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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS

May 22, 2016

Tyronn Lue

Toronto, Ontario: Practice Day

Q. Just following up on last night, Kyrie [Irving] is okay?
TYRONN LUE: Yes.

Q. He had one assist last night; was that a function of his shooting?
TYRONN LUE: We only had 15 as a team, so we weren't making shots last night. We only shot 35 percent from the field. Not too worried about his assist total. I want him to be aggressive, looking to score the basketball, and when things open up, he'll make the right play.

Q. We were kind of talking last night, just seemed like a bad night all the way around. Your second unit, which we've talked to you about ad nauseam as being so good, also didn't seem to have it last night. Was there anything in particular that we weren't doing or that the Raptors countered with that caused that?
TYRONN LUE: No, I just think overall we just have to execute better at a higher level on offense and defense. Looking at the film last night, we didn't execute at a high level. We've just got to be better tomorrow, which we will be.

Q. You talked about you like iso ball a little bit in the fourth quarter. That that's one of your strengths. How did you feel the isolation ball was when you guys were trying to get back into it?
TYRONN LUE: I have to do a better job of putting them in positions to isolate and be productive. I thought we went away from posting LeBron [James], where they had a double-team, and getting easy shots and easy three-point shots. That's on me. I've got to put them in better situations to be productive.

Q. Do you feel like there was any sense of just waning focus because things had gone so well for so long in the playoffs?
TYRONN LUE: I don't think so. I think you have to give Toronto credit. They played hard. They played well. They made shots, and they came out and played like a team that was desperate with their backs against the wall. They executed at a high level, and we didn't do that.

Q. Kevin [Love] wasn't as aggressive in the post as he's been. Is there any lingering issue with that shoulder?
TYRONN LUE: I'm not sure. You've got to talk to him about that. But it wasn't just Kevin. We all played bad. We all have to play better. It wasn't just Kevin. We all have to be more aggressive on the offensive end, we have to be more aggressive on the defensive end and more physical. It's not just Kevin; it's the whole team.

Q. Do you need like an enforcer type, and if so, who would that be?
TYRONN LUE: No. No, ma'am.

Q. The play did seem more physical last night, though; do you agree? And what do you think that means going into tomorrow night's game?
TYRONN LUE: Oh, yeah. They brought the physicality last night. I thought they were more physical. Like I said before, they feed off their home crowd, and they do a great job of getting behind their team. They brought the physicality to us last night, and we countered and retaliated. We didn't start the game with the physicality.

Q. Coach [Dwane] Casey brought up that he has a problem with the way the officiating --
TYRONN LUE: He has a problem?

Q. Yeah, the calls, the discrepancies. He mentioned the amount of fouls compared to you guys. Have you seen a problem with the calls or lack thereof in this series?
TYRONN LUE: No, I don't complain about the calls.

Q. LeBron talked about having to protect himself after last night's game. Is that something, a message that your guys need to hear as a whole against that physicality?
TYRONN LUE: I wouldn't say protect himself; I would say more keep your composure. Continue to play hard. Continue to attack the basket. The referees have been doing a great job of calling fouls and making the right calls, so we've just got to be aggressive and continue to attack the basket. If they're going to be physical and try to rough the game up, then we'll benefit by going to the free-throw line.

Q. You said [Bismack] Biyombo was the biggest guy on the floor; well, he was the biggest guy on the floor in Cleveland, too, and guys were able to finish against him much better than here. Was it simply the venue and they play so much better at home, or was there anything else you saw?
TYRONN LUE: I thought by missing shots early, that's how he got a chance to rebound the basketball. But throughout the whole course of the playoffs when [Jonas] Valanciunas went down, he's been playing great at home. His numbers have to be staggering from home and away. The crowd gets behind him. He's blocking shots, he's dunking the basketball and he energizes the team and energizes the crowd, and they're behind him a lot. He plays a lot better at home. We've just got to try to do some things to take him out of the game.

Q. Are you still planning to possibly face Valanciunas at some point?
TYRONN LUE: I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

Q. Have you talked about it in your game plan?
TYRONN LUE: No, not as of right now, no.

Q. I know he's not a rotation guy right now, but do you anticipate the league imposing a penalty on Dahntay Jones for the punch to Biyombo?
TYRONN LUE: I didn't see it.

Q. You didn't see it?
TYRONN LUE: No, sir.

Q. LeBron says he doesn't sell calls, but don't all of you at a certain level want to sell calls or at least show the referee what's going on?
TYRONN LUE: We talked about it before, just having to realize and understand that when you're getting hit, you've got to let the referees know you're getting hit. But he's just so strong and powerful when he's attacking the basket, guys tend to bounce off of him. He just has to continue to keep attacking. Like I said, the referees have done a great job of calling fouls when he's gotten hit, so we've just got to keep attacking and being aggressive.

Q. Do you think LeBron takes more hard contact at times because the opponent knows that there's no way he's going to retaliate?
TYRONN LUE: I think if you don't foul him hard, I think he's going to get an and-one and a three-point play. You've got to try to be physical with him so he can't take the contact and finish at the rim. When you get around the neck, like Biyombo did last night, that's different. But when teams hard-foul, you're supposed to get hard-fouled when you're going to the basket, especially being that strong and that powerful.

Q. It's been a long time since your team actually lost a game. Does the message change at all today after a defeat?
TYRONN LUE: No, just like we've been talking about all playoffs, just executing at a high level on the offensive end and the defensive end. Last night we didn't quite execute like we wanted to.

Q. You took exception to the Biyombo wraparound on LeBron's shoulder?
TYRONN LUE: It was a little excessive, but you know, that's part of the game. He wanted to be physical, wanted to prove a point. LeBron stood up to the free-throw line, made two free throws, and it's our ball. So we can live with that.

Q. With Kyrie and Kevin going 4 for 28, do you feel like the other parts of their game were affected by maybe having their confidence sapped from the offensive end?
TYRONN LUE: I thought overall the whole team, I just thought that defensively I think we didn't play as great defensively because of our offense. I think it kind of dictated our defense last night, and it hasn't happened over the course of the playoffs. But last night it did, it affected us I thought. But like I said before, we'll be better tomorrow.

Q. What is effective physicality in the basketball sense?
TYRONN LUE: Just being on bodies, being aggressive, keeping Biyombo off the glass and getting eight offensive rebounds, hitting first and not retaliating. I think when you come out and play aggressive and you play physical, I think you tend to get more calls. I think the referees tend to lean that way, and that's what they did last night. They brought the physicality to the game, and we retaliated all night.

Q. We've talked all playoffs about LeBron playing through Kevin and Kyrie, and he seemed to keep doing it last night despite their shooting struggles. Was last night a case where he should have played more dominantly, taken the ball more on his own?
TYRONN LUE: I think I should have called more plays to make him dominant. I think we continued to run plays that had been effective and working throughout the course of this series, knowing that Kyrie and Kevin could get going at any time, and I should have put the ball in LeBron's hands a little bit more to let him create and let him draw double teams. So that was more on me.

Q. When you get into your guys in a halftime locker room even when you're ahead, how do you find that they respond when you get really hard into them?
TYRONN LUE: They respond well. They're grown men, so you don't have to go in cussing and going crazy. They understand what we're playing for and what we're trying to do. When we're not playing the right way, they understand that. You can talk to them like men, and they understand that they've got to play better and play the right way.

Q. Was the number of threes a function of falling behind quickly, trying to come back?
TYRONN LUE: I thought when we got down 12, 15, I thought we forced a few threes trying to get it all back in one possession, and you can't play that way. But it just was something that happened, and we'll clean it up and we'll be better tomorrow, like I said.

Q. You shot I think it was 14 for 41, and you say, well, that's almost 50 percent in twos. But it could give the other team so many more possessions, the way they were rebounding especially. Is there a number you want?
TYRONN LUE: I just want us to continue to attack the basket, and if they help and collapse and kick it out to our shooters, then we've got to be able to shoot threes and knock them down.

Q. How would you describe the mood right now in the locker room?
TYRONN LUE: I haven't seen them yet today.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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