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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS v HAWKSMay 20, 2015David BlattATLANTA, GEORGIA: Game One Cleveland Cavaliers - 97 Q. Kyrie only played 27 minutes. Was he on restrictions, or was it due to J.R.'s hot hand? COACH BLATT: Was not on a restriction, and he got banged up a little bit, and we limited his minutes as a result. Q. J.R. was outstanding during the third and fourth. Could you tell me if there's anything specific that you did to get him open and available for those shots. COACH BLATT: Yeah, we got him the ball. Doesn't take a whole lot for him to get it up there. Those people‑‑ and most do, of course, that know J.R., when he gets hot, he gets smoking hot. He was terrific. Probably overlooked in his great shooting performance was the fact that he defended as well as he did and he got eight rebounds. I'd love to know when the last time a guy made‑‑ how many did he make? Eight. When a guy made eight threes and got eight rebounds. That's an interesting question. I don't remember, but I'm sure it's happened. That's pretty unusual. Q. David, can you kind of talk about LeBron's night. He was really dominating there for a while, and it seemed like he tweaked the ankle, he did something to the ankle‑‑ COACH BLATT: Stepped on somebody on the sidelines. Q. ‑‑ and he kind of had to adjust from there. COACH BLATT: Well, LeBron came in with a purpose today, and he led his team, as he is wont to do in big games. Gave it to us at both ends. I thought down towards the end we all got a little bit winded, but that's just because we were playing so hard on the defensive end, it probably had an effect on us at the other end. But he was terrific, just terrific. Q. Considering J.R. Smith scored 28 points, hit eight threes tonight, what are some things that concern you that the Cavs can work on that were maybe unnoticed because you got the "W" tonight, thanks to J.R. Smith's hot hand? COACH BLATT: Number one, we can always do better. When you have a good team, some nights one guy is the guy that gets it for you, and another night it might be someone else. If you meant by the question that perhaps maybe we're not going to win unless J.R. Smith makes eight threes, then I would beg to differ, because we have another other weapons on our team and we play good basketball in many other facets of the game. Tonight was a game that J.R. stepped up in a big way, and obviously he had a big part in that victory, but it's still a team victory, and tomorrow it may be somebody else. Now, if you can promise me he'll do it again, then I'll be happy to live with that. Q. The difference in your team's defense from the first half to the second half, what did you like about what you guys did defensively in the second half? COACH BLATT: Well, a couple things. You know, it's not the first time, and it's also not an abnormal thing. Number one, we turned it over nine times in the first half, and we gave up a lot of transition baskets as a result of that, and we were a little bit out of rhythm defensively because offensively we were not as responsible with the ball as we needed to be. The second thing is I thought we adjusted well to how they were playing, and they were playing very well on offense, as Atlanta is capable of doing. A lot of times it's the other guy, too. They were moving the ball, and they were making some shots, and they were attacking. We just sort of adjusted and found our rhythm defensively. We were better with the ball, which led to less easy transition baskets. And when we have the chance to lock in and play the half‑court defense that we've been playing throughout the playoffs, we've got a good shot, and the guys stepped up, and they were terrific at the defensive end in the second half, just terrific. Q. In the first half, particularly in the second quarter, LeBron had a lot of success in the block scoring in the post. It seemed like in the fourth quarter, maybe he went away from that a little bit. He was obviously matched up against a different defender. What did you see out of his approach in the fourth? COACH BLATT: Paul Millsap was guarding him, and he was guarding him at the perimeter, and we were attacking him that way. That was his advantage. But perhaps we could have put him back down in the post even against Paul, and if so, that's on me, not on him. But I still thought that we controlled the tempo of the game in that fourth quarter. We were tired a little bit, and we had to slow the game down, and we did. Ultimately, we came away with the victory. Q. At the end of the game, you guys, the offense seemed to get bogged down. Was that, just as you were saying, that the guys were tired, or was there something that was kind of leading you to take more jump shots than usual? COACH BLATT: We could have played it better at the end, to be honest with you, but I think that's going to be tomorrow's subject. I think tonight we're going to be happy that we beat a very good team on their floor in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, and I thought we did a lot of things very, very well, and there's still a lot to improve, and that's good news. Q. In the series against Chicago, Chicago went into that series as one of the best three‑point shooting teams in the postseason. Atlanta one of the best three‑point shooting teams in the postseason. 4‑of‑20 tonight for Atlanta. What are you doing specifically when it comes to guarding the three‑point line? And has that been a point of emphasis? COACH BLATT: All year. All year. Cleveland Cavaliers last year were the last‑place team in the league, giving up three‑point shots, makes, total, percentage‑wise. That's been a point of emphasis since day one here, and we've definitely improved in that area, and we wanted to. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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