three years, so I decided to start a little bit in the playoffs (laughter). I know he was screaming when I took it. It's one of those kind of shots, like, "Nooooo," but it was all right. Q. Do you have the sense that you guys are now becoming a dynasty if you were to win -- you're just one victory away from winning your third in five years for the team that you've been on. What goes into a team that can become a dynasty, and how would you describe what your team is doing now? TONY PARKER: I can just talk about my own experience being a Spur, and it's just consistency. Every day in practice, Coach Pop, everybody knows he's crazy, always looking for perfection, and I think that's the only way you can keep winning. Keep winning, we play the same way, and we believe in our system. We've got a great organization. It's like a little family. I think that's how you build championship runs, and over the years it pays off. We're one win away to have a third one, so that's nice. I've felt very blessed and very lucky to be with that organization. Q. I know you have to win one more game, but how do you think that you have the possibility of being the first European ever to win the MVP of the Finals? TONY PARKER: That would be nice, too, but this will be Timmy. This is Timmy's team and it's always been Timmy's team. I don't even think about that. I just go out there and try to be a difference and try to be aggressive and just play my game. If it happens, I'll be the first one to be very happy. If it goes to Timmy, I'll be happy to win a third championship. Q. Tim Duncan is one of the best of all time, but right now if we have to vote you'll be the one. TONY PARKER: Well, we'll see, one more game. Q. Talk about the atmosphere. You guys have been in TONY PARKER: If I say something then it will be very loud and they'll scream about me. I don't think it was as loud as Q. And what is it about you guys that when you do play on the road you never seem fazed? TONY PARKER: I don't know, we just get in that mode, that mentality. I always say we play better on the road than at home for whatever reason, I don't know why. Like more focus on the road, and we play better basketball and we execute better on the road. It may be ugly, but we'll take it. Q. Can you talk about the team strategy in the last five seconds? Was Bruce supposed to take a foul there? TONY PARKER: No, not at all. We were just trying to play defense, trying to stay in front of him. And if he went for another lay-up we had confidence in Manu taking two more free throws, and if he went for a three we'd live with that. Q. So why did Bruce run him? TONY PARKER: I don't know, ask the referees. I'm not a referee. I'll take the win. Barry: Offensively we could not get the ball in the basket. Nobody for us was having a good game as far as Tim [ Q: Both you and Bruce [Bowen] hit some big shots. Barry: We move the ball like that and they are going to have to do something to take away Tony’s penetration. They’re going to open up some passing lanes for guys to hit three-pointers. They just don’t want Tony in the lane so much. I think even more so in Game 4 you might see us move the ball a little bit more and those shots on the perimeter will open up. Hopefully, we will just step up and knock them down. Q: Bruce Bowen has had a good game on both ends. Barry: He was huge. Especially hitting a couple shots early and what Bruce is being asked to do is not an easy task. Tonight he was rewarded on both ends of the court and it means our team is up 3-0. Q: In the last game you were 1-for-6 and you kept shooting. How important was it to hit the first one tonight? Barry: Well, it helps. I haven’t shot the ball all that well in the playoffs and the minutes have not been very consistent. I’m just trying to do what I can to help contribute to a championship run. Sometimes that might be scoring the ball and sometimes it might be playing defense out there and just hustling for a couple of minutes. This is the position I’m in and I want to enjoy it and help out our team as much as possible. Tonight it just happened to be that I made a few shots and it really felt good to do that for us. Q: How did it feel to be on the floor at the end? Barry: It felt good to be on the floor at the end and try and guard somebody and shut them down from scoring and possibly taking the lead and I appreciate those opportunities. Q: Can you ever remember a time where you guys struggled like that offensively and still won the game? Ginobili: It’s hard to tell, but no, I can’t – especially in The Finals. It’s great to win like this because you know you can struggle with your shot and still win. But, I guess the same thing happened to them. They did not have a happy night. We both kind of played a tight game, no open shots, kind of ugly. Q: Did Bruce Bowen get away with one at the end there? It looked like he tried to grab LeBron. Ginobili: The truth is that I was chasing [Sasha] Pavlovic, so I didn’t see it. I saw LeBron [James] complaining but I really didn’t see it. Q: Was that the plan, to foul him there? Ginobili: No. The plan is always to play defense, but regardless, our strategies – we prefer not to talk about it. Q: Even though you didn’t play great, you guys won. How does it feel being on the verge of getting another championship? Ginobili: Oh it’s great, beautiful, even though as you said, we didn’t play good. We won in a tough arena like this one and we are just one game shy of making it. So, we are going to do our best to finish as soon as we can. Q: What is it like you have your role guys step up on a night where you have a tough go of it shooting and Tim Duncan doesn’t have a big night either? Ginobili: Well, I don’t remember it happening many times where Tim didn’t play good and I didn’t play good. Tony was okay, he made some big shots and we still won. So, it talks great about this team and how we can face some trouble. We are very proud of that, but as we always say (after a win), it’s over. That is three. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. Q: Can you talk about your contributions in tonight’s game. Bowen: Any time you get good shot, you want to get good looks and sometimes you have good nights and sometimes you don’t, but the most important thing is to continue to have the confidence to shoot the ball. If you ever lose confidence and just want to be a one dimensional player and defensive only, it’s going to hurt the team more than anything. I just tried to concentrate on continuing to step in. Q: Do you think there should have been a fouled called on you when you went up against LeBron James? Bowen: The thing is, I’m just trying to get off the floor so that nothing can come about. Q: They were 3-for-19 from the three-point line. Talk about the perimeter defense tonight. Bowen: We understand with them being home that we have to do a better job of defending the three with [Daniel] Gibson and I think with Tony [Parker] and whoever else was on him did a great job of making it difficult on him. Instead of Gibson having such comfort taking his shots like he did in Q: Was last night the first good night of rest you have gotten since your baby arrived? Bowen: Oh man, incredible. That was wonderful and I thank my lovely wife for her understanding, but I got a chance to bond with my son from four to seven in the morning the day we left. So, I got a little chance to bond with him. Q: Can you explain why you guys shot the ball so well from the three-point line but had difficulty everywhere else? Bowen: Sometimes that happens and that’s why your defense has to show up day in and day out. There are games when you are going to do great offensively and match that energy on the defensive end and sometimes you may not do well on the inside. Where we were getting to the basket at times we were able to kick it out this time and we were fortunate enough to knock down some shots tonight. An interview with: COACH MIKE BROWN: I thought our guys, they fought, they gave effort, but we did not make enough plays, especially down the stretch, to win the ballgame. I thought LeBron did a terrific job driving the ball, and he had a couple go in and out that could have really helped us with the outcome of the game. During the course of the ballgame, one thing that we did do, we shot a lot of threes versus their hard close-outs. I thought we could have driven the ball a little bit more because that was a huge difference in the game. Both teams shot 19, they made 10, we made three. Other than that, just about every other category, I thought statistically we played okay. Q. How frustrating is it to give a better effort, the home crowd, everything going on, clearly more energy than the two games in San Antonio, and yet again, you mentioned the three-point shots, 3-of-19 shooting, anything you would have done differently, tried to drive more, anything else? COACH MIKE BROWN: No, we kept saying that in the huddle. We kept saying, "Drive the ball, drive the ball, drive the ball, drive the ball," and our guys felt like they were open. I don't ever want to tell a guy not to shoot if he feels like he's open because that's putting restrictions on guys that they shouldn't have. But I've said it all along, they're a great team when it comes to closing out against shooters and against people -- they know personnel very well. We just have to be disciplined enough to continue to drive, continue to see if we can get to the free-throw line. It's as simple as that. Q. Do you think that one of the main differences between this series and the series against COACH MIKE BROWN: Yeah, they are going -- they're contained picking and blitzing pick-and-rolls. Sometimes they're going underneath and he's open coming off. During the last series that was something he did often, was knock that jump shot down, which meant it was harder for them to defend him in pick-and-roll situations because they had to play up on him a little bit tighter. Now they're playing on him tighter and he's getting around them because they've got to respect that jump shot. They've been doing a nice job in mixing up their defenses in pick-and-roll situations, and he hasn't shot the ball as well in this series as he did last series from the perimeter. Q. Talk about when Drew fouled out and you made the choice to put Boobie in instead of maybe going to big Z. He was having a good night tonight. COACH MIKE BROWN: He was, but what was happening, they were playing little pick-and-roll with him and Tony and they were generating points and baskets with he and Tony going against Z playing middle pick-and-roll. I thought we needed to get some stops at that time. We needed to get some stops, and I knew LeBron was in attack mode, so I felt we would be able to score as long as we got stops. So I just tried to go with a line-up where we could switch pick-and-rolls if they tried to run pick-and-rolls 1 through 4. And if we try to run pick-and-roll with Tim you've got a guy like Andy with good feet that can jump out there and blitz the ball if we need the blitz or show if we need the show. Q. 72-70, with 16 seconds left, you have the ball, a couple of timeouts in your pocket, you elect not to call a time-out to set up a play there. The thought process on that? COACH MIKE BROWN: (Laughing) I mean, if you were sitting on press row, as soon as we got the rebound I started yelling my behind off, time-out. I'm more tired from yelling time-out 18 times in a row than from the game. I was yelling, "Time-out, time-out, time-out." It was so loud in there none of my guys heard me, and I asked Bernie Fryer if he heard me, and he looked at me and said no. There was nothing I could do. There was 26, 27 seconds on the clock. I took a peek at that and as soon as I saw there was a three or four-second differential, I started hollering, and I hollered all the way up until Andy shot the ball. Q. How frustrating is that? You want it, you can't get it and it comes down to a bad shot by Andy there? COACH MIKE BROWN: That was tough. That was tough because it was something that I felt -- I knew what line-up I wanted on the floor at that time. I knew where the ball needed to be. It was frustrating not to be able to get that time-out during that time, but things happen. Q. Much has been made over your ties to COACH MIKE BROWN: No, we actually talked about him fouling. We actually talked about Bruce trying to foul LeBron, and LeBron said on the way out, "If he fouls me, I'm shooting it." We also talked about the possibility -- I think Brett Barry was guarding Damon Jones, that Brett would sprint over and double-team LeBron right away. We wanted Damon to hit LeBron, step in and be able to catch that ball in case they did do that. We got the ball to LeBron. I watched the replay, and that's not why we won or lost the game, but they did exactly what we were supposed to do or talked about in the huddle. Q. Gibson really struggled with his shooting tonight in a starting role after several games coming off the bench. Is this kind of indicative of why you have been reluctant to start Gibson as long as Hughes has been able to play, keep him in the line-up, keep the rotation the way it was and keep Gibson coming off the bench? COACH MIKE BROWN: Well, the team had a nice rhythm, starting Larry and bringing Daniel off the bench, and Daniel had a nice rhythm, also. That's why we wanted to keep it like that. Tonight I had a gut feel and I went with starting Daniel, and I thought he did some good things out on the floor. His shot didn't go down, but I thought he defended well. I thought he tried to run the team as best as he can, and there were some positives. It was good experience for him to start in a game like that and for our team, especially for the next time-out. An interview with: Q. How did you feel about what happened on the final play? LEBRON JAMES: On the three-pointer? We had to go for a three, we were down three points. You know, it went in and it came out. Q. To follow up, what about the push in the back from Bruce? LEBRON JAMES: No, incidental contact. Q. Excuse me? LEBRON JAMES: Incidental contact. It didn't affect my shot. I had a good look at it and I missed. Q. With about 15 seconds left you spun into Duncan, gave it to Varejao. Were you expecting to get it back on that play and make another move, or what was your thinking on that? LEBRON JAMES: Oh, absolutely. I had been aggressive in the fourth quarter. I was definitely going to get it back from Andy, but Andy made a good move. He just over-shot it. I definitely wanted to try to get a good look at it or give my teammate a better look at it, but it was just miscommunication. Q. Seventeen turnovers for you in the first three games. You're only shooting about 35 percent. Is it their defense that's causing this, or are you just having off nights? LEBRON JAMES: Well, tonight was definitely a couple. I didn't think that went my way. I had an offensive foul, but I didn't think that was a foul. Their defense was definitely good, and they're definitely making me work for everything I do. Q. Can you just talk about the situation you guys are down now, 3-0, and just what kind of mentality you have to have at this point? LEBRON JAMES: Well, everybody has to still believe. You know, it is the first of four games, but we dug ourselves a big hole, and we have to come out aggressive and just continue to play hard. We gave ourselves a chance to win tonight and that's all we can ask for. Q. Is it one of those things, don't listen to what history says? LEBRON JAMES: Absolutely. We can't live on history, but at the same time we have dug ourselves a big hole, and we know that. We have to come out and try to win four straight games. Q. Do you feel you've imposed your will on this series? It seemed a lot of times coming off the picks that it's there and you're still going left to right when you don't drive. Do you sense that at all in these three games? LEBRON JAMES: This is all about them. They played very good defense. They played elbows and boxes and if I'm coming off someone that's there and I have to swing the ball to a teammate or I come off a pick-and-roll and they're there again. It's all about me not trying to force anything and to try to go for it when I can. I did a good job of not forcing it tonight, got into the lane and missed a couple bunnies that rimmed in and rimmed out. Definitely I found some creases tonight. Q. How unexpected was Bruce Bowen's offensive play tonight? LEBRON JAMES: It was definitely good for them because Manu struggled, Tony struggled, and Tim Duncan didn't shoot the ball well from the field, so Bruce definitely kept them in the game in the first half hitting three big threes, and defensively he's very good. So he definitely helped them. Q. Coming off your Eastern Conference Finals experience, did you think that it would actually be this tough? Are you surprised? And I guess, how would you sum this up so far, your personal experience? LEBRON JAMES: I'm not surprised on how tough it is. I kind of envisioned it being tough. I think the Eastern Conference Finals was tough, and I knew it was going to pick up another level. I think our team senses that, also. You know, the experience factor, we don't like to make any excuse, but it definitely played a part in this Finals against a world power team in the Spurs. Q. Can you just talk about the discipline that the Spurs showed at the defensive end with you when you guys screen roll, post, repost, get the ball back to you at the top and there's still two guys shading you and another over the top? LEBRON JAMES: Definitely. I think Coach Pop and their defensive staff has put in a great defensive plan against me. Any little crease I find they're still having guys coming over me, and if I do finish they make me finish over bodies. I really expect that and I love the challenge. It's fun going out there and seeing different defenses and trying a pick here and a pick there. You've got to give all the props to the Spurs and all the props to Coach Pop and his staff. They've done so far a wonderful job. Q: What happened tonight? Gibson: It's kind of hard to explain. We haven't really had time to really let it set in and look over film and really see what went wrong. We just weren't making shots and I'll give them a lot of credit ... they came in and won the game. Q: When did you find out you were going to start? Gibson: A little bit before the game. Q: What was the overall feeling walking back [to the locker room] tonight after the game? Gibson: Not a good one. It's a really bad taste in our mouth. It felt like tonight, in front of our home crowd, we were going to have an opportunity to give get back into this series but we let them get another leg up. But the series still isn't over until somebody wins four. Q: Why so many three-point attempts? The whole team obviously struggled tonight on that ... Gibson: I think we felt we might have had a couple of good looks. But I definitely thought we could have drove the ball a bit more ... as long as we step in and try to shoot them with confidence. Q: How damaging was that stretch were you had [at least] five opportunities to cut it to two? Gibson: It was a tough stretch for us. We fought hard to get in a position were we could win the game and then a couple shots didn't fall for us, but there were a lot of other things that led up to that series where things could have been a lot different at the end of the game. Q: Do you think the fact that you started tonight threw you off your game a bit? Gibson: No, I wouldn't say that. I just felt, you know, I didn't make shots. I was comfortable shooting the ball, I was comfortable out there playing with the starting lineup ... [the shots] just didn't go down for me. Q: If I would have told you Parker and Ginobili would have had as bad a game as they did and you would still lose, would you believe me? Gibson: Yeah, it would definitely be a surprise. We got a lot better defensively. In order to win, you've got to score points. Q: What more can you do at this point? Gibson: We played a nice game defensively. We did a lot of good things on the defensive end, so if we can correct some of the things we didn't do well on offensive -- make a couple of shots -- maybe that game turns out a little different. Marshall: ... We still got the basket, we got good shots. We didn't make them and I think that's the part that's frustrating ... it would have been different if we didn't get good looks ... we got good shots. I think LeBron [James] missed two or three lay-ups that rolled on the rim and rolled out. I think that's the thing that's most frustrating. Q: Where do you go from here? Marshall: Try to win a game, the only place we can go from here. Try to win a game. I don't know how you want me to answer that question. We need to try to win a game. That's the next thing we have to do; that's the only thing we can do. Q: Are you frustrated right now? Marshall: If you were down 3-0 right now in The Finals, you'd be frustrated, too. Of course we're frustrated. We didn't work this hard to get here to be down 3-0. Q: What was the prevailing feeling as you guys walked back to the locker room after the game? Marshall: Obviously it was frustration; it was difficult. In the first two games we got hurt by the "Big Three." Today we felt we did a good job. I think Manu [Ginobili] only had three points. I think Tony [Parker] had only 14 or 15 and I don't know what Tim had, but we kept saying they were hurting us and tonight we did a good job and then we can't make shots. It's one of those things where you're searching for a different way to win. I think we were ... [like], "Stop the Big Three, stop the Big Three," and we did that tonight and we still didn't come away with the win. So now we have a day to find out something new to try to go ahead and get a win. Q: How do you summon that sense of urgency down 3-0? Marshall: I think after each loss [these games] get more and more difficult. Obviously they were difficult in San Antonio ... you lose and you've got to stay there ... I think that for this city to wait so long for us to get to The Finals, and to come here and go down 3-0, I think that's the thing that's frustrating and I think this city deserves more. Now I think that's what's making it so hard right now. I think the city is going to love us and embrace us, but we don't want them to just love us and embrace just for getting here. We want to give them some more. If we're going to go down, go down fighting and let the city stand for something ... let the city remember this run. |
