NBA Playoffs Interview with Bruce Bowen
NBA Playoffs / June 1, 2005
The San Antonio Spurs lead the Phoenix Suns three games to one in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals of the 2005 NBA Playoffs. The Spurs won the first three games, but the Suns took Game 4. Here's Spurs small forward Bruce Bowen, the day after Game 4:
Q. How concerned are you about winning tomorrow’s game knowing that you will be able to come back to San Antonio for game six?
Bruce Bowen: We are not concerned right now with any game after tomorrow’s. Our main focus is tomorrow’s game and that’s the way it should be.”
Q. After winning the first three games of the series, what was the difference in the game last night than the previous three?
Bruce Bowen: We didn’t take care of certain points that we needed to take care of in the game last night. I think that at halftime we had given them twenty points in transition, and we hadn’t given up that many points in transition in an entire game during this series. Sometimes you get a little lax when you are playing at home because you rely on your fans to get you going at certain times, and we maybe did that last night. We thought we could shortcut some things on the court and it just kind of didn’t happen that way for us.
Q. Were the Spurs as focused as necessary to get a win last night?
Bruce Bowen: I think that it speaks for itself in the first half to have twenty-three transition points, and before that in the series they weren’t getting those points.
Q. How important are cross match-ups that are picked up in transition?
Bruce Bowen: It is very important. At certain times throughout the game in transiton you might have three guys running the same direction as you and you have to decide which player to take. You have to hope that you teammate can understand which one of the three you are going to take. So that is when communication comes into play big.
Q. Will you be guarding Shawn Marion or Joe Johnson during game five?
Bruce Bowen: I don’t know, and I will find out tomorrow. I think that it was a terrible way for us to perform yesterday. Phoenix played well yesterday, so you have to give them credit, but our focus should have been that we weren’t going to give up our lead that we had established in the first half.
Q. Were you prepared for Joe Johnson to have such a big night last night coming off his injury?
Bruce Bowen: We understand that the points are going to come from somewhere. If it weren’t Joe Johnson scoring it would be Jim Jackson. So, when you have Joe performing the way he is performing you have to get back on defense.
Q. Did Joe Johnson’s aggressiveness impress you even more because of his injury?
Bruce Bowen: He didn’t have a knee injury or an ankle injury. All this rest that he has now just means that he has tons and tons of energy. He is fresh right now, whereas some other guys are not as fresh, but he is fresh right now and he got it going early. To shoot 10 for 15 for the game tells you what kind of player he is.
Q. Are you happy with the types of shots the Spurs got last night considering the defense was packed in to defend Tim Duncan and Tony Parker?
Bruce Bowen: I think that we can move the ball even better. Sometimes you get so focused on the rim and trying to score that you might not recognize that your teammate is open somewhere else. So it is not a matter of people being selfish, because I don’t think that we have that type of team. Sometimes when they pack it in like they are doing you are just so focused on the shot that you don’t want to look for someone else when you have a chance to go to the basket.
Q. What do you do to help you teammates like Tim Duncan or Tony Parker when they have had a tough shooting night like they did last night?
Bruce Bowen: You talk to Tony, but you don’t talk to Tim. Tim is a veteran and has been through it so many times. He takes so much responsibility for the way the whole game goes with this team that he is always like ‘I could have got you a better shot last time,’ even if you have missed the last four. With Tony it is a matter of just telling him to not let him get his head down.
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