|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 13, 2012Scott BrooksOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Practice Day Q. Battier's early success, Chalmers' early success, were guys just hedging off them too far? What was the reasoning or the cause of that? COACH BROOKS: Well, we have to definitely do a better job of contesting those shots, but we also have to‑‑ it's a tough situation because you always have to focus on Miami really attacking the basket, getting to the paint. But we were a second too late on those close‑outs. We have to do a better job. We don't want to give guys wide‑open threes. I would say three or four of them were wide open, a handful or two or three were just a second late, and then they made the shots. You have to give them credit for stepping up and making those shots. But we definitely don't want to give up wide‑open looks. Q. You had a fresh Thabo Sefolosha to put on LeBron late. Was that inspiration in the plan all along, or is that something you just kind of‑‑ pardon me for asking, but stumbled upon? COACH BROOKS: No, you coach the game as you see it. We have some very good defenders and we have guys that can guard multiple positions, and Thabo can guard one, two and threes, as you saw in the last series, he can guard the point guard and one of the best point guards in the game, but he can guard ones, twos, and threes. Kevin will guard ones, twos, and some threes and that's a good luxury to have, and throughout the game we can switch them off on different players. Thabo is one of the premier defenders in the league. He has the defensive toughness, he has the mindset to be a great defender, and he does it every possession. He will guard Wade, he will guard LeBron, and at times he will guard their point guard. But I thought he did a great job. It's not an easy cover to guard him, but he did a good job not allowing him a lot of easy looks. Q. All season long you've said you guys define your worth by your work. What did you guys see from your guys today in practice and what they brought after last night's game? COACH BROOKS: Well, we had a film session just to clean up some things that we feel that we need to do going into tomorrow night's game, and we looked at some of the things that we did well, and we looked at what they did. But that's always been our philosophy is just coming in, doing our work, trying to get better little by little, and we still have a chance to do that. Even in a playoff series we can do that. We did it all Playoffs long, and we still want to keep working on things, adjustments that we have to do. And then we came in on the floor and just worked on passing and moving the basketball and just moving around and getting shots. Q. When you look at LeBron and Wade, they talked a lot about the struggles they've had in terms of who's going to defer and who's going to take over. When you look at your team, you have two guys that have the ability to score at will, but how have they been able to balance who's going to take over and who's going to do what at certain times in the game, and why is it working with these guys? COACH BROOKS: We just talk about things that are important to us. It's always about making the right play. There's going to be many opportunities that Kevin and Russell and James and other guys have to step up and score, but it's always about making the right play. If you think you can score and that's all you're thinking, you're thinking the wrong things. You've got to think of making the right play for your team. Those two have an amazing ability to get where they want to get and shoot over the defense, but they also have done a very good job of finding open looks for other guys. It's never been about one or two guys. It's always been how we can score and how we can stop them from scoring. But hopefully we continue that. It's our belief, it's our philosophy, it's what we work on, it's what we talk about, and we do it every day and we talk about it at halftime, talk about it in time‑out. It's just trying to find great shots for our team. The game always ends up the best players are always going to get the most shots, and that's always been the case since the game has started, and it's not going to change. But just because you're the best player doesn't mean you always have to have the shot. You have to find your teammates, and I think Russell and Kevin, they do a great job with that. Q. What were you guys able to do to limit Dwyane Wade in the first three quarters of the game? COACH BROOKS: We just play. We just played hard basketball. We do our best every possession. You're talking to one of the best twos in the league, LeBron and Bosh, they're some of the best players at their positions. We're not going to totally stop them from scoring and getting where they want to get, but we just want to make it tough. We don't want to give them any easy lay‑ups in the transition. We don't want to put them on the free‑throw line, and I thought we did a decent job as a team not putting them on the free‑throw line because they're a great free‑throw attempt team, and LeBron had a bunch last night. But we just played hard and tried to stay between the basket and your man and make them shoot over the top. Q. And what did you take away from how Doc in the Eastern Conference Finals defended Dwyane, if anything? They chose to go ahead and double Dwyane and limit him. COACH BROOKS: I mean, we definitely watched their games in their last few series, but we have a philosophy in what we do, and we're not going to change it up in its entirety. We're going to stick with what we do and try to do that very well, and if it doesn't work we have some options and we have some different counters that we can do. But our guys‑‑ we have a system, and our system is based off of effort and it's based off of team work, and if that doesn't work, there's really not much to go to. We have some schemes that we do, but it's always based off of effort and team work. Q. Some clarification on a previous question: Did you save Thabo for the fourth quarter on LeBron, or is that just something you just felt by the time the fourth quarter arrived? COACH BROOKS: That wasn't ‑‑ like going into the game that wasn't the game plan, put Thabo on him in the fourth quarter. But that was the game plan, to put him on him throughout the game. And I thought Kevin did a good job as best as he can against LeBron of guarding him. But I think when you're talking about a great player, you have to throw multiple players at him. I think they get kind of used to one player, and I thought LeBron is going to score and he's going to make plays for his team, but I think Thabo did a good job of really getting into him and playing him as hard as he can. But I thought we did a pretty good job as a team. He's a terrific player, and he gets to the paint, he had four opportunities that he drove to the basket and got to the basket where he wanted and how he wanted it. But it wasn't the game plan, okay, fourth quarter starts and Thabo is going to guard him, but it is the game plan, Thabo will guard him. And going forward that's what we've always done. Q. What problems do those cross match‑ups create? And was that part of the reason to get some of those open threes, when you're cross matched like that? COACH BROOKS: We weren't worried about who was guarding who on their side. We have a game plan, and we stick to it. They're not a big three‑point shooting team. They made six out of 20 in the Playoffs, or six and a half. But they don't take a lot. But we want to stop them from getting lay‑ups, and we want to stop them from getting deep paint points and the free‑throw line. If they hit some threes, we're going to live with something. They're a good team. They're going to make great decisions and great‑‑ they put you in a tough position because you've got to stop something. You can't stop it all, but we definitely want to do a better job of closing it out to their shooters, and we hope to do that tomorrow night. But the cross match‑ups, we guard whoever we have to guard and stick with it. But we have multiple defenders that we can match up with different guys, but I don't think that affected us guarding the three. I think we got caught up three times in transition that we weren't guarding anybody, and it was just bad effort, and hopefully we can clean those things up. Q. A couple questions about Kevin: When you said you had to tell him at one point in the game last night to be more aggressive, is that something that has to happen very often with him? And when he said after the game he was going to look for ways to be better in Game 2, what was he going to find? COACH BROOKS: It doesn't happen often, but there's times in the game‑‑ I talked to all of our guys. I like aggressive plays, I like guys attacking. I don't like to play‑‑ I like guys going after it and living with the results. I don't like to go into the next day, I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have done that, and for guys thinking I didn't do my job. I like Kevin being aggressive; I love Russell being aggressive. If you've got open shots, you've got to take it. If you've got a drive it, you've got to drive it. If you've got a pass it, you've got to pass it. Simple philosophy, but it's always about being aggressive and aggressive not only for yourself but for your teammates. But I thought Kevin at that point needed to be more attack mode for himself. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|