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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND TWO: CLIPPERS v THUNDERMay 11, 2014Scott BrooksLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Four COACH BROOKS: I'll take questions. Q. Can you talk about how dominating Westbrook has been in the rebounding area and how surprising is it for you? COACH BROOKS: Well, I think Russell is one of the best rebounding guards in the league. We talk about rebounding as a committee, and we like that. We feel that our guards have to get in there and rebound. KD is a big‑time rebounder also from the three spot. Russell attacks both ends of the floor. You always have to pay attention to him. We like when he's aggressive. There's certain times he has to get back and not crash the offensive glass. But you have to guard him. When that shot goes up, if he has an open lane, we want him to get in there. He has a lot of athleticism and determination to get rebounds that you don't think he can get to. Q. Russ has been night and day different in the post‑season. What could you attribute that difference to? COACH BROOKS: I don't judge him from five‑game increments. I judge him from game to game. We expect all of our guys to play hard. That's first and foremost. I think he's done a good job with that. He hasn't played well every game, like every player in this league. But we judge him from every game. How hard did you play? We try to fix the problems that we can control. I think he's done a better job of not taking threes in transition. A lot of times when we were down, we were down in the last series, a couple times in double‑digits, and sometimes as players you want to make up the gamethree points at a time. Have the same concerns with KD. We feel we need to make up three points at a time. That's not good for us. We want to be able to attack and kick out the threes. Russell has done a great job of attacking, getting into the paint and finding threes for his team. Q. Scott, how much is Serge taking outside shots by design? Do you see him at the three‑point line as well? COACH BROOKS: We challenged him a couple years ago, Let's start taking some corner threes. He took a fair share of them last season. This season I think he's even taken more. I think as his career continues to develop, he will be a consistent corner three‑point shooter, maybe even get into the slot areas as his game continues to develop. He's one of the best midrange shooters. That's not a surprise to us. We want him taking 16‑, 17‑foot jump shots. When Russell and KD demand attention on their penetration, they always seem to find him. You have to close out to him. He can knock that down. I don't know how many he took last game, but he makes them. When he misses, you're surprised. That's definitely by design with our offense. He's another guy that has developed with our offensive skills. We've become a better passing team. But he's been a recipient of being a better passing team of finding spots and making those shots. Q. I don't know if this is coincidence or not, this team has not looked the same since Durant's MVP acceptance speech, which was a rare speech. Could you talk about that. Is there any correlation? Did they bond over that? COACH BROOKS: You know, that was something that was a little overlooked during that speech. I didn't get enough credit for being the speech writer (smiling). You have to acknowledge that on Mother's Day. Pretty important to me and my family (laughter). With Kevin, as we all know, you guys have known for a while now, he's a special young man, all the talents he has, the skill sets he has, the work ethic he has. Some of the greatest things he brings to our team is him being a great teammate. There's so many levels to that speech, obviously the impact that his mom and his family has had on him, the impact that he has on his teammates, his coaching staff, the staff in general, the city, the organization. He's just an incredible ambassador to the game. That speech was very emotional. I like to see things that are from the heart and not premeditated. Everything Kevin is about is from the heart. He's going to answer the questions how he feels, not what you want to hear. Just a great guy to coach. He's coachable. He's demanding on himself. He's self‑motivated. I don't have to motivate him often. He wants to be coached and he wants to be coached hard. Q. Are there one or two reasons why Serge's perimeter game has improved so much? Is it just a matter of confidence? COACH BROOKS: I think he deserves the credit for putting a lot of work in. He works with our staff. Serge, as every player, you have to put the time in. You have to come back every day and do the work. You can't be a sometimes workout guy. You can't only work out even days of the week. I think what he's done, two things have happened. He has improved and our team has improved. It's not like we didn't want to make the right plays at an early age. We were still learning how to make the right plays. Now our team is growing up and maturing. Kevin is 25, Russell is 25, Serge is 24. We have a group that's been together for four, five, six years. They understand where they need to be for each other. I think Serge has really developed that part of his game. Q. No dramatic change in his mechanics? COACH BROOKS: No. He's always had great mechanics. But obviously the repetition he's developed from that work ethic every day has made him a better player year by year. I think that's another thing that gets lost in the shuffle. We have really good players in Kevin and Russell, but Serge's development over the last four or five years has helped us be a better offensive moving team. We're still not where we want to be. We still at times put ourselves in some tough situations. But those have been smaller percentages of our game. We call those dead possessions, we don't have as many. Q. When you account for the amount of talent you have on the team, the veteran experience, where does Caron fit into that mix? COACH BROOKS: Well, he gives us another good player. I think particularly with this series, both teams are very talented. Both teams have a lot of good players. Let's face it, the whole league is talented. There's a lot of good teams and players in this league. What CB brings us, he brings us some confidence. He's been there before. He's made big shots. I thought his game last night, the three threes that he hit were a critical part of our win. They have some decisions to make who they put on him. Do they put a big, a perimeter guy on him? I thought he did a good job. He knows how to play. He knows where to be. He understands what Russell and Kevin bring to the table, their ability to demand double‑teams. With that being said, you have to know where to be, and he does a good job of staying within our offense. Q. Derek Fisher, you've been very complimentary of him as a player, what he brought. What qualities does he have that translate to what you do for a living, being a coach? COACH BROOKS: Derek Fisher is one of the biggest winners in NBA history. The guy puts himself or gives himself to his team like I've never seen a player do. He's obviously won many championships for the Los Angeles Lakers. Obviously they've had great players with those teams. But his DNA is championship level in every aspect of the game. He will be successful whatever he chooses to do. If he wants to be a president of a team, if he wants to be a coach of a team, if he wants to keep playing, those are options that he will have. If he wants to run a company... He has the ability to lead. Guys respect that. Guys respect that. For him to be where he is, who he is, how he was raised, the guy is an amazing leader and worker. He uses every aspect of our ability, all of our personnel to prepare himself for the next game. He's not one that looks at stats. He looks at two letters: either a W or an L. You can never have enough of those guys in your locker room. Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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