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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERSMay 17, 2016Tyronn LueCleveland, Ohio: Game One Q. Ty, I'm just wondering, Dwane [Casey] was talking yesterday about the way they like to defend, and he said they like to protect the paint first and as a result they give up some threes. It seems to be a direct contrast in terms of what you guys like to do in terms of running guys off the line and giving up some easy twos if necessary. Is that a fair assessment that it's kind of two contrasting styles here defensively? TYRONN LUE: Well, yeah, for what we're trying to do, we want to run guys off the three-point line, make them take contests twos, and my whole motto is you've got to make 50 twos to get 100 points. You know, the three ball in this game in this day and age is very deadly. If they're going to pack the paint and make us shoot threes, we'll continue to make them. Q. You've used a lot in the postseason of R.J. [Richard Jefferson], Delly [Matthew Dellavedova], LeBron [James], Channing [Frye], Iman [Shumpert], that you've never used in the regular season. Where did that lineup come from? Do you plan on holding it for the postseason, and are there any other lineup combinations that you haven't used yet that you could break out as the playoffs go on? TYRONN LUE: Well, during the regular season, we usually brought Kyrie [Irving] in with that second unit and just trying to keep two of the three bigs on the court at the same time is kind of tough, so we wanted during the playoffs, when the playoffs started, we said we wanted to bring LeBron [James] in to start with that second unit to get him off to a good start, and we know how important during the playoffs closing quarters is, so it's kind of tough. But we could have Kyrie and Kevin [Love] on the floor at the same time to close the first quarter and have LeBron come in with the second unit to give us a good starter off the bench. Q. Are there any other combos that maybe you're thinking about, that you might try? TYRONN LUE: Yeah, we have a couple we might try. Q. Obviously it's well-known that you guys want to keep them off the line, and part of the way is doing that is stressing to your players to stay down, don't bite for the pump fakes. How hard is that actually to do during the heat of the battle and the moments of the game to actually not try to fall for those pump fakes? TYRONN LUE: Well, it's tough. When you're a competitor and you're playing defense and you've always been taught over the course of your career to challenge shots, and with these two, with Kyle Lowry and [DeMar] DeRozan, they do a great job of getting to their spots and shot faking. We have to make sure we stay down but also make sure we get a late contest, and we want to make these guys make field goals and not free throws. We've talked about this for the last few days, and they understand that, and they're probably going to go for one or two of them. That's part of the game. But we've just got to try to keep them off the free-throw line as much as possible. Q. Kyle Lowry referred to you as a father figure. Can you tell us about the genesis of your relationship with him and how you've watched him grow into the player that he has become? TYRONN LUE: Well, from day one when he got drafted, we had the same agent with Andy Miller, and from day one, I just took him under my wing, and it was crazy, when he got drafted, when he first came in, he said that he wanted to be like Tyronn Lue. He wanted to compare himself to me. I was like, well, you can be much better than me. I was just a role player. But when he first came in from Villanova, that's what he said, and it sparked me -- it caught my attention, and from that day forward, we've always had a great relationship. Myself and Chauncey [Billups], we did a great job of just taking him under our wing, showing him the ropes, teaching him the game, and on and off the floor how to be a professional, and he's grown, and he's very well surpassed me as a player. Q. Ty, with so long between games, I'm wondering away from work what you did to pass the time? Did you rearrange the furniture in your apartment, buy new furniture? How did you fill the gaps in between these games? TYRONN LUE: Well, I went back and watched two games from the Detroit series, went back and watched two games from the Atlanta series, and then I watched all three games we played against Toronto. I was just trying to see if I could pick up on anything, things we did well, things we can get better at, and try to incorporate those things into practice. My main focus with the days off was just trying to make us better. Q. It seems like Iman has started to play better in the last series, especially at the offensive end. Is that just a matter of his health, and with Shump playing like that, what does that do for your depth? TYRONN LUE: It does a lot for our depth. I think Shump is a very important piece of what we're trying to do. He's a great defender. He can guard three positions, and when he's shooting the ball the way he's been shooting it the last series, then he's very helpful for us. We have no problem with Iman. We know he's going to be a very good player and compete every single night. Q. Ty, as dominant as you guys have been in the playoffs, is this how good you thought your team could be, or is it things have just been rolling your way and there's still room for improvement? TYRONN LUE: Oh, there's always room for improvement, but I think the players have been doing a great job of locking in, focusing in on what we're trying to do and not get discouraged when we come in with a game plan to take certain things away and the team scores easy. We've still stuck with the game plan. And offensively they've just been trusting each other, I think, moving the ball, sharing the basketball, playing with a pace and hitting the open man, so if we continue to do that, we'll be tough to beat. Q. Were you a little bit surprised this didn't show itself in the regular season as soon as often? TYRONN LUE: Well, it's tough to break bad habits, and like I said before, we have two of the best one-on-one players in the world with Kyrie and LeBron. They're used to having the ball in their hands and used to making every play and playing for themselves and for their teammates, but now with the way we've been playing lately, the ball has been moving, they've been trusting, trusting the offense, trusting their teammates, and then the last six minutes of the game, there's going to be time where they have to take over the game and be more one-on-one oriented. Q. In observing your team over the course of six to eight months, it seems to be much more of a brotherhood, tied together on the court, off the court, having more fun, smiling, enjoying life. It wasn't always that way. How has that evolved, and what was the genesis of that togetherness? TYRONN LUE: Just keep talking about togetherness, like you said, and brotherhood. Your career doesn't last long, so you have to enjoy it. They're making all the money in the world, so there's no need to be disappointed or be unhappy. I think our thing was just with our coaching staff was just keeping guys united, telling them to enjoy the moment because 11, 12, 13 years, your career is over, and you look back and you didn't take advantage of the situation, take advantage of just how much fun you can have playing in the NBA. People would kill to be in this position. I think these guys understand it. They get it. It's a chance to do something special, and it's a bond that can't be broken when you have a chance to win a championship. As I look back over my career, just seeing the older guys that I played with like Horace Grant and Rick Fox and Robert Horry, when you see those guys, it's just a bond that can't be broken. I want these guys to feel that and enjoy that and relish the moment. Q. J.R. [Smith] talked earlier today about taking on the challenge of the opposing team's best perimeter player. Obviously you didn't come to Cleveland with that reputation, so when did that happen, and what was it that the coaching staff saw in J.R. that made you feel like he was ready for that kind of responsibility? TYRONN LUE: Well, J.R.'s athleticism, we thought he -- his lateral quickness, his athleticism. He's able to guard two or three different positions, and we just kept challenging him. It started last year. We kept challenging him, and I thought last year toward the end of the season, I thought he did a great job. This year coming in with Shumpert being hurt, I thought he stepped up and took on that role to let LeBron rest and on the defensive end until he got his legs under him and not overwork LeBron. I thought J.R. this whole year has really stepped up to that challenge of guarding the ones and the twos and the threes and also doing it at a high level. Q. Earlier this year when you first took over, you said you wanted your team to play with more -- you wanted them to get out and run more, you wanted the team to play with more pace. In these playoffs you guys have shot record-breaking numbers of three-pointers, which invites inevitable comparisons about what the teams out West have done like the Warriors. Do you see the comparison in the way that you guys are playing offense and the way you're spreading the floor and shooting? TYRONN LUE: As far as shooting the three, I see the comparison, but they play a different style of basketball where they have nine or 10 guys that can pass the ball, dribble the ball and shoot the ball, and we just have three or four play-makers that we feed off of with Kyrie, LeBron and Kevin. They do a great job of sharing the basketball and trusting their teammates, and when LeBron and Kevin are playing at a high pace and attacking the basket, that leaves the three-point line open for our shooters. Q. You've been around a lot of great players this time of year. As they lock in and navigate leadership and emotions and things like that, what distinguishes LeBron from maybe some of the other guys that you've seen at this stage? TYRONN LUE: The same way. I mean, when it's playoff time, this team -- Kobe and Shaq and how they're locked in, and playing with Jordan, he locked in for any game. We didn't make the playoffs, but with Jordan with the Wizards, we were trying to hard to make the playoffs, and every game was so important when you're trying to get that 8 seed, which we never got. But just seeing all the grates, and LeBron is right there with Kobe and Shaq and Jordan, preparing and getting ready for the playoffs and going into playoff mode. Q. Any change from last year to this year with LeBron? TYRONN LUE: No. Q. With Lowry and DeRozan, do you have like sort of a dozen different combinations of how you might have to guard them? Do a lot of guys have to be prepared? The way they can dominate, do you worry that they'll dominate the ball? Do you worry that your team will get sucked back into kind of that hero style? TYRONN LUE: I think when you're dealing with two great players, you have to mix it up. I don't think you can show DeRozan and Kyle the same steady diet of what you're trying to do to them defensively, so we're going to have to mix it up. We'll come in with a game plan, and if it doesn't work, we'll have to adjust. Q. But do you have lots of combinations of how many -- TYRONN LUE: Combinations? Q. Plan A, B, C, D? TYRONN LUE: Yeah, we have to adjust. I mean, if one thing doesn't work, then we just have to find what's going to work for that game and just continue to adjust to be able to slow them down if they get going. Q. Are your guys committed to the passing-the-ball style that's been working so well? TYRONN LUE: Yes. I mean, I think right now we are who we are. I think what you've seen over the last couple months is -- that's who we are, and that's what we've been striving for, and I think the team understands and really wants to play that way, and knowing it's fun to play that way, and everybody is sharing the ball, touching the ball. Everyone is involved. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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