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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CLEVELAND VS TORONTO

May 27, 2016

Tyronn Lue

Toronto, Ontario: Postgame six

Cleveland 113, Toronto 87

TYRONN LUE: First off, I want to say hello to Mexico, Missouri, where I'm from. I want to give the Toronto Raptors credit. They played a great series. Casey did a phenomenal job. They have a great team over there. They won 56 games this year, and people counted those guys out saying they weren't a second seed, but they proved it. They took us to six games, and I just want to give them credit for putting us through a great series.

Q. Congratulations. In this game, LeBron seemed like he could have done it all, but he didn't need to because Kevin Love gave you what he's supposed to give you, and Kyrie gave you what he's supposed to do. In what ways did those guys take the load off your No. 23?
TYRONN LUE: We talked about it earlier that LeBron -- we needed LeBron to set the tone for us early, and I thought he did that, and then we slowly brought Kyrie along, slowly brought Kevin along, and we knew at some point LeBron was going to run out of gas, and Kevin and Kyrie, we went to those guys and they came through for us. We knew that was going to happen throughout the course of the game with LeBron expending so much energy that first quarter trying to get us off to a great start. Then Kyrie and Kevin just brought us home.

Q. Dwane Casey spent some time today talking about how you guys really understand this moment, but no one understands it the way LeBron does. How does he master moments like this one?
TYRONN LUE: I don't know. I mean, he's just a great player. He's a proven winner. He's always won over the course of his career, and to go to six straight Finals is unbelievable. He puts the work in. He's a hard worker. And he deserves it. Along with his teammates, with Kyrie, Kevin, J.R., our whole unit. The biggest thing that I'm proud of is we came together and we trusted, and you can see that on the floor. It's a carryover onto the floor, and it's beautiful to watch.

Q. You just said that you needed LeBron to set the tone early. There are so many games where LeBron reads, gets others involved early on. Why was it so important tonight to have him start like that?
TYRONN LUE: Well, because Toronto has been playing great at home. They were comfortable here. They have a great fan base. It's a loud environment. And Game 6 on the road, LeBron has been in these positions before, and I just needed him to take charge and take the lead and just come out early in that first quarter and really set the tone of playing hard, of scoring the basketball, attacking and moving the basketball. He really did that for us tonight.

Q. Now that it's over, over the last 24 hours or so, was there a moment with you and LeBron or LeBron and the team where he said or otherwise demonstrated that he was going to try to end the series tonight, something like Michael would have done or Kobe or something like that?
TYRONN LUE: We talked about it yesterday as a group. We wanted to approach this game like it was our Game 7. We did not want to leave anything to chance, and we wanted to come out and we wanted to play aggressive on both ends to start the game. After I gave my speech, LeBron gave a speech also, just saying that we want to take care of business tomorrow. We came out, and guys really competed. We really played hard. Kyle Lowry did a great job. He made some great shots, some big shots for those guys, or the game could have really gotten out of hand.

Q. The Cavs have built a very strong, deep organization. How important is it as you advance to the playoffs that you're not relying on a couple of guys, that you've got people in reserve who can come in and step up?
TYRONN LUE: Well, we've been doing that all season. First of all, I want to just thank Dan, Jeff, Nate and David Griffin for putting together a great team like we have. Every night the Big Three, two of the three are going to play great every night. Then we need someone else to step up, and guys have been stepping up throughout the course of the season. Channing Frye, J.R. Smith, Dellavedova. Guys come in, they step up. It's not just the Big Three, it's a team effort. That's when we've really been able to play our best basketball, when the Big Three understood and trusted the rest of the guys that are around them. That's when we really started taking off playing great basketball.

Q. What would you describe, having played them through the regular season and now in the playoffs, how would you describe this Raptors team if there was an adjective or an identity that you see from a step back?
TYRONN LUE: Just a scrappy team. They're a scrappy team. They have two All-Stars. They have a great coach in Dwane Casey. They just play hard every single night -- Biyombo, Kyle Lowry, DeRozan. You've got James Johnson. Valanciunas is a load. Patrick Patterson. Those guys just play hard. They compete every single night. When you have the talent that they have and you play hard, you're going to win games, and they're going to be tough to beat.

Q. You had said just now that teams started to become great when the Big Three were trusting others, including themselves. As a coach when you're in that position to get there, did you know it was going to happen? What kind of doubt did you have that it may not happen in time to get to where you are today?
TYRONN LUE: It was tough at first because taking over midway through the season, you really don't have a chance to have a lot of practices and no time to really put your stamp on this team. But I thought every day my coaching staff really did a great job of just keep honing in on let's be a team and playing the right way and playing together and moving the basketball and trust. To those guys' credit in that locker room, those 15 guys, they really bought into it. I think it happened after the Brooklyn game. Once we lost that Brooklyn game in Brooklyn, we really came together. We had a great meeting. We talked about what we needed to do going forward. The Big Three talking about what they needed from each other on a nightly basis to become great. After that meeting, I've really thought we really came together and really started playing basketball the right way.

Q. The Raptors didn't go quietly in the third quarter. The last two games you've been able to put them out and get your other players in in the fourth quarter. I wanted you to tell me a little bit about how Kyrie and LeBron helped in the fourth because they really seemed to put them away themselves.
TYRONN LUE: LeBron came out early in that first quarter and really set the tone for us I thought offensively and defensively. We had to just keep staying with our other guys, with Kyrie and Kevin, knowing there was going to be an opportunity for those guys step up and have to take over also when LeBron got tired. At the end of the first half, LeBron was dead. I think we played him 23 minutes in that first half. And he didn't want to come out. Even at 30 seconds, I took him out and he got mad about it. But I said we're going to need other guys, so we had to keep the ball in Kyrie's hands, keep trying to post Kevin, give him a feel for the basketball. When LeBron came out, Kevin and Kyrie really took over down the stretch and really brought us home.

Q. Have you been in Cleveland long enough do you think to grasp what this means to the city, and if you're able to win the next four or get four more what that would mean?
TYRONN LUE: It would mean a lot. I know this city has been craving for a championship, and we have the right team and we have the right talent. The way we've been playing basketball and trusting one another and coming together as a unit, I think guys understand what we have ahead of us. I'm just happy that everyone gets to enjoy it. We're going into The Finals. Everyone is healthy. Everyone is eager to play. They're ready to play. But the biggest thing is just having everyone healthy and being able to enjoy this moment.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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