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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS v HAWKSMay 23, 2015David BlattCLEVELAND, OHIO: Practice Day Q. We saw Kyrie out there. What's he looking like, and has his status changed going into the next game? COACH BLATT: He's questionable for tomorrow. Hopefully, he responds well to the little workout he did today. Q. What will it depend on tomorrow? COACH BLATT: Well, of course how he's feeling and doctor's decision. Q. Is it a matter of being able to play only? Or if he's less than 100 percent, given your situation in the series, does that play a role? COACH BLATT: It's going to be a doctor's decision, how he is physically. That's what it's going to be based on. Q. I guess to go on with that, given your situation, you're up two games to nothing. Your next game is at home. Kyle Korver is out for the playoffs. I don't know if you knew that. COACH BLATT: Didn't know he was out for the whole playoffs. Q. Why wouldn't those circumstances play into whether or not you rested Kyrie an extra game or two? Just conversationally speaking. COACH BLATT: If he's able to play, then he'll play. He's a big part of the team, and this series is not finished. But if he's not able to play, he won't. That's the determining factor. Q. David, when you went to (inaudible), they are so good at defending the ball (inaudible). How important is it, was it, to make sure you cut the floor in half against them? COACH BLATT: There's a lot of things that go into limiting any game and certainly a team with Atlanta's offensive quality. You're never going to take everything away from anyone, but particularly in the series when you have time to see the team many, many times and you have time to prepare, you do lock in on doing certain things that you feel will help you lower their efficiency. So far, we've been able to do that. The task and the challenge will be to do that going forward. Q. David, you've talked about during the season how you feel this season has been like almost two or three seasons in one. This particular phase, the post‑Kevin injury, has been your best defensive phase. Is that maybe something that happened with the change in the team that is a positive that came out of having to change the way you were playing? COACH BLATT: Well, it's not necessarily a positive, it's an adjustment that we've made. We're playing with a somewhat different roster. I think a big part of playing winning basketball is to understand what it is that works for you with what you have at your disposal, both as coaches and as players, and having something to hang your hat on consistently that works. With Kevin going out, we suddenly found ourselves missing some very, very important and key ingredients to what was a very, very successful second half of the season with Kevin. Him being gone forced us to evolve or to change somewhat and to play to our strengths with what we had. I think we've done a good job of that, and certainly the players have done a good job of recognizing that and buying into it. Q. When you weren't as stellar on defense as a team earlier in the season, what do you think contributed to that? Was it execution? Was it effort or some combination? COACH BLATT: You've asked that before. No, it's not effort. When our roster changed in January, we also changed our approach and tactics defensively, and with the personnel and with the guys buying into what it is that we wanted to do as a team defensively, our defensive performance improved markedly, and it's only gotten better, which is logical because the guys have had time to trust the system and to believe in it and to work within it. Fortunately, it's just gotten better and better. Q. You said there was a buy in. So was it maybe not quite as strong before? COACH BLATT: I don't think that was the case. I just think roster‑wise we've improved, and I think we've found the system that works best for us, and the guys have performed it extremely well. Q. A couple of Hawks players last night, DeMarre in particular, said they felt like they came out flat for whatever reason. They just didn't have the same energy. Do you feel it's remarkable ‑‑ it looks like you guys played harder against the Bulls and the Hawks, just for whatever reason. Could that all be related to the Kevin injury and knowing that you're down in numbers? I'm just curious why you guys have been able to play so much harder against the last two opponents in these playoff games? COACH BLATT: I thought we played extremely hard against Boston when Kevin was in the lineup. That has nothing to do with it. I just think that we're locked in and we're committed to what we're doing. I don't know that we're playing harder than the other guy or not. I wouldn't go so far as to criticize their effort level. I do know that we are playing hard and that we're doing everything we can to perform at the highest level and to seize the moment and to keep advancing in the playoffs. That's all. Q. Coach, what was the moment when, I guess, it kind of all clicked in? Or has there been like a moment where you kind of look back like this is where things really changed to where you guys are able to be as locked in in the playoffs? COACH BLATT: I think the defining moment for us was when LeBron came back from the injury healthy, and J.R. and Iman and Timo walked through the door. That was the defining moment, the combination of those two things that allowed us to be a complete team and just work together and work towards something as a unit, knowing what we have and knowing what our capabilities are and just working at it every day. Every day. Q. That's a pretty simple concept, the whole defense wins championships is always being said. But how much do you believe a team has more chance of a sustainable success relying on the defense versus the offense? COACH BLATT: Well, at least you're not depending on your shooting percentage if you're defending every day. I believe, and it's been my experience, that there's a lot of ways to win basketball games, and there's even different ways to win championships, to be honest with you. But having the ability to lay your hat on the defensive end of the court makes it a lot easier because you can show up with that every single day. Q. One thing you really don't know about until the playoffs is how your team will lock in against the same opponent game after game. What have you seen from these guys, the six against Chicago, now two against Atlanta? Is there benefit to that? Have they surprised you with that? COACH BLATT: First of all, I've said this, and I want to stress it again. I think our coaching staff has done a great job helping our guys prepare and working with them. And our guys, many of whom are experienced players, who have been down this path before, whether they have bigger or smaller roles in the team, at least from the standpoint of experience and of knowing how to behave and how to educate one another and how to push one another, that's really given us the backbone that we need to approach this thing in the right way and to continue to move forward, understanding that, if we do the work and if we follow the game plan and if we execute at a high level, then we've got a chance to do something. Seeing the same opponent time after time, if you prepare well, can be an advantage. Of course, the other guy's got the same possibility. Just right now, we're growing and we're building confidence every day, at the same time, staying humble and going about our work properly. Q. Coach, have you heard about the Brelo verdict? If so, have you heard about the protest downtown, and what's your thoughts? COACH BLATT: I've heard about it, but to be honest, I've been a little busy, preoccupied with what's going on here. I am in no way interested in diminishing the significance of that. That's an extremely important issue. I don't really feel educated enough right now to give you a proper response to what I think. I just know it's a very important issue. Q. And the protests, I mean, you've been in different places where you've seen that. What's your take on that and how necessary is it? COACH BLATT: I think that the management of the Cavaliers is on top of that, and they'll respond to that in a proper way, whatever that may be. Q. LeBron was talking earlier, David, about how he's a different player, a different person than he was five, six years ago when he was here, even when he was in Miami. He said his hard drive kind of got bigger. COACH BLATT: That's interesting. Q. So maybe situations that he didn't handle so well in the past, he's learned to handle better. I know you weren't with him all those years, but what are your observations about the kind of maturity, composure, leadership that he has gained over the course of your observations of him? COACH BLATT: He's a very driven and very committed and a very intelligent guy about going about his business and about influencing and leading his teammates, as one who's been there and gone through it before. And I think you couldn't ask more of a leader, and you certainly couldn't ask more of a player. Q. He said that, at the end of the game, sometimes he just thinks, it's basketball. It's a basketball game. Does he ever kind of seem like he's not stressed out at all by the circumstances in a way that other players just can't really achieve? COACH BLATT: I think it's more fair to let him answer that. What I see is a guy that understands the moment and handles it in a way that allows him to function at the highest level and to hopefully and honestly to influence the guys around him to keep them in the right direction. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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