Media Conference after 2003 NBA Finals Game 1

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spoke with the media after game 1 of the 2003 NBA finals. The game was in San Antonio against the New Jersey Nets, and the Spurs won.

Q: Why did it look so easy in the second half?

Gregg Popovich: You thought it was easy?

I thought that defensively we did a better job in the second half, starting out the third quarter, staying in front of people and finishing the defense with a rebound. At the offensive end, I thought that we executed better in the sense that we took our time and we were not in as much of a hurry as we were in the first half. We were supposed to win the game by halftime and if we didn't it would be awful. When you do that, you skip steps, short cuts, things happen too quickly, timing is off, and I thought the second half, we did a good job of taking our time and we got the ball through our quarterback, through Tim Duncan, and that always helps, his sort of initiating offense.

Q: How much of it was just the fact that Tony got the jitters out, seemed to settle down and it was like a lot of times he would do that in the Conference Finals and came out in the third quarter and set the tone?

Gregg Popovich: He's a mature, confident man for 21 years old. He just keeps getting stronger. The more we get on him, the more that we demand from him, the stronger he gets in almost every circumstance. I thought in the second half he was much more aggressive and he felt more comfortable with what New Jersey was doing out on the court and I think he did a fine job for us.

Q: Before Tim took over the second half, David had a pretty big impact in the second quarter.

Gregg Popovich: Yeah, David was really important for us tonight. He realizes this is his last series, and I thought his effort defensively, board-wise, getting up and down the court was really superior more than it has been in a while. He gave us everything that his body will give us. It was really important to us. It will continue to be, if he can continue to play like he did tonight.

Q: The poor shooting, how much of that was what they were doing defensively and how much was it just missing shots?

Gregg Popovich: I don't think that we did anything that really made him miss shots. He'll have a better night Friday shooting probably. Some nights people don't make shots. But I don't think that we did anything particularly well that we didn't contest all of his shots and he just missed a few, I guess.

Q: Is it your intention to try to punish them with David or see what David can do?

Gregg Popovich: We've still got to be careful with David, if we go too many minutes, we're going to pass that point because his body is not going to handle that much. We went to him at the start of the game and during the game from time to time, we will do that, just because I think that David is as aggressive, like he was tonight on the board and defensively, he's going to be better when he gets the ball, when he's going to be more demonstrative, go to the rim, get to the line that sort of thing.

Q: Based on this game, particularly the second half, is this a sign that your team can force the tempo in your favor through the course of this series more so than the Nets can force their tone?

Gregg Popovich: Well, we want to get out and run and we usually do that. But you don't do that unless you make stops. That's why Jersey runs; that's why we run. If you get into a period where you are not making stops and people are just scoring on you, you don't get much transition.

So scoring is important for both teams in that regard. When it goes to the net, it's a little bit tougher to run but we would like to continue to keep a good pace if we can.

Q: Which type of basketball do you think is going to be more indicative of your team in this Finals, the kind you played in the first half or the kind you played in the second half?

Gregg Popovich: I hope the kind we played in the second half, of course.