Coach Pop Pregame Media Availability - Spurs vs. Rockets

Dec. 28, 2012

(When asked if he thinks if the team benefited from the practice time as of late…)
“Every coach thinks that practice helps them, because theoretically it should. Hopefully we get an opportunity to go back and look at something and put them in the rearview mirror for a while. You play game after game after game and you slide back into some sloppiness in some areas. So hopefully practice cures some of that. We all like to get a little practice now and then.”

(When asked with a calf strain to Gary Neal is it a luxury to have the depth that you have not having to rush a guy back…)
“Every team has 12, 13 or 14 guys, so we all have other bodies you can put in. We’re no different than anybody else. We all have the same number of guys. If somebody is hurt then somebody plays. That’s the deal.”

(When asked with the way the bench is structured with more scorers then four or five years ago, does that put less pressure on Manu Ginobili to be the scorer in the second unit…)
“That’s what he’s (Ginobili) always done. In that second unit he has the ball more than anyone else. He just plays. It’s kind of like when (James) Harden was a sub in Oklahoma City; he had the ball a lot and played. Sometimes you give it up and sometimes you shoot it. That’s Manu’s team to deal with out there.”

(When asked what are the Rockets doing well right now as a team…)
“Well, they are shooting well. They are shooting it quick and getting it up and down the court, they get a lot of possessions. They are very aggressive. They shoot and make more threes than anyone in the league and score more than anyone in the league. It’s all about their pace. They are moving the basketball well. They are playing very, very well. It’s going to be a tough challenge for us.”