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NBA FINALS: HEAT v SPURSJune 14, 2014Rashard LewisSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Practice Day Q. What is the mental state of the group as best as you're able to tell from the interaction? RASHARD LEWIS: A positive attitude. Obviously, we had a day to not do anything, which is probably a way to clear your head and think about what's happened in the past two home games that we got our butts kicked on our home court in front of our home fans. But I think coming into the gym this morning, watching film and talking about what we're going to do to win this one game on Sunday, take it one game at a time, you can't look ahead in the series, there was most definitely a lot of positive energy and attitude coming from not only the staff, but players as well. Q. Give us a couple of points where Spoelstra and the staff say you need to improve from a defensive standpoint? What couple of things need to be better? RASHARD LEWIS: The way they played offense the in the past two games, we've got to improve everything. More than anything, we've got to contain penetration. When they penetrate and get into the paint, it creates those guys to get wide‑open threes and dump off lay‑ups with Tim Duncan and Boris Diaw. It creates a lot for their offense. That's what they feed off of is penetrating into the paint. If we can control that, at least to an extent, I think we'll most definitely have a better chance to win the game. Q. You all help a lot and switch a lot. Is there any talk of strategic changes, without specifying what, or do you think you'll stick with what you've done? RASHARD LEWIS: I think not necessarily. We'll talk more in shootaround, watch more film of what we're going to do with a lot of the pick‑and‑rolls and game planning. But regardless if we switch pick‑and‑rolls, we still have to be there. It felt like everything we did was a step slow in all our rotations. Closing out to the three‑point line, the low man getting to the big on the rolls. We were just always late, and they were a step faster. Q. In 2009 you were part of that magic team that shot incredibly well in the playoffs. You were red hot and made the extra pass. It's a little similar to what the Spurs are doing in a lot of ways. What do you remember from how teams tried to adjust and slow that down? Is there any key to combatting the passes they make? RASHARD LEWIS: You've got to just play better defense. I think your defensive intensity has to go up even more. The focus has to be on the defensive end. When we focus on the defensive end, we get a lot of fast‑break runouts and get easy baskets for guys like Dwyane Wade and LeBron. Like I said, looking at halftime of the last game, I remember them writing on the board, we had zero fast‑break points, and that's not the Miami Heat. I think we make the game a lot easier for us on the offensive end when we're getting stills, getting stops and running out instead of having to play half‑court basketball every time down court. Obviously, San Antonio is a great offensive team, but they're a pretty good defensive team, too. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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