(On the speed and tempo of this matchup…)
“You never know exactly what the speed or tempo of the game is going to be until it starts. Lots of times you think something is going to be high scoring and it’s not. You just have to wait until the game is played. They’re a good scoring team but also a good defensive team. Mark Jackson has done a great job of instilling his system and people are buying in both individual and team wise. Their defense has been very important for them too but everybody just looks at their offense.”
(On Manu Ginobili getting more playing time…)
“I think he is ready to play more. Hopefully he’ll be able to play a normal game. We don’t have any minutes or restrictions on him or anything like that.”
(On the importance of the perimeter Spurs players to help out with rebounding…)
“It is very important because there are going to be a lot of long rebounds. You can’t just depend on your bigs to get them. The smalls are very important in that regard.”
(On Boris Diaw’s versatility and importance in this series…)
“He does have that versatility. He’s a four but he’s got pretty good mobility as a four. Sometimes he can guard some fives. We have had him guard some big threes. In that sense he has shown some possible ability to adjust for us defensively. He hasn’t played in a long time. We are anxious to see what he looks like tonight.”
(On the possibility of too much rest between series…)
“You have to keep practicing. You have to practice to stay in shape and have any sort of rhythm or flow. At the same time you hope you don’t get somebody hurt. We were a little more fortunate than the Clippers with Blake (Griffin) getting hurt. That didn’t happen for us but you have to practice. Hopefully we won’t show too much rust.”