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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS VS SPURS

May 20, 2017

Mike Brown

Oakland, California - Pregame

Q. Coach, any bus issues today?
COACH BROWN: No, all good (laughing).

Q. Mike, decided who is going to start?
COACH BROWN: We're talking about JaVale [McGee], but that could change. It's most likely JaVale.

Q. That could change?
COACH BROWN: Well, the reality of it is let's say they start Jonathon Simmons and they start four guards, then we probably won't start with JaVale. You know what I'm saying? So we're leaning towards JaVale. Not that we're trying to keep a secret from you guys, but we don't know what they're going to do.

Q. Pop didn't tell you?
COACH BROWN: No, he did not (laughing).

Q. How's Andre [Iguodala], what is his status?
COACH BROWN: He's going to play, yeah.

Q. No restrictions or anything?
COACH BROWN: No.

Q. To a certain extent, is it upsetting that Kawhi's missing so much of the series? Does it almost feel like not a fair fight to a certain extent?
COACH BROWN: Oh, I never looked at it that way. You wish everybody was healthy, you know. You can't really equate it. But I know in our first round K.D. missed two or three games, and I wish he was healthy then. I wish Zaza was healthy tonight, and, again, I'm not trying to compare those guys to Kawhi. It's just, it is what it is. I never thought of it like that.

Q. You guys kept JaVale on that five- or six-minute run. Can that be extended, or are you still going to keep that even in the starting lineup?
COACH BROWN: I think I extended him maybe in the Portland series. Might be the Portland series I think I extended him one quarter maybe, eight, nine minutes, if not a little longer. But if he's playing well, and I think he can go, I'll extend him. But he plays so hard and he does a lot for a big, long, athletic guy that usually that five- to six-minute mark is a nice run for him. Like I said, if he's rolling, I may keep him out there.

Q. Are you expecting to see a very different LaMarcus Aldridge in this series tonight?
COACH BROWN: Yeah, we imagine he's going to be very aggressive. Pop challenged him in the last game, and even LaMarcus came out and said some things that he needed to be more aggressive. You know, they're down 0-2. So I think that he probably feels a little bit of the burden that he needs to take upon himself tonight in terms of being aggressive and getting them going.

Q. Zaza was probably on track to be booed here tonight like he's never been booed before. Did that weigh your decision at all, or was it purely physical?
COACH BROWN: No, we decided to sit him out so he wouldn't get booed (laughing). No, no. If he could have played, we definitely would have played him. No doubt about it. He's played very well for us. He's helped us, and he's been in the league long enough. We've all been booed, you know? So if he could have gone, he definitely would have gone tonight.

Q. Coach, overall in the Playoffs this year, a lot of players are going down to injuries and the series dynamic has changed because of that. Is this something that you've seen? Would you consider this a typical postseason run for most teams, or do you think this is a little bit more extreme?
COACH BROWN: That's a good question. The ironic part about it, when I was here as an assistant, after my first year in 2000-2001, or after that year I think it was, I'll never forget Pop said: In today's game -- and this was a while ago -- in today's game you need three, quote/unquote, superstars and a perennial All-Star to be able to win the Playoffs.

I believe he said that because some of it had to do with him feeling that, hey, if somebody goes down or if one guy has a bad stretch of three or four games, you need at least two other guys to be able to carry the load, because teams were so good defensively and the technology's gotten better in terms of scouting teams and all the other stuff that it's hard for one guy to be able to carry a team, especially offensively, deep into the Playoffs.

So having said that, is it different from past years? I'm not sure about the injury bug, if it's different than in past years, but we all know because of it, especially, you need more than one guy. For us, it was evident with K.D. going out in our Portland series.

Q. Coach, I think Curry is about three points shy away from breaking Rick Barry's franchise record for points scored in the Playoffs. What's that say not just about him as a player, but what this team has been able to do in the past few years?
COACH BROWN: Obviously it says that the teams had a lot of success in the postseason because he's got to play games in order to be able to score points. So to know that he's close to that record means that he's probably had a lot to do with it, helping him win games.

He's been phenomenal for us offensively. But I tell you, defensively, too, he's been really good for us defensively. You know, we need him to continue to be locked in on that end of the floor, because a lot of times he's the head of a snake on our defense. Then he's been really good taking care of the basketball too. So scoring the points is huge. Hitting big shots is huge, and he's been doing that for years and it says a lot for the organization, for him, and the team, where they are right now, where we are right now.

But I like the other areas he's playing great in to. It means a lot for this group when he does well in those areas.

Q. When you came to the team initially, was there anything about the organization's approach that struck you as unique or unusual? Anything they hadn't seen before?
COACH BROWN: There are a few things. The way Steve [Kerr] and Bob [Myers] operate, it's not necessarily unique because there are some things that you feel in San Antonio, too, and when I was here. I mean, everybody has a voice. The one thing that was extremely unique that took me a little -- hard to kind of understand and feel the right way is how loose it is here. It's extremely loose, but in a good way, and it fits the group of players. The more loose your organization is or your team is, that's more ownership you're giving your group. And Steve gives this group a ton of ownership, and these guys handle it very well.

Probably if there's one thing, the looseness is probably something that's unique that I've experienced here and not really anyplace else.

Q. I know you spent some time here. But do you think that -- obviously no player like Kawhi would ever want to sit out a game like this. But do you think because of the track record the Spurs had in terms of being able to manage their guys and do what's best for them in the long-term allows a guy to accept a little more when he's told by a guy like Pop, look, it's better for you long-term to miss a game like this?
COACH BROWN: I think if Pop tells any guy anything, he's going to listen (laughing). Doesn't matter what it is. Long-term, short-term, mid-term, he's going to listen. That part is correct. Tim [Duncan] was injured back in the day and he probably could have played, but Pop wanted him to sit out, not just for that year, but long-term, and it's paid off. I mean, he played forever, and I think that was part of the reason is because of how well Pop helped him take care of his body.

Q. You mentioned Steph's defense. Did that follow any conversation that you or Ron [Adams] had with him going into the Playoffs, or did he just take it upon himself to be more aggressive at that end of the floor?
COACH BROWN: I think not a conversation for me, but I think a combination of Steph deciding that he would lock in a little bit more on that end of the floor. He works with Q-dog or Bruce [Fraser] all the time. Bruce is in his ear. Coach Adams is in his ear all the time, too. And you've got to give Steve credit, too, because he's been preaching the right things to Steph. It's just a matter of time, and Steph maturing and wanting to do it more often than not, and it shows in his play.

Q. Have you found these Playoffs lacking in entertainment value and hard to watch?
COACH BROWN: No, to me it's entertaining, but I don't know if people -- you have to be the judge of it.

Q. So many blowouts?
COACH BROWN: Yeah, there are blowouts, but there are good games too. I don't know. I like basketball in general, especially this time of the year. Obviously you'd like to see games going into double and triple overtime, but, I mean, it is what it is. Teams will figure it out as they go along, and that's part of the reason why this is a seven-game series as opposed to one-and-done or even a three-game series that give groups the opportunity to bounce back from losses.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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