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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS

May 21, 2016

Bismack Biyombo

Toronto, Ontario: Game Three

Cleveland - 84, Toronto - 99

Q. When you went down and you were on the floor and you didn't get up very well. Can you describe what happened?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: I got hit in an area that I wasn't supposed to get hit on, or a private area, so to speak. Whenever the league has a chance, they probably want to take a look at that. That's all I can say on that one.

Q. Bis, how important is it for you to let them know that you're not going to give them anything under the rim in the paint? LeBron was just up there reciting a Jay Z quote about every time somebody gets really physical with him, why he isn't going to react, and he was asked about why you wag your finger and he dismissed it. How important is it when you're on the court that he's going to feel you and he's going to see you?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: I'm playing for my teammates, honestly, and for us it's just that we're going to play hard no matter what, and we're going to play our game. I've been saying that since we started the series, and our game is to protect the paint. And my job is to make sure that I protect the paint no matter what.

With that being said, they can say what they want to say, and I always respect that about the other team. But I just know one thing and that is we're going to get it done on our end.

Q. Two parts to this question: First, the coach compared you to Dennis Rodman in terms of the impact that you have on a game and for your team. What do you think of that comparison?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: It's great, and I appreciate it, but at the end of the day, I'm Bismack Biyombo. I've learned a lot from Dennis Rodman, all the great players that played before me, Hakeem Olajuwon and all these great players. But again, at the end of the day, I am me, and Dennis Rodman is Dennis Rodman.

Q. The other thing is that there have been a couple references tonight to how you play at home. Are you a different player when you're playing here in front of Toronto fans as opposed to when you go on the road, and can opponents count on you not being the same player?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: I play the same way. It's just that when you're home, the fans are involved. If you go back and watch in Cleveland, Cleveland was very physical. And as we come here, we get very physical and our crowd gets involved, and we stayed with the game. I'm the same player. It's no different, but it's just that there are things we need to do at home and protect home, and then on the road we have to figure it out. I think we all have to do a better job on the road of playing for each other, covering each other. The most important thing is to figure out how we can win on the road.

Q. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Kyle [Lowry] found you for that alley-oop and DeMar [DeRozan] found you two plays afterward. What does that sort of trust with the ball from your teammates mean to you?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: They trust me. They know I work hard every day, and at the end of the day, I know that scoring is not an issue with me and the team. But if you see when we play in Cleveland, they shot I think 50-plus percent, and today we were able to lower them to below 40 percent. My job was tonight, especially after I watched a whole bunch of film and saw the mistake that we were making, was just going back to playing defense and being in the defensive mindset of the team and protect the paint as much as I could. I think we all did a better job. This was a team win. We all give our best out there, but now we've got to regroup and learn tomorrow from the film and be prepared for Monday.

Q. Dwane [Casey] said every time you grab a rebound, you're pretty much getting fouled. Is that the case? How do you feel about that? And also, on your flagrant foul you were obviously trying to prevent LeBron from scoring, but do you feel you need to set the tone for how you're going to stand up to Cleveland?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: I don't see a difference between the way I get fouled when I get offensive rebounds and the fouls that I committed. That's all I can say on that. It's not like I did it to hurt somebody. I never played this game to hurt nobody. I get fouled pretty much the same way, and I don't fall on the ground badly. With that being said, some calls are going to be called and some calls are not going to be called. I just keep playing on, and whatever happens happens.

Q. When did you begin wagging your finger at blocked shots, and what is the message you're sending when you do that?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: After I got the license from [Dikembe] Mutombo. I saw him one time and we were having this conversation, and he was telling me how I haven't given you permission to use my finger yet. You will have to come to Atlanta so I can give you permission. But I love him. He's like my big brother, and I've had several conversations about him, especially defensively, how he was able to impact the game. Of course once he gave me permission to use his finger wag, then I guess I just want to leave his legacy and make sure that I show him some love as my big brother.

Q. When LeBron James is coming at you or Kyrie Irving is coming at you at the rim, what kind of satisfaction is it to turn them away at the rim?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: It's just that I'm not going to block every shot. That's just the bottom line. But at least the idea for me is to change the shot, change as many shots as I can, and yes, tonight was a great night for us and I was able to change a lot of shots for my teammates. But at the same time, they have a lot of shooters on the floor. When you're going to block shots, for sure somebody else is open. So now the goal for the next game is to find out how we can take the threes out. I don't know, they shot 34 percent, which is still not bad defense, but we can always do better.

Q. There's been a lot of talk about the officiating. Regardless of how the officiating went tonight, how important was it for you guys, the team, to keep your composure, play Raptors basketball the way you did it, and fight through it?
BISMACK BIYOMBO: It's like I said before, we've got to play our game no matter what. The bottom line is some fouls are going to be called and some are not going to be called, and I don't think the referees are perfect or they're going to be perfect. Either we get the calls or not. As long as we're playing our game our way, and we're playing hard, I think we can go home happy. Thank God we got to win tonight, but you know, this is just part of the game. We're going to face ups and downs, and we've just got to find a way to stick with it and be ourselves.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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