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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERSMay 23, 2016DeMar DeRozanKyle LowryToronto, Ontario: Game Four Toronto - 105, Cleveland - 99 Q. Kyle, we always talk about you being from Philadelphia, and you've always played with that chip on your shoulder. Can you talk about that in relation to tonight's game? KYLE LOWRY: My background has kind of made me the man I am today. But coming into this situation where we're down 0-2, they did what they were supposed to do on their home floor, and we had an opportunity to do what we had to do on our home floor. Just understanding the situation and taking advantage of being at home and completing the task. So now we've got to go on the road and try to get one. Q. DeMar, when you see Kyle getting into his rhythm, what does that do for your game? DeMAR DeROZAN: For me? It's a cake walk for me once he gets going. It opens up everything for me on the floor. Teams try to focus in on him, and he knows when to get me going. He got the ball, he's our point guard, he's our leader of this team, and he knows how to orchestrate what needs to be done out there. Q. You guys had a lot of success between the two of you, Kyle and DeMar, doing the pick-and-roll, the screen especially late in the fourth quarter. I was curious what you were looking to do and what was successful about it? DeMAR DeROZAN: Just trying to get a switch, trying to get LeBron off me, trying to get them to switch, get a smaller man on me or try to look for the slip out for Kyle. It was just a read, trying to get LeBron, get a bigger body off me. Q. Early in the fourth, they were trapping both you guys on pick-and-rolls and it seemed to kind of create some havoc in the offense, and then both you guys broke through with a ton of big plays down the stretch. Was there anything you guys tweaked in the huddles or did it just come down to both your individual ability to make plays? DeMAR DeROZAN: We were solid down the stretch, understanding that they scored, we had to come down and get a bucket. And we just executed. We made the right reads. Kyle did a great job trying to screen, and I got some easy looks. Then he got it going. Q. When you guys have been in situations where you've been struggling in these playoffs, like down 2-0 in this series or when you were struggling with your shots in the first couple of rounds, what has it meant to have an influence like a guy like Wayne Embry here to bounce ideas off and talk to? KYLE LOWRY: He's a legend. Just having him around -- he doesn't say much, but we understand what he's done, and we've got some things in our locker room and in the training room, his words. He's just a good, positive-vibe guy. He doesn't say much at all. We just know he's there and supporting us. It's really that simple. DeMAR DeROZAN: When you have knowledge like that, that's been around the game for much longer than you've been on this earth, you can learn something every single day. There's always a new situation where he can chime in on and give you the best advice. He just listens. He doesn't say much, but he knows when to say the right thing when needed. Q. When you guys were coming back, down 2-0, no team had lost Conference Finals games by at least 19 points or more. Everywhere you turned, this series wasn't going back to Cleveland. Do you think you guys are being taken seriously now as contenders for the NBA Finals as a team that could win this series? KYLE LOWRY: People have their own opinions. Everybody has their own opinions, like I always say. We go and do what we do and that's all we're focused on is our team and what we believe. Q. How aware have you been of the prevailing opinion? KYLE LOWRY: Not aware at all. All we worry about is what's in our locker room. That's all that matters. DeMAR DeROZAN: Same. You know, honestly, we've been playing with our backs against the wall. We never cared what anybody else thought. It was a challenge for us every single day. We've been counted out, and we like that challenge. Q. Kyle, you said this morning you gave 7.5 to Game 3, so what kind of score would you give to this game? KYLE LOWRY: They shot 47 percent. They made 13 threes out of 41. We only made seven. We could always play better. They won the second half, and we've got to continue to get better. I don't rate any game. I don't think we have a perfect game. There's no such thing as a perfect game unless you shoot 100 percent from the field. We've got to continue to look at it and tweak what we need to tweak and get better and continue to get the things we need to do execution-wise. Q. Kyle, what's different about your team as you go to Cleveland? Is this a home-and-home series, or are you four games deep into learning about this team you're facing now? KYLE LOWRY: I think we're four games deep into learning, and vice versa. I'm sure they've figured out some things that we've done, and we've figured out some things that they've done. But it's a match. We've got to figure it out. You've got to tweak things. You've got to see things. You've got to watch the film and see where you can get better at, see where you can get an open shot at, see the things that we are executing, but also see the things that we are executing and making sure that we keep continuing to do that. Q. Kyle, you touched on it right off the top about the importance of now succeeding on the road in Cleveland. Based on what you know from what happened in the first two games of the series, what are you guys going to have to do differently when you go into the next game? KYLE LOWRY: Game 2, I think we finished the first quarter well. The second quarter it was tied. We've got to go into halftime close. We can't let them get on one of those big runs. We really can't. That's where they start to make separation, and that's what they did the first two games. They'd make a big run, they'd get a double-digit lead. We can't have them get a double-digit lead. We have to make sure when they punch, we punch back, and if they punch three times, we punch four times. We've got to continue to understand that they're not going to just lay down. They're going to continue to go, push, push, push, push. We ain't laying down, either. Q. Any sense after evening this series that the Cavaliers may look at you guys differently than they did coming back up here to Toronto? KYLE LOWRY: I don't think they ever looked at us like inferior opponents. They did what they were supposed to do on their home floor. I don't think they -- I said it before, we won 56 games. We got the 2 seed for a reason. They played well their first two games and they protected home, and now we came home and protected home. I don't think they looked at us any different. We knew and they knew it was going to be a battle. Them winning the first two games, that was what they were supposed to do and now we won our two games, now it's the best of three. Q. DeMar, you mentioned this was the first game with LeBron on you, sort of from the start of things, and you mentioned looking for the switches. Was the first-round battle against Paul [George] sort of instructive for that or is it a completely different scenario and sort of picking your spots this series? DeMAR DeROZAN: It's different. Seemed like a while ago when we went against Indiana. It was different. You've just got to pick and choose your spots with him, try to run him off as many screens as possible. Kyle does a good job when we run the one-two screen, getting me open. So it's just a different dynamic. Q. This has been kind of a roller coaster ride for both of you, some high highs and low lows in this postseason and even in this series. What have you done to steady yourselves after those lower moments and what do you think you've learned about yourselves being this deep in the playoffs for the first time? KYLE LOWRY: I think some games we haven't shot the ball well, and we just continue to go back and understand the work that we've put in. I know the work he's put in and I know the work I've put in. You can't go away from that. You have to continue to stay with the work and the process that you've put in throughout your career, throughout the years. I think the things that we've learned from ourselves is one game, two games erases everything that has happened before. Yes, we have the memory, but you win a game, it's like, oh, then you lose a game, it's like, aww. It's just back and forth. But you've got to find a way to be more consistent. I think both of us want to do that, be more consistent throughout the whole series. DeMAR DeROZAN: It's been great. One thing about us, we can take the bad with the good any day. It's life, man. You can't get too down when things not going your way, but you understand the work that you put in all summer, all throughout the season, for moments like this. You've got to be ready. I always told this guy [Lowry] when we were struggling, it's not about now. As long as we've got an opportunity to keep playing, we've got an opportunity to make up for this. And I think that's where we're at. Everything happens for a reason. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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