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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS

May 22, 2016

DeMar DeRozan

Toronto, Ontario: Practice Day

Q. Last night you talked about just being more aggressive, but were there openings in the defense created last night that you haven't seen in the first two games?
DeMAR DeROZAN: No, I think I just had more of a conscious effort of just wanting to be aggressive, especially in transition, if we got stops or if I had the ball, bringing it up. Just being aggressive. If I didn't have nothing, just find somebody so we could just get the ball moving.

Q. Later in the game you put LeBron [James] out for I guess a half a dozen. Do you expect to see a little bit more of that tomorrow night?
DeMAR DeROZAN: Yeah, I'm pretty sure. It's fun, just to be able to go out there, take on that challenge, and go out there and compete against one of the best teams in the league.

Q. Was there anything different about what J.R. [Smith] did last night from the first two games?
DeMAR DeROZAN: Yeah, he was real aggressive. I think he shot about 15 or 16 threes. When you get that many threes up, you're definitely looking to be aggressive. It seemed like as a team they were more conscious of trying to get him off and him being more aggressive and finding his shot.

Q. How about defensively, him defensively?
DeMAR DeROZAN: He tried the keep the ball out of my hands. He tried top-blocking me every time I come off screens the best he can. That's why I made a conscious effort whenever I had the ball, try to stay away from him denying me from getting the ball and just trying to be aggressive.

Q. Were you surprised he bit on that pump fake because I think that's something they talked about a lot.
DeMAR DeROZAN: Yeah, I was pretty sure. It kind of caught me off guard. I've been trying to steer away from the pump fake a little bit. But for the first shot -- they normally go for it the first time around, and then I won't get it for the rest of the game.

Q. They're talking about him as a locked down defender, which doesn't seem to jibe with his reputation in the league.
DeMAR DeROZAN: Right.

Q. Have you ever seen him as that or is that a new thing?
DeMAR DeROZAN: I think he's more locked into that when he comes to that now. I think he has to be on a team like the team he's on now. So things out of the norm will be asked of you, and he's been doing that.

Q. When people are out there after Game 2 suggesting that you guys quit, how much pride do you guys as a team take in being able to come out the way you did last night and make a statement in that way?
DeMAR DeROZAN: That's what it's all about, especially when you see things and headlines and things being said. You really sit there and wonder, Where do you all get this from? Where do these people get these suggestions, allegations from? It's crazy just to see it sometimes because people don't understand how sick or upset we are after a loss, especially after how we lost the first two games. We felt embarrassed. We knew that wasn't us.

To see things like that is definitely frustrating, and the only way to shut it up is to go out there and play.

Q. After those first two games where the gap was so wide, what does Game 3 give you in terms of figuring out ways to attack them, figuring out maybe there were weaknesses there that you hadn't seen before?
DeMAR DeROZAN: Just got to keep them off the free-throw line. Try to make everything that they do tough. Once they get in a rhythm, it's hard to beat a team like that. That's what we did the first two games. They got in a rhythm. They were moving the ball, knocking down shots, getting into their comfort zone. We've just got to keep them out of their comfort zone throughout the whole game.

Q. What does it mean for you guys when [coach Dwane] Casey is respectfully ripping the officials after the game?
DeMAR DeROZAN: I don't know how to comment on that. I don't want to get fined. That's our coach. He's got our back through thick and thin. To hear him back us up, whatever it may be, it's definitely great to have a coach like that that's going to have your back.

Q. How different was the level of physical intensity in last night's game compared to the first two?
DeMAR DeROZAN: It was a lot different. Whether it was physical or not, you really don't think about it in the moment. But the tempo was to the pace of our liking on both ends. We were out there scrambling on the defensive end, helping each other, getting in passing lanes. Bis was helping us every time we got beat. That's the style of basketball we've been playing all year, and that's what made us successful. So I wouldn't say more so physical; it was just in our comfort zone last night.

Q. There was a couple of incidents half court, the elbow and then the flagrant foul on Biyombo. What impact do you think those things are going to have moving forward?
DeMAR DeROZAN: It's the playoffs. It happens. Every series, everybody goes through the little scuffles here and there. It's part of the game. I think fans like seeing it at the end of the day. But I'm pretty sure it's going to come, whether it's something that's subtle or something that's major. That's part of the game.

Q. Do you think you got under their skin a bit? They haven't lost yet, they get beat bad yesterday, they get knocked around, you guys aren't backing down. Do you think you got under their skin a little?
DeMAR DeROZAN: I don't know, that's a question you'd probably have to ask them. I think one thing we just really concentrated on ourselves and playing the style that we know we can play. Whatever happened on their end, that was on them. But we really locked down and came together like we normally do.

Q. With Bis putting up the numbers he put up and you scoring 32, how can you guys win if those numbers aren't duplicated?
DeMAR DeROZAN: There are a thousand ways to win a game. There are many more other ways to win a game. Tomorrow night it could be Kyle [Lowry]. It could be another big rebounder. Or it could be Terrence [Ross] or the bench coming up big for us. There are a lot of ways outside of me having to score 30 and Bis rebounding 26 times for us to figure out a way to win.

Q. Go back to last summer when you played against Bis. Did you have any expectation you'd have --
DeMAR DeROZAN: No, I hated Bis. When he was in Charlotte, I hated Bis. I hated him. He was a fouler, always blocking shots. He always went for the pump fake, though, but I hated Bis. I told him myself, I told Bismack, I hated you. Now by far he's one of my favorite teammates of all time. It's great when you get to meet a person like that that was your rival, so to speak, from another team. To be on your team, now you understand why everybody else hated him so much, and I love it now.

Q. Did you think he was as good as he is, honestly?
DeMAR DeROZAN: Not like this. I give him credit all the time. He's so dominant when it comes to whatever needs to be done. He never asks for the ball. He just wants to do all the dirty work for us, set the screens, getting rebounds, blocking shots. When he gets going, he gets to point in the air doing the finger thing, that kind of gets us going. That kind of fuels us to keep playing hard. The spirit he has out there is amazing.

Q. You had two assists to him last night late in the game. Would you have thrown those passes to him in November?
DeMAR DeROZAN: No. No. But you know, that's the trust that's been built over the season of understanding what he's going to be -- with him, Kyle, Kyle throwing him lobs, him rolling. You just get a better feel for it now, and that's what it's all about when you go through a long season of growing and getting more comfortable with guys than a year ago.

Q. Plus his ability to catch the ball has improved greatly since November.
DeMAR DeROZAN: Yeah, I've been telling him to catch tennis balls in his off time and get that going. But like I said, Bis is still young at the end of the day. Sometimes I'm thinking he's a veteran how he's out there playing, but he's still a kid at the end of the day.

Q. That change in the way you perceived him from opponent to teammate must have helped illustrate how opponents see him now in the playoffs, as an agitator or a guy who could get under someone's skin?
DeMAR DeROZAN: Yeah, and it's great. We always find out players in this league that you hate but you would love to play with. Bis is one of those guys. When he's on your team, you love him to death. We all love him, and like I say, he's the spirit when we're out there on the court.

Q. What do you think you guys showed in Game 3 and what you guys might have shown the Cavs about you guys?
DeMAR DeROZAN: We just showed we can win. Anybody can be beat at the end of the day. It's not like we're playing against a Dream Team of players. Anybody is capable of being beaten. We showed it all year, being resilient. As long as we have an opportunity to go out there on that court, we feel like we can beat anybody.

Q. All year and really ever since Casey got here, it's always been defense, defense, defense. Because the first two games they were so dominant offensively and they all seemed to be shooting at a high clip, did the focus almost turn to you guys for offense and just match him?
DeMAR DeROZAN: Not really. We understood the defensive end was going to come. Like I said, they were off for nine days. No telling what they were doing. They could have been doing shooting drills that whole nine days and were in a rhythm of shooting it. We had one day to prepare, and they jumped out on us. Everything was kind of offset for us offensively and defensively of getting a feel for a brand-new team different from the Miami Heat.

So they jumped out on us, and we just had to buckle down and realize, relax. Let's play how we know how to play and be aggressive.

Q. Do you think you grew as a team because you had to win ugly the first couple rounds?
DeMAR DeROZAN: Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the best way to grow, honestly. You have to go through the toughest of the tough to know each guy next to you is going to fight for you. It's easy when everything is going great. It's easy. But when things get tough, it really shows the character of the person and the team.

Q. Between Games 2 and 3 coming back here, what were some of the things you guys looked at from film and practice on the defensive side of the floor?
DeMAR DeROZAN: We were just trying to do too much out of the character of what we've been doing all year, all through the playoffs. We were just trying to do too much, overreact to their style of play instead of just being us, being the team that scrambles, helping one another, protecting the rim, protecting the paint, then protecting the outside. I think we had a reverse from the first two games, and we just got back to what we've been doing.

Q. And did you see that on video?
DeMAR DeROZAN: Yeah, yeah. You see it on video and just had a feel for it because it didn't feel right. When you do something for over 80, 90 games, then in one day you try to change something up, it's not going to work as well.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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