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NBA FINALS: SPURS v HEAT


June 19, 2013


Gregg Popovich


MIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q.  Pop, what concerns you more about your team, the physical recovery or the emotional recovery?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH:  You know, probably a little bit of both.  That was a tough loss.  But as long as we didn't play the game at midnight last night or 8:00 this morning, we ought to have time to recover and be fine.

Q.  Gregg, the last 28 seconds you took Tim out twice, both times the Heat got offensive rebounds that led to threes.  Can you explain the move‑‑
COACH GREGG POPOVICH:  It's not that simple.  That's not why they got the threes.  We were up five when they got their first three.  And so reading and switching makes sense just to take away the three.
But on an offensive rebound, it's one of the toughest things in the NBA, to pick up people.   And we had one guy who didn't pick up.  LeBron shot an air ball, when we were up five.  They got the rebound, they got it back to him and he knocked it down.
And then on the last possession we were switching at the three‑point line to take away the three, and Boris Diaw has a little more speed than Tim Duncan, so it makes sense to have him out there reading at the three‑point line.  Unfortunately we had two guys that went to LeBron and didn't switch with Bosh, and he went right to the hole.  He's the guy who got the rebound.
So it has nothing to do with Duncan.

Q.  After the game Manu said how devastating that was and no idea how we're going to bounce back from that.  Do you worry that even if a veteran guy feels that way, how much tougher it's going to be for the younger first‑time guys are?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH:  No, because that's how a competitor feels.  A competitor feels it deeply and really, really tough loss in that regard.  And I expect Manu to feel like that after the game.
But he'll be fine.

Q.  What did you make of how the Heat defended Danny Green so differently last night?  And is there something you can do differently with getting Green better shots?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH:  No, we don't call any plays for Danny Green.  Never have.

Q.  Pop, you've done a lot of things in your NBA career.  Coaching a Game 7 Finals on the road isn't one of them.  How do you look at that as a challenge?  And why do you think historically it's been so difficult for teams to win Finals Game 7s on the road?
COACH GREGG POPOVICH:  I don't really care what it's been like for anybody else at any time.  All I know is we have had a hell of a year, and we have an opportunity to win a championship tomorrow night.  That's all that matters.

Q.  Coach, were you under the impression you could substitute Duncan when they were reviewing the Ray Allen three?  There's been some conversation about that afterwards.
COACH GREGG POPOVICH:  No, I was upset because I wanted to take it out and go.  There were 5.whatever seconds left on the clock.  He just made it.  That's one of the great times when you can push the basketball against another team.  They don't want to foul.  The game is tied.  Oftentimes you'll see somebody go right to the hole.  Get a foul or get a lay‑up.  And that was taken away with the review.
I was told afterwards somebody threw something on the floor there also and they had to stop it for that.  I don't know if that's true or not.  But we wanted to take it and go.  And that's why I was upset.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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