	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORS

June 7, 2016

Tyronn Lue

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. Do you have any update on Kevin Love's status and what you feel like you would do if he can't play in Game 3?
TYRONN LUE: He flew back with the team. He's feeling better, but right now he's just in the Concussion Protocol, and we won't know until tomorrow.

And what will I do if he doesn't play? I'm not going to tell you today, I'm sorry. That's fair, right? Okay.

Q. If Kevin can't go, is Timo a possibility? And when you look at the success the Thunder had going big against this team with Steven Adams and Serge Ibaka, can that be duplicated with Timo and Tristan Thompson?
TYRONN LUE: You know, Timo has to be ready. There is a chance and an opportunity for him to play. We've talked about that as a staff. You just have to be ready to play, and we'll see what happens from there.

Q. As you know after Game 1 the discussion was you guys just need to play a little better. But now that you've had two games that didn't go well, can we expect to see something schematically that's radically different or even marginally different from what we saw?
TYRONN LUE: We have to play better. Just being at home, they won two games on their home floor, and we're confident in coming back home here. We haven't lost here all Playoffs. We play very well, and our guys understand that. They're a good team. That's why they won 73 games this year, and they play well at home. They had two big games and now we've got to come home and protect our home court.

Q. They only won their games at home so far in this series, but you're talking about the best regular-season team in history record-wise, and the numbers historically are not good when you fall behind 2-0. How much of that creeps into your team's psyche, and what do you have to do to keep that out of it?
TYRONN LUE: I mean, history is something that's made to be broken, so we're not worried about being down 2-0. It's not over until the team wins four games and we know that. We've just got to execute. When we get chances on the break to convert, we've got to convert. When we get open shots, we've got to take advantage of open shots. We just can't turn the basketball over like we've been doing. If they turn the ball over 20 times, which is good, in our home building, we should be fine to get out and run and play with pace.

But we're not discouraged. They won two games and the series is not over until you win four.

Q. Coach, how would you assess LeBron's play in the first two games, and what more can he do, if there is more he can do?
TYRONN LUE: Just be aggressive. Stay in attack mode, be aggressive, making the right plays like he's done all season. We've just got to be able to convert in transition. It's not about LeBron. I have to do a better job, our players have to do a better job, we have to play better, and they understand that and we will.

Q. To kind of play off Joe's question a little bit more, the numbers actually looked worse for Golden State just a couple weeks ago when they were down 3-1. Do you bring that up with your guys at all, today, yesterday, tomorrow as far as just how quickly a series can change and the whole outlook of a series can change just as they showed a couple weeks ago?
TYRONN LUE: Yes, we talked about it. They were down 3-1, I think they lost games 3 and 4 in Oklahoma City by 50-something points combined. So they came back, and it's just winning one game. When you win one game, it changes the whole series. They were able to go home and win Game 5, then win Game 6 in Oklahoma City, and come home for a Game 7.

So we're not in that bad of shape as they were. 3-1 is worse than 2-0. And they came back and took it one game at a time, like we have to do. Like I said, we're confident and we're home. We haven't lost a playoff game here either, so we're going to be ready to play tomorrow.

Q. Have you or will you talk to Kyrie about playing less isolation style, and how important do you think that is to you guys in Game 3?
TYRONN LUE: Just talking to Kyrie about attacking, attacking early on in the shot clock. Don't let the switching make him stagnant. But he's one of the players that we have on our team that can go one-on-one, because they're switching one through five. But he has to make sharp, quick moves. He understands that, but we need Kyrie to be aggressive. He's a scorer, he's a special player. He has the best handle in the NBA, so he's able to play iso basketball. But he's got to make quick decisions, and he understands that.

Q. Outside of what might be a necessary move if Kevin can't play, have you contemplated any other lineup or rotation changes?
TYRONN LUE: We've thought about it, we've talked about it, but I can't let you know what we're planning on doing (laughing). But as a coaching staff, we've talked about some different things and we've discussed some different things, yes.

Q. If you don't make those changes, what can you do to get J.R. more touches, more shots?
TYRONN LUE: Well, they're playing J.R. like we're playing Steph and Klay; staying next to him, they're not leaving his body, and if we're not getting stops and getting out in transition, it's hard for J.R. to get shots because they're not leaving him. All the pin-down actions are switching out to deny J.R., so it's been tough. We have to play faster, we have to get stops and get out in transition.

Q. You mentioned you guys are undefeated at home in the Playoffs and the Warriors, I think, are 11-1 at home and 3-4 on the road. In your mind, what is the biggest difference? Is it just the fans? Or what explains how a team plays so much differently at home or on the road especially in the Playoffs?
TYRONN LUE: The fans have a lot to do with it. Just coming back here, we have some of the best fans in the world and they support us. And I think it helps with the role players, the bench players; they play better at home. I just think when they have the crowd behind you the way we've had it throughout the whole postseason, it's great to be at home.

Like you said, they're 3-4 on the road and we're undefeated at home. So we're looking forward to the challenge, and tomorrow we know we play at home, but we've got to give our fans something to cheer about.

Q. The three-point shot was so important for you guys in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. It's been minimized a little bit through the first two games of this series. You mentioned J.R., how they're defending him. Channing hasn't had a lot of minutes. What are some of the things that you're looking at on film and going on the court with practice to get more looks and then knock down that three ball, which opens up your offense?
TYRONN LUE: Well, if we play faster, we have to get stops. If we play faster, we can get out in transition and get easy threes. But in the half court, they're doing a good job of shrinking the floor. They're long and athletic, so they're closing out hard, so we have to drive the basketball. Richard Jefferson did a great job in the last game of catching it, straight line drive four times and got us four lay-ups.

So we've got to do a better job of reading the situation. Because they're running us off the three-point line and they don't want us to take those shots. Now we have to be able to drive the basketball and get to the basket.

Q. You talked a lot earlier in the postseason about the ball finding energy, and I just wonder as you've gone through this series how you've seen that play out?
TYRONN LUE: It's been different this series because, like I said before, they switch one through five, so they make it tough to get two on the ball. Anything you're doing in basketball, you want to try to get two guys on the ball, whether it's pick-and-roll, whether it's taking advantage of a mismatch on the post and they have to double team. And they've been doing that. But they've also been doing a great job of closing out and running us off the three-point line. So we have to do a better job of catching and/or driving the basketball, or making quick, early decisions on the post.

Q. You said that you need to be better. What exactly do you need to do to be better?
TYRONN LUE: Just having our team ready to play. I think just taking advantage of mismatches and doing it in a better way where they're comfortable and guys are in the right positions or the right spots. I think defensively just matching up, having the right match-ups on the floor at the right time, which we've done a good job of. But they've taken advantage of our switching and having bigger guys on the post. It's hard to try to double-team Iguodala or Harrison Barnes in the post when you have Steph and Klay and you've got to rotate to those guys. So they put you at some disadvantages.

So we have to do a better job of trying to stay out of those mismatches and keeping everyone matched up on their man.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297