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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORS

June 9, 2016

Tyronn Lue

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. I'm curious since you've been here the past few years, what influence have you seen from LeBron on Kyrie, both in terms of his play and in terms of his off-court approach, leadership, anything like that?
TYRONN LUE: Just off the court, just being professional as far as handling your body, getting your body in the best shape you can possibly be in. I think after Game 1 last year of The Finals when Kyrie got hurt, I think he's really taken a serious approach to making sure his body's right, lifting weights, conditioning, and LeBron does it every day. Getting massages, stretching, taking care of your body. So as a young player, you need a veteran player like that to show you how to do that, show you the ropes. And LeBron's been great for that.

Also, as far as playing, just playing the way he's capable of playing. LeBron hasn't hurt him any by being here. He's really helped him. And Kyrie's still able to be aggressive, still able to be him. And now just have that one, two, three punch with him, Kevin and Kyrie.

So it's not anything different that LeBron has brought just outside of professionalism.

Q. Looking at the arc that Kyrie was on prior to LeBron coming back here, do you think he'd be at a different point if he's the guy having to carry the Cavaliers program up into the Playoffs?
TYRONN LUE: I'm not sure.

Q. Draymond is such a force for the Warriors, what's it mean to have LeBron be able to match up with him?
TYRONN LUE: LeBron's able to be physical with him, give him a different look. Able to guard him off the dribble. And also be able to help and get back out, fast enough to get back out to contest his shots. When Draymond's posting the basketball, he's a very good passer, and LeBron's able to chase the basketball and get deflections and get into his body.

Q. Can you talk about the passion that Phil Handy had in his speech after Game 2, and where do you think that came from, and why did you feel comfortable with him saying what he said?
TYRONN LUE: Well, just something we all knew that we had to play harder. Just had to continue to compete for 48 minutes, not one quarter, not a quarter and a half. What he said was right on. And the guys accepted that. They understood it, and we just moved on.

Q. Coach, with Kevin Love out, obviously you won't know if he's cleared until probably tomorrow. If he's able to go, have you thought about if you'll keep your traditional starting lineup or if you'll stay with what you did in Game 3?
TYRONN LUE: Haven't thought about it yet. Hopefully just trying to get Kevin healthy is the most important thing right now. And like you said, he's going through the concussion protocol right now, so hopefully we can get him back.

Q. Klay Thompson had some fairly strong words last night about the screen that Mozgov set. Did you see it? He actually said it was kind of dirty in his mind. Did you see the play on replay, and what did you think of that collision?
TYRONN LUE: Timo was running in to set a high pick-and-roll, and at the same time the ball handler was moving going forward, so he just tried to stop and they ended up running into each other. But I wouldn't say it was a dirty play.

Q. We all saw Kevin out there moving, dunking, shooting, so what is it that he still has to do or pass to be cleared?
TYRONN LUE: After the workout it has to take 24 hours for the NBA protocol. So once he works out today, it takes 24 hours to see him again to see if everything adds up. I'm not sure what goes into it. But now he had a great workout, and now it takes 24 hours to come and reevaluate him.

Q. Tristan, LeBron and Jefferson were so effective. Would you be tempted to try to bring Love back to the starting lineup, or do you think he would be okay with coming off the bench?
TYRONN LUE: I haven't thought about it yet.

Q. With Kevin out, was it almost a little bit easier for you guys to match up in transition when they would come off a stop? Like if LeBron's on Klay, he's on Klay. If RJ's on Draymond, he's on Draymond. You don't have to worry as much about the matchups?
TYRONN LUE: No, it didn't make it easier. I thought what made it easier is we played harder. We competed, we played harder, and we were able to get matchups in transition. It didn't have anything to do with Kevin being on the floor. It's just the way we approached the game.

Q. Coach, we saw a little bit of LeBron on the elbow. I was just wondering if you could explain to us some of the things that maybe offers versus taking the ball from the wing or in different spots. What enables you when you have him at the elbow?
TYRONN LUE: When he's at the elbow, he's able to make one dribble and get to the basket. He's also a great passer from there. And he's able to scan and read the floor, and it's harder to double-team from that position.

Q. None of these three games have been reflections of the other. Do you have any mindset as to how you think Game 4 will play out? Or why has it been that all of these games are different? It's kind of like a prizefight to where each game is a different game in and of itself? How are you approaching Game 4?
TYRONN LUE: The same way we approached Game 3: Just being physical, and being aggressive. I think in the first two games with Golden State, they were definitely that. They were more physical and they were more aggressive than we were. And last night we turned the tables on them.

Q. Officiating has allowed for you guys to be physical. Is it difficult for you, for the players to adjust to the officiating? I noticed that last night LeBron appeared to get fouled a lot, and he didn't get the call. So is it that difficult to adjust to the officiating? Are they letting you guys play too much? Are they not letting you play enough? Or is it the inconsistency that's affecting the flow of the game?
TYRONN LUE: I think with the referees, the most aggressive team, they usually let you play that way. We were physical last night. We were aggressive, and they let us play, and that was on both ends of the floor. So we've got to keep attacking. If we don't get foul calls, we've just got to keep going and keep playing. We can't complain about the calls.

Q. Obviously the trending topic around this NBA Finals from Game 3 to Game 4 is Kevin Love. There's a lot of people saying that this team looks better without him. I want your statement on what you have to say to those people that think that this Cavaliers team is better without Kevin Love?
TYRONN LUE: I'm not giving a statement.

Q. After games 3 and 4 in Toronto, we knew that you made sure you spoke to Kevin on a daily basis to keep him in it when he didn't play in the fourth quarter of those games. What's your communication been like with him while he's dealing with this concussion protocol process?
TYRONN LUE: Just tell him to be patient. I know he's eager to play, he wants to play, and we definitely need him back. We miss his rebounding. We miss his post presence. We miss his three-point shooting. So we definitely want him back, but he has to take the steps necessary to get himself back.

So just staying positive with him. We know it's a tough time being in the NBA Finals. It's something you dreamed about your whole life, and having to deal with this is tough. But myself, my coaching staff, teammates, we all have his back and we wish him well and need him back.

Q. What was it like for him yesterday when, I don't know if you broke the news or the League broke the news or the team broke the news that he wouldn't be able to play?
TYRONN LUE: It was tough. He wanted to play. He was very upset about the situation, but the guys said, "We're going to win this game for you." And LeBron and Kyrie and those guys told him, "Tonight we're going to win this game for you, so get yourself healthy, get yourself back." He was all happy after the game. And they told him, "Kevin, this was for you."

So it was a big moment for us, but we definitely need him back.

Q. Following up on that, when you have to make those decisions and sit people down or make lineup changes, how do you finesse that and how do you deal with egos?
TYRONN LUE: I think you just tell the truth. You know, tell the truth. They might not like it at the time, but I've always learned in this business if you tell the truth, guys understand and they know what the truth is. They might be mad for a second, but they can always get back to understand and realize that's the right thing. And if you tell the truth, guys can respect that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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