LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 2, 2021

Rick Carlisle

Press Conference

Q. There's been a lot of focus on the Clippers' dribble penetration this series. Wondered how you would rate your dribble penetration and how important is it to your offensive equation?

RICK CARLISLE: Well, it's important to everybody's offense in the NBA. As you get along further in a playoff series it generally gets harder. It's gotten harder for us and we have got to do a better job of taking it away from their side. I think the points in the paint numbers bear it out. But it's certainly an area of focus for us heading into Game 5.

Q. They have obviously made some adjustments on Hardaway the last couple of games. How much has that reduced his efficiency and what can you guys do to kind of maybe get him going like he was when he was really good in the opening games?

RICK CARLISLE: Yeah, they put Kawhi Leonard on him to start the game. And, again, it's, you know, that's one of the best defenders in the world. So, yeah, we're going to have to be creative if it's going to be half court stuff, because he's going to do a great job in most situations. And there are certain times when we're just going to have to keep him out of the area and look to attack basically four-on-four.

But overall we're just going to have to do a better job playing at both ends of the floor. We're going to have to do a better job getting the ball in the paint offensively and keeping it out defensively.

Q. My question to you is, your team -- through the regular season your team is 21-15 both on the road and at home. What does it say about your team that you're able to maintain that same consistency whether at home or away?

RICK CARLISLE: Well, your phrasing of the question is good. I like the way you're phrasing it. I think my answer is, we'd love to be better at home and we'd love to be -- and we have been a good road team. But in this series it's really not the where; it's the how. It's how you're playing, it's not where you're playing, and that's been proven in the first four games.

So as we approach this tonight, we're going to have to be very efficient in our execution. We're obviously going to have to go very hard. We're going to have to do well in the possession game with rebounding and limiting turnovers and we're going to have to find ways to get the ball downhill more often. I think playing faster is something that we need to do. And you're talking about two of the teams that play at the, that are really more toward the bottom of the league in pace, so these are adjustments that I think both teams are looking to make as we move on in the series.

Q. Tyronn Lue in his pregame presser said that he expects you to change the starting lineup and go bigger, maybe even go with Boban Marjanovic. Would that idea of him saying that change in any way the plan you have for this game?

RICK CARLISLE: No, not in the least. And you know I don't talk about lineup stuff until it's released at whatever time it's released, and I think it's 30 minutes before the game, so...