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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS v HAWKSMay 25, 2015David BlattCLEVELAND, OHIO: Practice Day Q. Did you do any kind of practice today or just kind of shoot around a little? COACH BLATT: No, we had a very light day today. Very light. Q. You couldn't practice if you had to really with the guys you have? COACH BLATT: We're practicing our minds right now, more than anything else. Q. What's going on with LeBron, and how much does it affect your game plan? COACH BLATT: A number of things, like most guys. He got banged up a little bit last night, but knowing him, he'll recover and be out there tomorrow. Q. Is there a percentage discount in terms of his injuries? COACH BLATT: Geez, you just talked to him. You should probably ask him that. Again, he's playing heavy minutes, and he's obviously playing great, but he's going to take hits. He works his way through it. Q. The cramp thing is something that's affected him off and on through his whole career. What have you guys worked on to try to mitigate that given how important he is to the team? COACH BLATT: LeBron is a very, very professional guy. Not only has he studied the game, but he studies the ways that he can improve himself physically and care for himself physically. He's surrounded by great people who help him. When you're playing that many minutes at that level of intensity, you're going to experience things of that nature. It's not uncommon. He fought through it courageously last night and brilliantly, I might add. So we'll be ready. Q. What's Kyrie's status? COACH BLATT: Still working through the protocol, and we're looking for repeated good days so that we can comfortably‑‑ the medical staff can comfortably put him back out on the court in a game situation. Q. Considering the lead that you guys have with the potential reward, would it be better to not play him than to play him? COACH BLATT: We need Kyrie on the court, and we're not really thinking about resting him as much as we're thinking about him being healthy to play basketball. We need him on the court, whether we're up 1‑0 or 2‑1 or 3‑0. That doesn't really mean anything because this is the Conference Finals. There's not a lot of time, and there's not a lot of room for error. At the same time, if we're risking his long‑term health, we're not going to do that. So we are where we are. Q. So is he still game time? COACH BLATT: Yes, a game‑time decision. Q. David, LeBron was asked about Tristan Thompson and said that he's a guy that could probably be a Cavalier his entire career, and there's no reason why he shouldn't be. How has Tristan proved his value to you this season? COACH BLATT: First of all, I think LeBron is right. Every team wants guys like that, that take on whatever role is asked and embrace it and do their very best to help the team in the ways that the team needs, and you've seen Tristan do that this year. When we brought Kev in, we asked Tristan to be our first big off the bench. I thought he had a great season. I thought he was very much in the running for sixth man of the year, and then when Kev went down, we put him in the starting lineup, and he's been terrific and doing the things that he does and doing whatever is asked of him for the good of the team. Like I said, that's a guy you always want on your team. Q. His minutes certainly made sense considering your personnel when everyone was healthy. But were you ever tempted, like, wow, I wish I could find something better for this guy because the way he impacts? COACH BLATT: Are you talking about from before? Q. Yes, from before. COACH BLATT: We were doing pretty good before. His minutes were appropriate. Q. Starting rotation, exhausting game last night. Is there concern about, even being up 3‑0, there is an effect of attrition that you'll wind up having? COACH BLATT: Realistically, that's a viable point, but not in the Eastern Conference Finals, one step away from making the NBA Finals. Q. David, a lot's been made about over the course of the season recently about Matthew's kind of unconventional path to the NBA. Maybe it's too simplistic a connection, but do you think that that does something for a player's mindset, whether him or guys in general, who sort of have an unconventional path? COACH BLATT: I don't know exactly what it does for his mindset because it's exactly his mindset that's allowed him to get where he has. What it does, in my mind, is teach a lot of young kids the value of hard work and of belief in yourself and of commitment to the task and commitment to team and of being willing to sacrifice and do whatever it takes to be the best that you can be. I just think that guy is a perfect example of those things. Q. David, do you sense any frustration in the locker room or with your own staff, just with Kyrie not having played the last two days? COACH BLATT: No, I don't sense that. Obviously, everybody wants Ky out there, and we need him. And we need Kev too, but he's down for the season with that injury. Guys are anxious for him to come back, yes, because he's an important part of this team. I think it's more hopeful, hope than frustration‑‑ or anxiousness, let's put it that way. That's a better word. Q. You've been on a dominant run defensively. Are there things last night that maybe got away from you a little bit more, maybe adjustments made by them, making more shots? COACH BLATT: I thought they made more shots, and we might have missed a few coverages last night than perhaps we didn't in the first two games. The pace of the game last night was extremely high. I'm sure that was part of it. We're in there, and we're fighting on every play, and we know we've got to be because they are a dangerous offensive team. But at the end of the day, we held them to 40 or 41 percent from the field, and that's not a bad number. They made some more shots. They made some more threes than they made in the first two games, thus the score being higher. But we're going to stay solid in what we're doing and little adjustments that we make before game, in game, we'll do. But so far we're on the right track, and we'll remain true to that. Q. When Tristan gets you an extra possession in a tight game, what kind of thoughts do you have about the value of that at that moment? COACH BLATT: It's invaluable. He's a possession getter. That's exactly the way we look at it. It comes from just never‑ceasing effort and commitment to task. He makes a lot of big plays that you don't see on SportsCenter, but we notice them. Q. How about the pass he made last night? COACH BLATT: Winning play, the rebound and the pass. Huge winning play, huge. Q. David, what has Damon Jones brought to your group this year? COACH BLATT: Damon's helped us, and he's a great guy to have around. Really great guy to have around. Q. Anything about his relationship with LeBron being something that makes LeBron feel comfortable or getting extra work on his off days? COACH BLATT: I think Damon's contributed to us, and he's helped a lot of guys in a lot of little ways. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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