|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 5, 2015LeBron JamesOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day Q. You got 16 shots in the paint, 22 shots outside the paint. You hit 11 in the paint, 7 outside. Do you need to get more shots in the Lane, and what can you do to do that? LEBRON JAMES: I'm going to continue to mix it up. Whatever the defense or the game presents itself, I'll be ready to adjust. I'll play both inside and outside, and I like to keep the defense off balance. Q. This team is back in a situation where you don't know Kyrie's status again. How confident are you that somebody else, one or two of your teammates, will be able to do what they did in previous rounds? LEBRON JAMES: The good thing about it, we've been in this position before. If he's not able to go‑‑ we're not quite sure right now. But if he's not able to go, it's something that's not new to us. So next man up, and guys will be ready for the challenge. Q. Just talking to J.R., and he was talking about your last shot in regulation and you're kind of damned if you do and damned if you don't and people used to criticize you for not taking that shot, now you take it in rhythm and people are criticizing you for that as well. What did you think of the look? Does that matter to you what people‑‑ how they analyze your shot selection? LEBRON JAMES: Well, I mean, when you take a shot and you miss you have so many different thoughts in your mind saying okay, I should have done this or I should have done that. When you take a shot and you make it, there is really nothing else to think about. But for me I got to a spot where I'm comfortable making the shot. Stepback going left, that's a shot that I'm very capable of making obviously in rhythm, which I was. It just didn't go down for me. I really don't hear the criticism and things of that nature because I don't read anything. I don't see anything. I don't watch anything. So that stuff really‑‑ it never gets to me really, so it doesn't bother me at all. Q. Two questions. The Warriors have talked about Harrison Barnes, Iguodala talked about they're okay with you getting your points as long as everybody else is not getting theirs. How do you combat that? Number two, why the early workout? LEBRON JAMES: Well, we still had a chance to win. When guys‑‑ myself, Kyrie, Mozzy‑‑ you know, we did a good job of putting points on the board, and every addition that we had was big for us. We've got to do a better job, obviously, of getting guys involved. But at the same time, we put ourselves in position to win. The answer to that question is it's not early. It's not early at all. Q. Going back to that last shot in regulation, when you're going through the decision whether to drive or take the shot like that, at the end of the game when you go into the lane and there is congestion, do you sometimes look more for the jumpshot because you know you can get that look clean? Whereas if you go into the lane, it seems like other things can happen, obviously. That way you can ensure to get the shot off if you're taking the jumper? LEBRON JAMES: I don't predetermine what I'm going to do. I can get to a spot where I'm very comfortable with or I drive. I've made game winners on jumpers. I've made game winners on lay‑ups. So I don't really predetermine what I'm going to do. Just the shot that I was very comfortable with going left presented a stepback for me, and that's just going against ‑‑ or going with the things that I work on and things that I'm confident with making. It's not like I'm predetermined when I'm coming out of the huddle saying, okay, I'm going to drive. I'm going to drive or I'm going to shoot. It's just the rhythm I'm in. Q. LeBron, I know injury is part of the game, but for you personally you've gotten to The Finals a few times, going back to your first time in Cleveland when one of your most important players was below 100 percent and couldn't be himself. Do you get discouraged that this keeps sort of happening at this time of the year? LEBRON JAMES: Well, there are a few things that you would love to have going late in the season. That's being healthy, having a great rhythm, and then you need a little luck as well. We've had a great rhythm. We haven't had much luck, and we haven't been healthy. But I haven't gotten discouraged. I understand the moment that I'm in, and I'm not too much worried about the game. I'm worried about the moment. I'm happy with the moment. I'm excited to be in this moment once again, and I'm going to stay strong for my team, no matter who is or is not in the lineup. Q. You've been in this situation not only, of course, in these playoffs losing Game 1, but throughout your career losing Game 1 of The Finals. Can you take us through just sort of I guess the mindset when you lose a Game 1 and what you have to fight through to get ready for Game 2? LEBRON JAMES: It's not a great feeling, for sure. I didn't get much sleep last night. You just play‑‑ your mind just plays with you so much throughout the course of the night. Different plays, different scenarios, different points of the game where you could have made a play here, could have made a play there to help your team win. So the mind never lets you at ease. So it's always a tough 24 or 48 or whatever case, how many hours it is. But at some point you get to the film room, which I've already started, and you start to prepare yourself mentally on what needs to be done going into Game 2. Q. It looks like, sort of following up on that, that they'll let you have 40 and you would prefer to pass, how do you deal with that? Also, do you think Shumpert's shot was in at the buzzer? LEBRON JAMES: Well, first of all, you can't let me have 40. Q. Correct. Correct. LEBRON JAMES: Yeah, yeah. You don't let me have 40. I go get 40. It's not like they're just getting out of the way. So those guys aren't saying we're okay with letting him have 40. You don't let me have 40; I'm making those shots. From my angle, it did look like it had a great chance of going in, and it just didn't fall. Q. LeBron, Draymond remembers when he was a rookie the first time I think he faced you when you were with the Heat in 2012. There was a play in the post that you kind of abused him and you said, You're too small. He said that motivated him to this day; he still thinks about it. Do you remember the moment, and what do you think of the way he's evolved since that moment in his rookie year? LEBRON JAMES: Well, if you knew Draymond, he started the trash talking first in that game. I'm not much of a trash talker, but he started it first his rookie year. So don't let him try to start up a story on why he's motivated because I said something. He started it, and I finished it (smiling). Q. What is your point of view on the Warriors' defense and how they're approaching you? And when you survey the court, what are you seeing? LEBRON JAMES: Well, they had different‑‑ they mixed it up last night. Sometimes they didn't dig in the post. Sometimes they let me play one‑on‑one. Sometimes Bogut was over on the tilt and brought two defenders. They switched sometimes on pick‑and‑rolls. Sometimes they went under. So they were giving me everything. They're not just giving me one steady dosage of we're going to just let him play. No. That's what they want to get out to you guys, but that's not what's happening. Yeah, I see it all throughout the course of the game. They've given me different match‑ups, just trying to keep me off balance. But I've seen it all, and I've got to do a better job as well getting my other guys involved. I'm okay with getting big numbers and things of that nature, but I feel much better when I'm able to get my guys in rhythm and get them guys some more looks. So I think one of the things is trying to stay at home on a lot of my shooters. They didn't give James Jones as much air space. J.R. got a couple good looks, it just didn't go down. He had one where Kyrie kind of fell, pitched it to him, he had a three. He had one in the corner in overtime that kind of went off the side of the backboard. But he's capable of making that shot. We've got to get those guys involved as well. Q. I know that you like to not take as much shots and distribute to your team. You just said that. How are you going to get that done? LEBRON JAMES: I'm going to just go play the game. Just go play the game and see where it takes you. It's not‑‑ sometimes it's not‑‑ it's not rocket science. You just go out and see what the challenges of the game presents itself. At the end of the day I've been playing basketball for a long time and I've seen it all. No matter what the circumstances are, you go out and play as hard as you can and you live with the results. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|