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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 7, 2015David BlattOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Two Cavaliers – 95 Q. Could you talk about the contribution of Dellavedova? COACH BLATT: You know, he did what he has been doing every time that we've put him in that position. He's a courageous kid that plays right. There was a lot of nonsense swirling around about his style of play. I think anyone that really looks at him objectively and fairly recognizes someone that just plays hard, heartfelt, and tough basketball. Always there for his teammate. Teammates always there for his team. And he played big tonight, and we needed him to. Q. Do you guys have a master plan to cause us all heart attacks? COACH BLATT: Well, you know, we are playing a pretty good team, and it's not going to be easy. I don't know that we'll see any easy games in this series. I suppose it could happen, but the two teams are really battling and playing the game hard, I think, playing it right. Today's situation was not all that together different than last game, because they had the last shot to win the game today. Q. But could you elaborate about the difference between this game and the last game, the adjustments you guys made? COACH BLATT: Well, I mean, there is the obvious that suddenly we were in a situation where we had to play without Kyrie. I thought we were stronger and fresher at the end of the game. Maybe we did a little bit better job of distributing, not so much distributing the minutes, but spreading them out and giving guys a chance to rest here and there. On the other hand, because of the fact that our roster is shorter or our rotation is shorter, we're asking a lot of our guys to be able to play significant minutes and give us what we need them to give us, and they're doing it. I thought we played well enough to win the last game, too, to be honest with you. Today the ball just bounced our way at the right time, and that's why today we won and the other day we lost. Q. You've mentioned what Matthew was able to accomplish on the court tonight. But defensively as a team you hold Steph Curry to 5‑for‑23 shooting, and Delly was on him a lot. Did you have to do anything to prep him mentally for that challenge, the reigning MVP, defensively? COACH BLATT: You know, we've got a good game plan in place for how we want to defend. I think our coaches, all of them, have done a great job helping the guys prepare and know how we want to handle different situations and different players. A player of Steph's magnitude is not one that you can really go out there and stop the guy. What you try to do is make his life difficult and hope that perhaps that particular day he's not making some of the really, really tough shots that he does make. Because he's a shot maker and a tough shot maker. And I thought today we kept most of his shots tough, and a lot of them didn't fall. That's really the only thing. We just tried to be attached and we tried to be close and tried to disturb. And fortunately fewer of his tough shots went in. Q. You guys had great success feeding on a steady diet to the Warriors in the paint tonight. 26 points, but all of it came in the first half. Could you talk about what happened the second half? Was it defensive adjustments that made the difference where the Cavs were not able to be successful again in the second half of the game in that critical part? COACH BLATT: Yeah, we did go away from it a little bit. We recognized something else that we wanted to play on, and we played on that. But baskets aren't coming easy in this series, no matter where you're shooting them from or what you're playing. And we're playing against a very good defensive team. Like you said, we had some success, some good success in the first half getting it inside, and much less so in the second, and it's something that we'll look at. Q. Mozgov, why didn't he play in the end? Was that just going small against the Warriors? COACH BLATT: Well, first of all, Moz played great. He played extremely well the in first game too. We played the lineup we thought we needed to play to match up properly with them and at the same time not lose an advantage at the other end. As you guys know, we've played different lineups and used different lineups throughout the course of the year. But the lineup to finish the game is one that's been a winning lineup for us, and that's why we played it. Q. LeBron didn't have an efficient shooting night, but it seemed like he really willed your team and did a lot of different things for you. Can you comment on what you thought of his performance tonight? COACH BLATT: Geez, you'd be hard pressed to find a guy anywhere, anytime‑‑ I can think of a name or two, but that's the whole history of basketball‑‑ that can give you the kind of all‑around performance and all‑around leadership that LeBron does for his group. And I think you said it the right way, he really willed his guys to win that game. That's what a champion does, and obviously he's a champion. Q. You're up 11 with 3:00‑plus left. What was going through your mind as that lead was disappearing very rapidly? What were you saying during the timeouts, and what did you say right before overtime to your players? COACH BLATT: Well, the people in Israel are up at 6:00 o'clock in the morning. I've got to give them something to do. I can't just make it easy. 7 million people watching the game, it's got to be exciting. No, really, honestly, the thing is that particularly in this game, the NBA game, nobody's ever out of it unless they're playing badly and have quit. Obviously Golden State was doing neither. They were going to make a run at some point. It came at that stage, and they made plays and they made shots, and their crowd got into it there in the end. And we had everything‑‑ we had to do everything we could just to hold on, and fortunately we did. Q. You spoke to us before the game and spoke of a confidence level within the team. But as you know, after Game 1 with what happened to Kyrie, a lot of people wrote the Cavs off for this series. How important is confidence in what happened tonight and going forward for the series? COACH BLATT: Well, first of all, I told you before the game, all that writing off and underdog title and little chances, that's a good thing. This team has nothing on their mind but trying to win the championship. And the fact that Kyrie went down, the fact that Kevin went down earlier has not changed our resolve in any way, has not caused us to look for some particular break or sympathy because it's not coming. It hasn't come to us all year. We've dealt with adversity from day one this year. These situations only make us stronger. And I thought the guys played a very heartful game tonight. Q. What could you say about the defensive effort especially on Stephen Curry? COACH BLATT: Well, to hold Golden State under a hundred points or under 95 points, you're doing something on defense. And our guys are really, really, really locked in and defending and making an effort and making multiple efforts on every single play. And that is the only way to play against the Warriors, because they're so potent offensively and they can put up points so quickly and in a multitude of ways that you have no choice but to be aware or get beat. And I thought we were aware, and I thought we were locked in on almost every play. That's what it took. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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