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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS

May 19, 2016

Tyronn Lue

Cleveland, Ohio: Game Two

Cleveland - 108, Toronto - 89

Q. When your team is 10-0 in the postseason including its last two wins by a combined 50 points, the thought easy comes into our mind that it looks easy for you right now. How would you describe what this run has been like for you, the 10-0 run in the playoffs?
TYRONN LUE: It's been great. You know, I just think -- always just think back, coming from a small town in Mexico, Missouri, that I would ever be in a position that I'm in now today, and just a tribute to the organization, Dan Gilbert and the way they constructed this team, David Griffin, those guys have done a great job. We've just got a great team, and they're playing great basketball right now. We've just got to keep it going.

Q. Is it easy?
TYRONN LUE: No, it's not easy. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of preparation, trying to stay ahead of the game, trying to figure out what they're going to do next. My coaching staff today was right on point what we thought they might try to do. It started with Scola. They tried to play faster early on in the game, and there are a lot of nights we don't get a lot of rest, a lot of sleep. You're dreaming of ATOs and plays you can run and things that happen, so a lot of sleepless nights, but the way things are going right now, it's worth it.

Q. Does it ever get old watching LeBron James put up nights like this, passing Shaq in another triple-double?
TYRONN LUE: Well, when you're a winner like LeBron has been his whole career, making the Finals as many times he's made it, continue to win in the playoffs every single year, you're going to pass great players and different milestones, and that's a tribute to the player LeBron has been over his career, and he's always been a winner.

Q. Defensively 84 and 89 points so far in the first two games. Last series you said you wanted to take away Kyle Korver. Is the goal this series to take Kyle Lowry out of it?
TYRONN LUE: Well, we just want to try to protect the paint. I think that's why we start early in the games, we've been going under a lot to try to keep DeRozan and Kyle and those guys out of the paint, and DeRozan had another great first half. But only having six points in the second half, we stayed true to our game plan and we adjusted in the second half of going over the top with a screen.

The players are locking in. They're paying attention to the game plan and what we're trying to do, and just doing a great job. But we're just trying to keep them out of the paint and keep them off the free-throw line is our biggest thing for this series.

Q. Is there an update on Delly and Kevin?
TYRONN LUE: Not yet. I didn't get a chance to talk to the training staff. But Delly, I talked to him when he first came out of the game, he said it's a little tweak but it's okay. I didn't get a chance to talk to Kevin.

Q. We've talked a lot about the big three and how Kevin and Kyrie have taken some of the load away from LeBron, but to spin this another way, is there any chance that Kevin and Kyrie playing as well as they are, that that makes LeBron even tougher to deal with?
TYRONN LUE: Yes. You know, when Kyrie and Kevin are playing at a high level, it opens the floor for LeBron. Like I said, we know LeBron is the best player in the world, and I believe that, and at times there are going to be times when he has to take the game over, and he's done it in the first two series in a couple games. But now he understands the bigger picture and understands that the more the team plays, the more the team performs, the easier it is for him, and it's easier for us. We know any given night he can go out and score 40 if he had to, but the way we're trying to play, the style we're playing, he understands if we're getting everybody else involved and everyone is playing well and everyone has the confidence, when we get to the next step like we're trying to take, then everybody will be okay and ready to play.

Q. When you guys went on a 16-2 run to end the first half, what was the difference in that stretch there, and do you feel that was the turning point in this game?
TYRONN LUE: Yeah, I think we made some defensive adjustments. We changed our defense and got a little bit more physical. We were able to get out in transition and get some easy baskets. That was a big spark to our win was the 16-2 run, and guys came in, RJ came in, gave us a great lift, Shumpert came in defensively, Delly before he got hurt, and LeBron and Channing were great. So that second unit came in and gave us a great burst to end the first half.

Q. In the regular season you saw the Raptors with Jonas Valanciunas a few times. He's not in this series. He's not been in these first two games. How does that change things for them offensively because it seems like Biyombo has been somebody that I don't want to say you've ignored but that you've drifted away from?
TYRONN LUE: Well, it's different because he gives them a post presence. I think when the jump shots are not going or certain guys are struggling then you can slow the game down and post Valanciunas, who's a great low-post player. Also he's great on the offensive glass. So just a big body that can post the basketball and gives them a different look offensively.

Q. You had a break between the Atlanta series and this one, and LeBron made it very clear that he worked real hard during that break. What are the effects that you've seen from him in this series that show you what he accomplished during that break?
TYRONN LUE: I think playing --

Q. In terms of his energy?
TYRONN LUE: Yeah, playing full speed with more energy I think for longer periods of time. We keep him on the floor a long time, and he's able to play through it, play through the fatigue and able to push the ball and play at a high pace. He's been able to do that in this series without getting tired as much as he did before, and we've just got to keep it going.

Q. How would you describe some of the plays he's made at the rim, full court, explosive, just in this series, like last night when he blew by DeMarre and tonight when he stole the ball and went all the way for the slam?
TYRONN LUE: Well, I think the rest has helped him out a lot. I think he's got his body together, he's got his legs under him. We did a great job with our training staff of conditioning these guys for those eight days we sat. The players did a great job of just staying with it, staying with the program. Nobody really wants to be conditioning this late in the season, but they're professionals and they came out and did it, and it's paying dividends.

Q. Before you came to Cleveland, you were with teams that had to cope with LeBron. Can you talk a little bit about how much he dominated the game planning for the teams you were with, and is it a situation where since you can't necessarily count on controlling him, it's like pulling a building block out of whatever plan and other things start to get away from you then?
TYRONN LUE: Well, the experience that I had playing against him was in Boston. We had a chance to go to the NBA Finals, and game -- I think it was Game 6, we were up 3-2 coming back to Boston, and he had 45 points. I think he made six or seven threes when guys say he can't shoot or whatever. But when the occasion rises and he has to be great, he's always been great. Kind of broke our heart of going to The Finals when I was in Boston with Doc Rivers, up 3-2, having a sixth game at home, and he comes in your building and scores 45 points. It was just devastating to us.

Q. It was clearly a work in progress during the season, trying to get the right combination, figure out the right lineups, the right rotations, and probably at times frustratingly so, and there's no doubt you've got this thing figured out now. When did you know that I know who I'm going to war with, we've got this and we know who our guys are and how they fit together?
TYRONN LUE: Well, I knew all along, but when the trade came with Channing, we had to slowly try to work him in until he learned the plays. But I just wanted to play 10 or 11 guys because you never know when a guy goes down and you have to be ready to play. I thought last year it kind of burned us by not playing guys and keeping them in a rhythm, and if something happens like Delly tonight, if he can't play next game, then Mo has to be ready to step up and play. Just playing multiple guys in the regular season to get our rest, and also to keep guys in a rhythm.

Q. I was just wondering with Kevin going early, he had nine points in the first quarter, how nice was it to see him get going in the paint?
TYRONN LUE: Oh, it was great. We're going to continue to post Kevin in this series. We want him to be aggressive on the block, and we want to play inside out with Kevin, and when he starts inside and he's scoring the basketball, that opens up his three-point shot.

Q. Kyrie seems almost unstoppable. He can get to wherever he wants to, pull-up, long-range, lay-ups, whatever it is. Is this finally a 100 percent Kyrie Irving, and we're seeing what he's capable of doing?
TYRONN LUE: Yes, it is 100 percent Kyrie Irving. The biggest thing for Kyrie is having the trust in his knee, and I think he's got that trust. He feels great, and that's the biggest part of coming back from surgeries like that, just the mental part of it, second-guessing yourself, wondering if you can do things you used to be able to do. Now he's back to 100 percent, and he's tough to deal with.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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