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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS

May 18, 2016

Tristan Thompson

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. What's the difference between the Raptors with [Jonas] Valanciunas and without?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: Well, Valanciunas has been a big part of the team, and he's having a great playoff and having a great year. Whenever a player of that caliber gets injured, guys got to step up. [Bismack] Biyombo did a great job. He's stepped up and he's been playing really good basketball for them. But we've just got to be prepared for whoever steps on the court, whether it's Valanciunas, Biyombo, [Luis] Scola. We've just got to be ready to play.

Q. As the game seemed to go along and the lead started to build, it seemed like they started to get more physical and frustrated. Do you think they were just trying to get in your heads with those hard fouls?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: No, it's the playoffs. In the playoffs, every team plays physical. We've done the same thing all year, playing physical against any team, whether it's the playoffs or regular season, whether down or up. You've got to bring that mindset of we've just got to keep playing our game and stay the course.

Q. What have you noticed about how the second unit has responded to having LeBron [James] start with them in the second quarter?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: They've helped us a lot. The first quarter we were very close. We've got to be better. Starters have got to be better and we've got to come out ready to play right away. Delly [Matthew Dellavedova], Shump [Iman Shumpert], they brought the energy, but also LeBron, and they started making those big plays at the rim, Channing [Frye] making the threes and Delly. So they were big last night, and they're going to be big again tomorrow.

Q. That's one of the changes Coach [Tyronn] Lue has made that's a tangible thing that we see that's different about you guys. What have you noticed about Coach Lue making those types of changes?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: Him and the coaching staff and us, we've watched film and figured out what areas we can be better at, and the coach felt, whether it's putting LeBron or Kyrie [Irving] or whoever is put in in the second quarter or with the second unit, help us keep the intensity and keep bringing the juice. It's worked out really good for us.

Q. What does it do for you guys when Kyrie is playing downhill like he did last night?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: It makes us that much better. When those bigs set good screens for him to get him downhill to go at the other bigs, it's tough. He's a handful, and he's a great finisher at the rim. So when he's attacking like he is, and he's always been like that, it just helps our team a lot.

Q. He had a rare dunk last night. Do you guys give him a hard time about those?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: Talked about that Verizon data package, dunk package. I saw something on social media, you've got to pick some guy to dunk and Kyrie did the commercial, so I gave him a little hard time about it. I said, they should pick you, they get free data.

Q. Sticking on Kyrie, [Kyle] Lowry got held in check for the most part last night. J.R. [Smith] last night said he thinks that Kyrie is an underrated defender. Do you feel the same way?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: I totally agree. Kyrie, he's got great lateral quickness, and he knows the game, and he knows how to guard guys. He watches film and he's a student of the game. He's definitely a defender, and last night took the challenge, and he knows he's going to have to do it tomorrow, too.

Q. Under the basket when we're watching, what's it like in a game, in the playoffs, just battling down there?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: It's part of the playoffs, part of being a big. Nothing soft down there. Hand-to-hand combat, bumping and grinding. It's part of being a big. That's what you signed up for being that tall.

Q. Just to go up against a player or players, contact, hard fouls, does it ever make you wonder should I be doing that, too?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: No, I just keep playing, foul, no foul, whatever players do to draw fouls, I'm with it. If it's in our favor, I love it, and I've just got to stay out of foul trouble.

Q. How incredibly tough would it be to run undefeated into The Finals?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: Me personally, I'm not looking toward that. I'm just looking at game by game. Last night was a good win, took care of home and took care of the first game. Tomorrow they're going to come out ready to play. They're going to look at film, and they're going to be pissed off and angry. They're going to play much better, and we've got to be ready for that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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