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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 3, 2016J.R. SmithOakland, California: Practice Day Q. Any way to get you going faster compared to last night? That's an unusual first half for you. J.R. SMITH: I think we've just got to push the pace a little bit. We tried to slow the ball down, play to our matchups, which really didn't benefit us. So every time we get a stop or even if they score, we've still got to get the ball up fast and push the pace. Q. If the stars even this thing out, do you see this becoming a battle of the supporting cast, and how do you step up to match what they did last night? J.R. SMITH: Yeah, I think it's definitely a battle of supporting casts. It's just a matter of slowing their guys down and getting our guys going. They have a great bench, obviously, so we've just got to do a better job on Shaun and Leandro. Q. Does having to chase Klay around take away anything from your offense? J.R. SMITH: No, I've done it for the last three series, chasing guys around screens and stuff like that. I wouldn't say it has a lot to do with my offense. My offense is pretty much dictated on my defense -- how well we get out in transition and push the ball. We don't really run a lot of set plays for me, so transition is big. When we get stops, we've just got to keep pushing. Q. Could you talk about some of the positives you learned in the third quarter when the team able to make the run? J.R. SMITH: Yeah, when we got stops, we pushed the ball. They struggled getting back on us in transition. That's one of the things that we thrive on. When we push the ball and get stops, we're a much better team, as opposed to just playing half court offensively and letting them pack the paint. Q. How do you manage to stay positive and looking forward to the next game? J.R. SMITH: You've just got to stick with your game plan. You make minor adjustments here and there, but for the most part, stick with the game plan and just grind it out. We had a great start to the third quarter. The fourth quarter got a little away from what we wanted to do, and they exploited it. Q. How much were they denying you? Three shots was surprising. J.R. SMITH: They did a great job of denying me and not letting me catch the ball. But a lot of the times we were playing to our matchups. We've got LeBron on a big or a small, we've got Kevin switched on to a small, Kyrie switched on to a big. We tried to exploit that and let those guys work. Unfortunately, we missed too many layups. But anytime our team gets in a situation like that, we're pretty comfortable. Q. You consciously don't want to take it on your back and start to do things on your own? J.R. SMITH: No, I'm going to stick to the game plan. I'm not going to sit there and dribble around and take wild shots with two people on me just to get a shot off. If the shot's there, I'm going to take it. If it's not, I'm going to move the ball and try to help somebody else get a better shot. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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