LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 4, 2021

Rick Carlisle

Press Conference

Q. I was wondering, today, I was thinking about J.J. Redick and wanted to ask on a couple of levels. A, do you have a -- how is he doing physically? And, B, I would think that he, as a locker room guy, would be valuable in a situation like this. He's been with teams that have seized the moment and teams that haven't. I wondered if you think he's gained the ear of the locker room in the time he's been here?

RICK CARLISLE: Yeah, he's been a very big help ever since he's gotten here. He's a different kind of personality. Our guys respect the fact that he's played over a hundred playoff games and I guess he has great credibility because of the career that he's had and the longevity. And he's into it even though he's not playing. He's into the meetings. During timeouts and in huddles, he's getting little bits of information to guys that he thinks are, is relevant, and he understands that in this kind of situation there's a lot of intensity and a lot going on. He has a good feel for the kind of things that guys need to hear in the heat of the moment. So considering the fact that's unable to play, he is giving us some very positive things.

Q. As you've watched the five games of this series now, is there anything that you put your finger on as to why the teams are playing, both teams are playing better games on the road as opposed to on their home floors?

RICK CARLISLE: Yeah, that's a tough one. That's a tough one. You could probably get into a lot of analysis about teams playing in empty arenas all year and, I don't know. It's tough. It's a tough one to figure. But we are where we are and one thing that I believe, it's not the where, it's the how, and so we're really going to be ultra focused on the how tonight and we're going to be as process-oriented as possible. In these types of situations, that's how you got to approach it.

Q. Along similar lines, is there anything to the idea that maybe you guys are a little bit more used to having a big crowd in the building again now that you've had it a couple of times and is there anything that could be an advantage there?

RICK CARLISLE: Yeah, we hope so. I don't think there's any, there can ever be anything negative about playing at home. That just doesn't seem possible. We have great fans, I think NBA fans throughout the League have just been so excited to get back in arenas and watch NBA basketball live that it's just been an explosive thing, the level of interest and how loud the buildings have been. So, you know, it's an exciting time of year. I mean, that never changes.