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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 4, 2015LeBron JamesTristan ThompsonOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game One Warriors – 108 Q. LeBron, I wanted to ask you about your mindset on the final possession in regulation? You obviously made jumpers throughout the game, but you had great success getting in the paint. I was just wondering if you were anticipating a double coming, and you might have to give up the ball and not be able to take the last shot yourself? Is that why you shot a jumper? LEBRON JAMES: No, my mindset was we're either going to go out of here with a win or going into overtime. I'm going to get the last shot. Actually, Shumpert was able to get another look at it, but I got to where I wanted to get, step back, made them before. We had our chances. Q. In the overtime, what happened in the overtime? You got just two points? LEBRON JAMES: I mean, you just said it. We couldn't get a good look. We couldn't get nothing to drop, including myself. J.R. had a really good look on the three at one point, but they just ramped it up a little bit. They got to the free‑throw line, and we didn't get it. I mean, we really only had zero points, and I got the lay‑up at the end, but that didn't mean much because they did a good job closing it in overtime. Q. Last time you guys lost in the playoffs was in Chicago Game 3, reeled off seven wins since then. Do you think you guys learned anything from that experience, and can you lean on it in this situation? LEBRON JAMES: Well, I mean, we had a lot of miscues tonight. I think they would say the same. We had a lot of breakdowns, a couple of transition threes they made that we kind of pinpointed on saying we don't want to give those up. But at the end of the day, we gave ourselves a chance, man. I missed a tough one. But we had so many opportunities to win this game, and we didn't. It's up to us now to look at the film, watch and make some adjustments, what you need to do and be ready for Sunday. Q. Up until that final minute, Kyrie had had such a good game. How tough was it to see him go down, and how concerned are you about him? LEBRON JAMES: It was very tough to see. I just see how hard he worked these last eight days just to get himself to play at this level tonight. Seeing him walk out of the locker room on crutches just now, that's a tough blow for our team. Q. Adding to that, LeBron, if Kyrie is limited at all and he can't do what you need him to do, the bench numbers were so lopsided, do you have enough you can find without him? LEBRON JAMES: Well, I mean, it's the next man up. If Kyrie can't go, Delly's number is going to be called and everyone else has to pick each other up. They outscored us 35‑9 on bench points. But, you know, we still had a chance to win. We had a few miscues defensively. Had a couple of turnovers offensively, but we were right there. Like I said, they just made a couple more plays than we made. Q. Coach Blatt said that you had a great performance, obviously, 44 points. But the guys around you are going to need to be better. Your thoughts on how your teammate played tonight? LEBRON JAMES: We all have to be better, including myself. I don't think I was great. I've got to do better things out on the floor to help us be more precise offensively. I've got to communicate a little bit more defensively to help our team get over the hump. It's not about me. It's not about the next guy. It's about all of us. We have to‑‑ we're going to watch the film and get better for Game 2. Q. Was there a fatigue factor towards the end of the fourth quarter? LEBRON JAMES: What do you mean? Q. Were your guys getting tired? LEBRON JAMES: I mean, I think everyone was out there just playing through it, just trying to fight through it. Both teams have been off for so many days that fatigue may have set in. But both teams were fighting and both teams wanted to win really bad. Q. Do you think the fact that you were in your beast mode in the last quarter sort of affected the other guys and they were expecting you to make the shots and win the game? LEBRON JAMES: Well, they expect for me to make plays. It's nothing I did tonight. It's nothing different than what I've been doing all postseason. That's just been our game plan. Guys have been able to step up and make shots and make plays. So it has nothing to do about beast mode or whatever the case. It's our game plan, and our game plan worked. We put ourselves in a position to win, we just didn't come through. Q. Tristan, 47 minutes tonight, maybe the most you've ever played in your career. Can you talk about the experience, but you still looked fresh down the stretch as well even during the difficult period over the last seven minutes of the game? TRISTAN THOMPSON: Just got to be prepared for whatever Coach wants me to do. Whether it's playing 25 minutes, 35 minutes, I've just got to be able to come out and be productive and do my job, which is to defend, rebound, and play hard. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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