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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 10, 2015James JonesCLEVELAND, OHIO: Practice Day Q. You kind of were like that X‑factor coming off the bench. LeBron is handling the majority of your offense, but then you come off and you give them that extra offense, the Vinnie Johnson "Microwave" type of offense off the bench. JAMES JONES: I wouldn't compare myself to Vinnie Johnson. That guy's a legend. I'm just happy that I'm able to go out and help my team. The role that Coach has blessed me with has been one to come out and be aggressive offensively and space the floor for LeBron and Timo and Tristan. So I relish the opportunity. I'm really just focused on going out there and making shots. Q. You've got a lot of NBA Finals experience going against a Warriors team with none. Are you seeing any mistakes that they're making that maybe you made in your first Finals? JAMES JONES: No. I think the more Finals experience you have, you just have a greater appreciation for the moment. You don't hold anything back. But I think they're a very good team. They're very good players. Regardless of how many Finals they've been a part of or how old they are, they're competing. As long as you're competing, you give yourself a chance. So we try not to look at our Finals experience as an advantage. We just look at that as an advantage to view the game with a different perspective. Q. One of the goals to kind of turn this into an Eastern Conference playoff series? JAMES JONES: No. An Eastern Conference playoff series for us isn't the goal. We've been adamant that our focus is to really make life difficult for their two best players and to try to take away some of the things they didn't do well. We won't be able to eliminate them. They're just too good. But you really want to slow down and get the game to your pace. Our pace just happens to be a slower pace due to all the injuries. But we'll pick our spots to be aggressive in transition and try to get the tempo to our liking. Q. What is the mental toughness in playing grind‑it‑out basketball? JAMES JONES: We've had so much adversity. We just understand that we have a very small margin for error. We have to come out and we have to execute and we have to be precise. Just about every possession we give ourselves a chance to win. This is a very good team down here. So we understand that, and we take that to heart. That's why guys are (indiscernible). Q. How much from losing a Finals teaches you about winning a Finals? JAMES JONES: I mean, it's heartbreaking.  It's the toughest thing to try to overcome, which is a missed opportunity. So being in this position again, you relish it. This has been my fifth Finals appearance. Like I said, I'm an old man now. These days can't go on forever. So I just try to preach to my teammates the importance of the moment, of every possession of every game, and being in The Finals and one game can change the series. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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