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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: JAZZ v SPURSMay 22, 2007Gregg PopovichSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Two Q. What percentage of your adjustments revolved around Deron Williams? GREGG POPOVICH: An exact percentage? Q. Approximate would be fine. GREGG POPOVICH: I am just a coach. I don't do percentages. Well, Deron Williams is a fantastic player and he hurt us in a variety of ways and I think overall our team has to do a better job. We don't have one individual who is going to stop him, but our team defense in several different situations has to be better if we are going to be more successful against him. Q. Coach, do you suspect they may try to use Carlos on Tim a little bit more instead of Mehmet going on him? GREGG POPOVICH: You are going to have to ask Coach Sloan that question. I don't know what they are planning to do. You try to anticipate a lot of things but usually it is a waste of time. What happens is the game comes and whatever shows itself during the game, one tries to make adjustments at that point. If someone else guards Tim, then someone else guards Tim. I can't ask Coach Sloan to put on Tim who I would like so Tim will have to do his best against whoever guards him. Q. You talked about their rebounding and how it has hurt you. In spite of the win, they did out rebound you. What do they do so effectively that gives them that edge? GREGG POPOVICH: I think some of their players have a natural proclivity for rebounding. But most of all it just takes focus and a desire. I think they sort of mirror what Coach Sloan demands, I think, in that regard and they pursue the basketball. And it is not just their big guys. Their 2s and 3s pursue the basketball maybe better than any 2s and 3 players in the league. They are relentless in that area. They are rugged guys who know that's a strength and they try to accentuate it. Q. I overheard in one of the timeouts in Game 1 that you said to Tony, "You need to focus more. You are not there yet, trust me, you are not there yet." GREGG POPOVICH: I thought that was private what we did in the timeouts. I will have to make sure when I see you there, I stand somewhat in front of you. Q. I never reveal strategy. How could you tell he wasn't focused yet and when -- if and when did he become focused? GREGG POPOVICH: I think with Tony, I know he is totally focused when he is playing defense, when he is picking up the court and really doing a job defensively, which he is very capable of doing. Secondly, when he stops being aggressive and just brings the ball up slowly and passively just throws it to someone and then is uninvolved for the rest of that possession, I know that he needs to focus a little bit more on getting his aggressiveness back at both ends of the court. Q. In that regard, do we expect to see Tony start on Deron? You started him on Steve Nash in one of the games in the Phoenix series and I think it was to get his focus strictly on playing defense and getting into the game. GREGG POPOVICH: You are exactly right. That's what we did for that particular game in Phoenix for that particular reason. It is something that we might do again. Q. Did you have the sense this morning that the day off did your guys a lot of good? GREGG POPOVICH: I don't know how to gauge that. I just know that we needed to have that day, so we did it. End of FastScripts |
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