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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 24, 2014Tony ParkerOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Practice Day Q.  You said you were hoping to get to 100 percent for Sunday, so how do you feel now? TONY PARKER: I feel pretty good. The extra days definitely helped, so hopefully tomorrow I can get my full speed back. Q. Do you feel pretty fortunate that there was that extra couple days? TONY PARKER: Definitely, definitely. I was surprised when I looked at the schedule. I was like, man, if I can survive the first two games I'll be okay for the rest of the series. Q. And then if you finish them off, you'll have a good 10 or 12 days. TONY PARKER: Yeah, that's a great motivation, so we'll see what happens. Q. What are you expecting up there? Obviously Portland is a tough place to play, but‑‑ TONY PARKER: There's going to be a lot of energy. Obviously they're going to play a lot better. They're going to shoot the ball a little bit better, and the bench and all their role players, they're going to play better. So we know we have to match that, and we did pretty good against Portland because we knew Portland was going to come out with a lot of energy and shoot the ball well, and we handled it pretty good. I hope we can do the same thing. Q. Do you feel a little vindicated now because you said that you were real skeptical about Ibaka coming back? TONY PARKER: I knew he was coming. There was no way. I saw they were making fun of us like we were paranoid, but I'm like, we look good now, huh? I just knew it. I just couldn't believe that he would miss the whole Playoffs. Nowadays you get a shot or you get something. You play, it's the Playoffs. I just knew he was going to play. Q. Given the success you guys have had in Games 1 and 2, does it matter to you guys if he plays or not? TONY PARKER: Yeah, it doesn't matter. I'm happy he's playing. You want to play against the whole team. You want to play against the best. It's the Playoffs and it's The Finals, and you want to play against the best team. That's why we play basketball is to play those kind of games. Yeah, I want Ibaka to play. I want him to be 100 percent. I want the whole team because that's what you want, that's what you compete for. Q. Even though they stressed yesterday we don't know if he's going to be there, you fully expect him to be out on the court‑‑ TONY PARKER: Come on. Q. They wouldn't have said day‑to‑day if they expected him to play. TONY PARKER: He's going to play. Q. This also works in their favor, the fact that you had time to rest, there's such a big gap between 2 and 3, same thing for him? TONY PARKER: Yeah, I'm sure when they looked at the schedule, I'm sure they thought, they'll have a pretty good chance he'll be back for Game 3, so that's why they didn't bring him to San Antonio. Q. You guys didn't have a mole in the organization or anything? TONY PARKER: No. Q. You were just guessing? TONY PARKER: Yeah. Q. Do you see it as a sign of desperation on their part? TONY PARKER: No, not at all. I think it was planned from the beginning. No, not at all. I think they planned that, and they're going to be ready to go, and we're going to have to be ready to go because we're playing a very good team, and they play very well at home. Q. What does he bring? He protects the rim, right? Obviously you make your living‑‑ TONY PARKER: Defensively he's a huge difference, obviously. He blocks shots, he deflects shots, too, and the offense, he's a very good shooter, got good mid‑range, and he's a good finisher. Obviously he's a big part of what they do. Q. What can they reasonably expect that, A, he is injured and B, he hasn't practiced‑‑ TONY PARKER: I don't know, I'm not in his body. I don't know. I have no idea. We'll see tomorrow. Q. Two years ago, Pop after that series when he was wrapping up when you guys lost the last four, he came up with identity theft, the identity theft series, that all of a sudden they stole your identity and you guys forgot how you play and stuff. Maybe you haven't talked about it as a team, but do you remind each other about this? TONY PARKER: Yeah, we didn't really talk about it, but obviously you learn from each experience. We learned a lot from that series because you win 20 games in a row and suddenly you lose four, it's like weird. I think it gave us a lot of experience and we take nothing for granted and we know a series can change really fast. We understand that. It's a big game tomorrow, and we didn't accomplish anything. We just did our job and we won the first two games at home, so now the series starts for us because we know it can change. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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