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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 5, 2015David BlattOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day Q. I asked you last night about the rebounding in the fourth quarter. You said you'd take a look at it. Do you have an answer for me? COACH BLATT: Why, they've got more? We missed more shots. Q. Coach, is there any update on Kyrie? COACH BLATT: Not as of yet. He's now being evaluated. Q. Kyrie was very discouraged, more so than through the first couple of rounds through the playoffs, last night in the locker room. Is there any concern on your part that he's reached the point mentally where he's not going to be able to play through this even if the MRI comes back negative? COACH BLATT: No. Really the concern right now, Tony, is physically where he's at. No concern from the mental standpoint. We're just very concerned physically what the result is going to be. Q. Kyrie going or not, how does your approach in these next couple of days‑‑ how can you prepare‑‑ I know you've been doing it on the fly all postseason with guys going in and out. But is this much more difficult in an NBA Finals type of situation? COACH BLATT: Well, first of all, we're all hoping that Kyrie is healthy. As far as how we prepare, we've been through this. We've played games without Kevin, without Kyrie. We know how we want to play when they're not in there. From that standpoint, we can prepare. Our main concern right now though is just Kyrie's health. That's all. Q. With Matthew, what did he gain from the last series as a starter, and where is your confidence level with him now? COACH BLATT: Well, you all saw he played terrifically. Matty has been a rotation player for us the whole year. He stepped in and did a great job, and the team believes in him and we believe in him. If necessary, he has to play significant minutes again, he'll be ready, and we'll know how to play with him. Q. You played a real tenuous, slim roster in the first game. Any thoughts on changing that? COACH BLATT: Well, we played the way we thought we had to play to win, and we were there to do so. Every day, every game is a new day, and if we have to make adjustments, we will. Q. Is there any disconnect between Kyrie's family, his agent people, and how they'd like the knee problem to be treated and how the team has gone about treating it? COACH BLATT: Absolutely no idea. Q. How concerned are you about their ability to use their depth to wear you down? COACH BLATT: Well, Golden State has a very deep roster that's been one of their strengths throughout the season. We've been a team that's been struck with injuries that has shortened ours to a certain extent. I think we did pretty good coming through that. We're here in the NBA Finals. But certainly their depth is something that has to be reckoned with, and it's a factor for them. Q. It appears they're willing to let LeBron have his 40 and take away his assist chances. What can you do about that? COACH BLATT: Well, I think we can do a little bit of a better job moving without the basketball, attacking more in transition. For all of our playoff series, we've played against different coverages and different lineups and we've done pretty well. Again, that game was one or two plays from finishing differently last night. I didn't think there was any particular advantage to playing him one way or the next. But because the result was what it was, you could interpret it that way. You know, we have a few small things that we have to adjust to, and that we will, and that we have to improve on, and hopefully we will. Q. With Kyrie really trying to, I guess, get into the nitty‑gritty here, is he walking around at all better this morning? We all saw him on crutches last night. Then the other question would be, as you mentioned several times, you were a couple inches from winning that game. How do you fight against the sense that you gave Golden State your best shot and came up just short? COACH BLATT: Honestly, I didn't see him leave the hotel this morning because we were engaged in our coaches meetings this morning before our meeting with the team. I heard he left the hotel on crutches still. I heard. I didn't see it. Regarding the second part of your question, you know, we know that we had a chance to win that game because we did enough things well and properly in terms of our game plan and in terms of our game execution. We're playing against someone else too. They're a good team as well. If anything, we can gain confidence from the fact that we were right there to win that game, given that there are some things that we can do better. Q. Just a question about how your relationship with LeBron has changed over the course of this year from the beginning to the end, and how much do you consult and lean on him now in terms of coming up with strategies and how the team's going to play? COACH BLATT: Well, like any relationship, you meet, you go out a few times, you start to talk. You get to know each other. See the things that you like, things that you like less. If you're really interested in being together, you work on those things. And in time the relationship grows and deepens and hopefully flourishes. Ours has, and here we are happily together in the NBA Finals. No, listen, he's a terrific, terrific, and special player and person. He's done great things for this team and for our journey. He has taken on a leadership role that I think comes from not only his performance as a player, but his maturity as a person and from the wealth of experience that he's had being be such a successful NBA player and becoming truly one of the great NBA players in history. So, he's a joy to work with, and he's a special player to work with. Q. With the understanding that getting to The Finals is very difficult and the opportunity to win a championship is not to be taken lightly, as an organization and as a coach, understanding that you guys have a long‑term investment in Kyrie, does it cross your mind a little bit about the big picture here, and at what point the risk sort of outweighs the potential reward? COACH BLATT: Of course, and that's one of the reasons that we sat him down for the games that we did in the previous two series. Coming in last night he was healthy and ready to go. Again, it's our hope right now that the news we get back from the evaluation is good. Or at least not bad. But we'll have to wait and see what the result is. Obviously the team has made a long‑term decision with Kyrie as did Kyrie himself, which speaks to the commitment that we have to one another. It's just my greatest hope that he's okay. Regarding the next game or the next one after that, it's a lot less significant. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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