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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 6, 2015Iman ShumpertOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day Q. As a team, as a whole now, is there more pressure on guys like yourself to produce offensively with the absence of Kyrie? IMAN SHUMPERT: No. I don't think it's pressure at all. I think the other guys are just getting more opportunities. I feel like with Kyrie being out, you know, Golden State may try to make other guys throw the ball. But I think at some point over the season everybody has shown that they can score balls. Guys have confidence in each other that that ball will move more and they'll find different guys, and every guy needs to step up and play. Q. Is it maybe an attitude adjustment then? I remember you hitting two threes from the corner in Game 1. Does that mean you might have to take a third and a fourth and a fifth? IMAN SHUMPERT: (Indiscernible) in Game 1. But like I said, when Kyrie and LeBron had it going, we trusted those guys to make plays. They had it rolling. We understand that. We come in early and defend as if we got those (indiscernible). We're just playing to win. Q. Their versatility throws a lot of different looks at you. Is that a different challenge than you've had, and how do you adapt to it? IMAN SHUMPERT: They've got a lot of length. They've got a lot of (indiscernible) that will get up in pressure. And they'll throw a lot of different looks at you. One thing, we've got a team of guys that are pretty much prepared for the worst, prepared for anything they can throw at us. We've just got to come out here and figure it out eventually. Q. Is there a lot of confidence? I know you guys won two games without Kyrie, so maybe this is an obvious question. But the confidence you have with Dellavedova? IMAN SHUMPERT: Oh, yeah, plenty of confidence. I know Delly hates to see Kyrie go down. But he's not going to turn down those minutes. Delly is always, always looking to step up big for the team and do what he has to do to get the win. So we're definitely prepared for that. Q. How committed are the guys to shutting down the weak side once LeBron puts up some shots? IMAN SHUMPERT: We've just got to continue to have movement on the back side, continue to add more cuts to make sure, one, that they can't load up on LeBron and, two, that he has outlets just in case people are caught sleeping. Q. Does that give you a different rhythm? Does it make it harder, the penetration of the double teams? IMAN SHUMPERT: Say that again? Q. LeBron throughout the course he's been gathering double teams and showing you something different. Does that take you guys out of a rhythm? IMAN SHUMPERT: You mean like the double team at him? Q. Yeah. IMAN SHUMPERT: I mean, it's something different, but the end result was LeBron getting 44. They're going to send in a double team and he has the one‑on‑one coverage (indiscernible) or hit the pull‑up shot that they give him. You know, I think at the end of the game we didn't make the right plays as far as getting all the 50‑50 balls and the hustle plays. They really beat us in that aspect. Down the stretch into the fourth, especially in overtime, and they reap the benefits of that. I think if we get those 50‑50 balls and we come out on top in Game 1, it's not a discussion of us being stagnant or anything, because I think LeBron did really good taking advantage of his match‑up. Q. With Kyrie out, does that give you more of an opportunity to kind of attack the net, attack the paint? IMAN SHUMPERT: As long as when the ball moves around, I think it gives us all more of an opportunity. When Kyrie and LeBron had it going, those guys made plays. Q. Some players have mentioned their job is to stay out of the paint. Now Kyrie has opened it up, so you would be able to take it to the paint more? IMAN SHUMPERT: No, I think those opportunities present themselves even if Kyrie is in the game. Kyrie's being out doesn't mean anybody's going to drop more than they do in any other game, I think. It's whatever the defense does. Defense closes out short, they shoot it. The defense comes in and drives the three, you drive it. You just make basketball plays. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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