May 17, 2005
SONICS COACH 
NATE MCMILLAN:
On Manu Ginobili's 39 points:
We knew they would both be aggressive, both Ginobili and
(Tony) Parker, tonight trying to get to the basket. That’s where they had their success and he did tonight. We didn’t do a good job of working together, defending there pick and roll. Too many times, he got into the paint and got to the free-throw line, 17 times. So when he wasn’t scoring he was getting to the free-throw line. A couple of times, we kept him out and then he knocked down a 3. If we had to give up anything, a contested perimeter shot is what we wanted them to take. The first five minutes of the first and the last five minutes of the first, the first five minutes of the third and the last five minutes of the third we dug ourselves into holes. They jumped right on us right from them start and basically took control of the game and never allowed us to get back into it.
On the Sonics hard fouls:
Emotions happen and a couple of times our guys went to the basket and you don’t want a lot of these guys to get the shot off. You don’t want to go across the head, but you don’t want to allow them to get it off and you put them on the free-throw line. You just don’t give up layups this time of the season.
GUARD 
RAY ALLEN:
On home-court advantage in this series:
Part of home-court advantage is being able to be more aggressive. You can do that on your home floor. They were more aggressive offensively and defensively they made the stops they needed to. They helped each other out on the pick-and-roll and my opportunities for shots came in small little gaps. Some of them fell, some didn’t, but when my shots are not falling, that’s why I have teammates.
On the Spurs:
They just beat us tonight. We’re not going to say they are the better team just because they beat us tonight. We just have to go up there to Seattle, take care of our home court and then come back here and win one. Then we can say we are the better team.
On the feeling at halftime:
Tied up at 50 at the half, we felt good and they were probably nervous because of it. But then we couldn’t find any offensive rhythm. I mean only 17 assists, that's not a good job of sharing the basketball. That's not distributing.
GUARD 
ANTONIO DANIELS:
On the game:
We had our chances. We had a chance to win this game. We cut it to four in the fourth. They just made the shots they need down the stretch and we didn’t. Well, now we have to.
On Ginobili:
In our defensive gameplan, there are certain things we don’t want to give up. Ginobili was so aggressive, he took some of those things. 17 free throws shows how aggressive he was. Tonight he hit a couple of 3s early and that forces you to respect that shot. Then he just started lowering his head.
On slow starts to the first half:
We just got off to rough starts in the first and the third. That is one of the things headed in here that we really didn’t want to do. Then we just missed our shots and really failed to execute our defensive game plan. Now every game is a must win. This Game 6 is going to test our character, our heart, and our camaraderie.
SAN ANTONIO COACH GREGG POPOVICH:
On the game:
Obviously it was a good win, but every playoff game is a good win.
On Nazr Mohammed's performance:
He played a great game for us tonight. He found the spots that were left open. He got to the right spots tonight to receive the ball and distribute the ball. He was aggressive on the offensive and defensive ends which was important for us.
On starting Ginobili:
It was a variety of things, but not things to talk about too much. It was time.
On the Spurs defense:
All in all, the defense was better. We had one bad quarter - the second quarter, I think. Bruce Bowen did a good job, as good as you can against a player like Ray Allen. He got away from us in Seattle. Manu, Bruce and Nazr were aggressive. They led the way for us.
On the team feeding off of Manu:
(We fed off him) the same way they feed off Ray Allen in Seattle or Kevin Garnett in Minnesota. The best players play with a lot of heart and will and they bring everybody else with them. Manu does that every night.
GUARD MANU GINOBILI:
On hitting shots early:
It’s important for me to make a couple of 3s. It opens it up for me and makes it a lot easier to penetrate. It turned out to be easy for me because in the first quarter I hit a couple of 3s and it made it easy for me.
On whether starting made a difference:
No, it doesn’t matter. I was just concerned about bringing a lot of energy and it didn’t matter whether I started or it came six minutes into the game.
On Mohammed:
It was big because they were worried about me. He did a great job of getting inside and creating space and room inside and finishing at the basket and on the boards.
On Parker's birthday:
I didn’t find out it was his birthday until after the game. He shouldn’t care. He played bad, but we won, so he should be ok.
On his aggressiveness:
That’s how I play. I know it was important to be aggressive and be contagious and show the crowd that we where here.
FORWARD TIM DUNCAN:
On Mohammed's performance:
He had a great game. We talked to him about finding spots and taking more shots and he did a great job of it tonight.
On Ginobili:
Manu was awesome tonight. He hit his shots and at the same time was unselfish. He took us over the hump tonight.
Manu gets in the zone and heads start turning. Then he is able to find teammates and play unselfishly.
On the third quarter:
The third quarter has been a nemesis for us. Tonight we did a good job of jumping on them and getting ahead in the third quarter.
On Parker:
Tony really wanted to have a good game tonight, but sometimes it doesn’t happen that way. I thought he did a good job of hitting shots down the stretch.
GUARD TONY PARKER:
On the game:
We played great defense tonight and we were great on the boards the entire way. Nazr and Manu both played great. It was just a really good team effort for us tonight. Hopefully we can keep that up when we go to Seattle.
CENTER NAZR MOHAMMED:
On his scoring:
They have been concentrating on Tim, and that is something you have to do when you go up against Tim. I have to give Manu a lot of credit for getting into the lane, threading the needle, drawing the defense and finding me.
On his style of play:
I am a complimentary type of player. I like it when we are out and running. It allows me to tip some balls and make some plays.
On responding to losses in Games 3 and 4:
We were disappointed we didn’t help Tim the way we needed to the other night. We were able to help out big time tonight.
FORWARD BRUCE BOWEN:
On the game:
It was important for us to get this win tonight. We were on a bit of a slide, losing Game 3 at the end of the game, and then getting beat in pretty bad in Game 4. We came in with an understanding that this is no slouch of a team and we had to be ready to play.
On preparing for Game 6:
It will take total focus and a total team effort to close it out in Seattle. We want to go there and close it out and not think that we can come back here and close it out at home.
2004-05 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive
