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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS v PISTONS

May 27, 2007

Mike Brown

CLEVELAND, OHIO: Game Three

Q. Can you give us a sense in terms of how big this game is for LeBron? He was out taking shots earlier today, something he normally doesn't do on game days. Do you get a sense that this game is bigger than most for him?
COACH BROWN: You know, somebody told me when I was walking in, he had come in and was taking shots earlier. You know, he's done that before. I know he feels it's a big game, but he's taken the first bus over at times before, he's come in and got shots early before, so it's a big game but he's done that before.

Q. He said he had never shot before the game.
COACH BROWN: Well, I know he's taken the early bus or the first bus over a couple times before when we've been on the road. I guess he just takes it over and does something else. I don't know what my players do.

Q. Is there anything you feel you can do differently regarding the wall of defenders that LeBron James is seeing every time he has the ball?
COACH BROWN: Yeah, you know, we're going to have to make shots. It's similar to the New Jersey series. He saw a wall of defenders the entire series, and especially in the fourth game that we won, you know, in that fourth quarter, but we made shots. Donyell made shots, Daniel Gibson made shots, and those shots are going to be available. And in order for him to have driving lanes or driving seams, guys are going to have to make shots. We're going to have to try to continue to do a better job of moving him around, putting him on the post, putting him in the middle of the floor, bringing him off of screens, and like I said, the bottom line is the other guys are going to have to step up.

Q. Can you talk about being home and how that can help maybe Larry and Drew maybe break out of their offensive funks and give you more on the offensive end, just being at home, how that's going to help.
COACH BROWN: Do I think it's going to help them?

Q. Yeah.
COACH BROWN: It could. You know, I don't know. You know, I know for Drew, the biggest thing I need him to do is to rebound and defend and bring his energy, and beyond that, if he scores, great, but I really need him to be a presence down there on the boards and defensively and energy-wise. Larry has got to step up and shoot that ball when it's open. Every once in a while if he feels like he can go make a play, go make a play.
But I have the utmost confidence in those guys, and those guys helped get us here so I'm going to continue to go with them. Maybe the added juice from the crowd may not only help those two guys, but may help us with a few extra plays we may need in order to beat this team.

Q. As a coaching staff, how much focus have you guys put on the third quarters of this series and what have you seen?
COACH BROWN: What we saw in the third quarters is just the Pistons just turning it up a notch. They already have been playing at a high level, and they feel that at the beginning of the third quarter, especially in a tight ballgame, that they've got to do something different. They've got to do something different than what they were doing in the first half. And that doesn't necessarily mean run this play or that play or go to this guy and that guy because their guys are getting looks.
But in their mind the only way to step it up a notch, which is the right way, is defensively. They've done it the entire playoffs. They've come out against Orlando, they've come out against a very good team in Chicago who was up 20-something, and come back and beat them.
The only thing we can do as a staff, we can keep talking to our guys like we have. We can call time-outs if it starts to happen and just continue to learn and grow from it and not allow them to be aggressors, which they have been the last two games of the third quarter, not only defensively but offensively, too.

Q. Kind of piggy-backing on both of those last answers, how big do you think playing at home will help in the third quarter to kind of stem that tide?
COACH BROWN: You know, hopefully it'll help a lot. You know, against New Jersey we played at home and they came out and they kicked our behind in the third quarter, I think in the second game they won or something like that.
You know, the crowd hopefully will help us, will bring some juice. But we've got to make sure that we're focused when we go out on that floor and we don't allow the opposing team to be the aggressors on both ends of the floor.

Q. LeBron just categorized this as he said, "It's probably the biggest game of my life." What about you? How would you categorize it for you?
COACH BROWN: It's a big game. I was fortunate enough to be part of a championship team in San Antonio in 2003, and I don't think it gets any bigger than playing in The Finals. This is nice, and we hope to continue on, but this game is big for us because obviously if we lose we go down 0-3, but it's great for him. It's great he feels that way, and I think with this being the furthest that he's gone, I can understand why he feels that.

Q. You've tended to use a lot of timeouts obviously to stop runs when they've got on runs and haven't always had them at the end of the game, is that something you'd want to do differently, or is stopping those runs something that's more important?
COACH BROWN: I hate doing it. You can ask anybody that knows me really well, I'm a firm believer in trying to carry your three timeouts in the last two minutes of the ballgame. But that team is so good in terms of the Pistons, and the crowd was really into it and giving them juice and energy, that I felt it was necessary to do it.
Usually I'm the opposite. Usually I'll let it ride, knowing that sooner or later we'll catch our breath, they'll slow down a little bit. We may be down five or whatever, but it's a 48-minute game. It's not won or lost in the third quarter. I didn't want it to get away from it. That's why I did it. I may do it again tonight, knock on wood, if it happens. Hopefully it doesn't happen and hopefully I can carry my timeouts in the last two minutes.

Q. Are you going to make a concerted effort to get Z more than six shots?
COACH BROWN: Yeah, he played well for us in Game 1. He had some decent looks in Game 2 that just didn't go down. He had a point-blank lay-up at the rim. He had another one where we set a cross screen and he got it right at the rim and the ball just fell out of his hands. Then he had another one which was a jump hook and he was two feet away from the goal. Hopefully tonight those will turn into baskets as opposed to misses.
But yeah, we'd love to get him more shots, get him a little bit more involved because he did help us big time in
End of FastScripts

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