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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 27, 2012Scott BrooksSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game One Oklahoma City Thunder 97 Q.  Coach, you guys went small a lot tonight. Can you evaluate your team's performance when you did go small? Do you think you did better than your normal lineup? They matched you in the fourth quarter going small. Do you think that helped them? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I thought it was a hard‑fought ballgame. Nothing to be ashamed of. I thought our guys competed. I thought both teams played as hard as they can. We knew that going into the game, we knew both teams are going to play with a lot of energy and effort. I thought in the fourth quarter they made some shots. A lot of it to do with they are great players. Ginobili is a fantastic player. He finishes around the basket. He was making his threes. He's played a lot of big ballgames. And tonight was a big game for him. I thought in the fourth quarter we gave too many opportunities into the paint. They got 50 paint points throughout the game. But I thought defensively in the fourth quarter, we take a lot of pride in our defense in the fourth quarter, we gave up 39 points. Six of those I think were intentional fouls at the end. Over 30 points in the fourth quarter is not good enough to win. Q. Coach, obviously a tough loss. Do you like the way your young team fought and stuck with it in a tough road environment? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: We knew going into this game that they were going to play their style of game. They're a very good basketball team. They're playing the best basketball in the league. And we were right there. I thought in the fourth quarter we were playing really good ball, aggressive on both ends of the floor, keeping them out of the paint and getting a lot of good looks. It's a great place to play. It's a great crowd. Great support. Both teams have that. Both teams are going to continue to play hard. In the fourth quarter our offense got a little stagnant. We were trying too much one‑on‑one. That's things we need to look at tomorrow as a group, and try to get better from it. But we know going into this game that they're a great defensive team. They give a lot of credit for their offense, how they play, but they're a great defensive team. They do a good job at making you take tough stops. Q. You talked about the stagnant offense in the fourth quarter. What was San Antonio do to particularly take Kevin out of his rhythm? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Well, they were getting into him. There's no question. They were making him‑‑ they were making him get off of our spots. Offensively we have sets that we have to run. We have to run with good energy and we have to set screens and execute. They did a good job of knocking us off of our spots. We have to do a good job of not allowing that to happen. It's a combination of everybody involved. It's a five‑man offense. We didn't do a good job to start. Then we regrouped a little bit, and then we didn't do a good job at the end of that fourth quarter. That's something we'll have to make an adjustment. We know they're going to play good defense throughout the game, and they know we're going to play good defense throughout the game. They made some big shots in the fourth quarter and we didn't. Q. Why has James struggled with his field goal percentage, last series and then again tonight. What's going on with him? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I think there's going to be times in every series or every game that you're going to have a guy struggle here or there. James has been good for us all year, and we believe in him, I believe in him, our team believes in him. He's going to make some shots. He made some shots at the end. Hopefully that gives him some confidence going into Tuesday night's game. But we all know what James does for our team. He's a terrific play‑maker. His ability to get to the basket. He didn't get to the line tonight early, and I think that frustrated him a little bit. He's an aggressive player. He has to continue to attack, get to the rim and hopefully get to the foul line. Q. Scott, the first five minutes of the first quarter I don't think Durant took a shot. What do you think is going through Westbrook, and in that case Harden's head, five minutes come and go and Durant didn't score or get a shot? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: That's something we have to look at tomorrow. We will discuss it and see what happened. Obviously Kevin is a big part of what we do offensively, but he's not the only option we have. I think there's a combination: We were getting knocked off of our spots, and we were taking some tough shots. Like I said, we'll figure that out. We've always done that as a group, and we'll continue. We were moving the ball very well throughout that game. And in the fourth quarter I thought they got a little stagnant. Q. Scott, the defense was really good in the third quarter for you guys. In the fourth was that as good a defense as you've had in the past to the worst you've played in a quarter's time? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: That was not a good finishing quarter. There's no question. We pride ourselves on defense, and giving up over 30 points in the fourth quarter home or on the road doesn't matter, we should not give up 30 points. That's not how we play. Hasn't happened a lot to us this season. We know going into this game that they are a very explosive offensive team. We are 1 and 2 in the league in scoring. Right there, 1, 2 or 3. We have to do a better job. Ginobili was terrific tonight, guys. He was making shots, making threes, getting to the basket, getting to the foul line. That's what he does. He finds cracks you don't think it's even possible. He figures it out to get in there and get through to our guys. We have to do a better job of corralling him, making him shoot tougher shots. Q. They took a couple of charges in the fourth quarter. What effect did that have on their psyche? COACH SCOTT BROOKS: I thought they did a good job. That's what good teams do, step up and take charges. I think they had three or four. Kevin had one, James had a couple. Russell had one. That's what good defensive teams do. We had a couple of opportunities to do it ourself, and we did not do it. But one play, two plays did not lose this game. I thought a combination of a few things or three or four things in that fourth quarter kind of let the game slip away from us. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Scott. COACH SCOTT BROOKS: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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