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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORS

June 19, 2016

Tyronn Lue

Oakland, California: Game Seven

Cavaliers 93, Warriors 89

Q. Tyronn, usually it's the case where coaches are at the start of this thing. Can you talk about why you're coming in here so late and what you've been up to over the last X-number of minutes?
COACH LUE: They pushed me back. They kept pushing me back. So I went out on the court and did some great interviews with NBA TV with Grant Hill and Steve Smith, Isiah Thomas. Then I had A.C. So just some different interviews, but they kept pushing me back, and now I'm here. I'm glad it's empty in here, too. That's great.

Q. Just to follow up, there have been a lot of coaches that are coaching in this league for a lot of seasons and they've never sat where you're sitting right now. Can you put in perspective sort of what these last four or five months have been like for you?
COACH LUE: Tough. It's been very tough. But just have a lot of great friends, lot of great family. The team was great. They supported me from day one, taking over a tough situation that wasn't -- you can't see yourself taking over the situation that I took over in, and then also taking over when you're coaching a LeBron James team, and I knew it was going to be tough.

But the players stuck behind me 100%. The organization believed in me -- Dan Gilbert, Nate Forbes, Jeff Cohen, David Griffin.

After the game, it was just -- I never cry. I've always been tough and never cried. Just after the game -- my brother is here, Greg, just said: I've never seen you cry before. Just a lot of emotions just built up. My grandfather couldn't be here. He passed away, and all the haters and all the doubters. It just all built up at one time. Then finally hearing that last horn go off, it was just unbelievable. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel right.

My mom, she's a minister, and God is good. I mean, I don't know. What you want me to say (laughing)?

Q. What's going on in Mexico, Missouri? Are they going to sleep tonight?
COACH LUE: Probably not. Probably not. I'm just so proud, man, of where I've come from. It's just crazy that a guy from a small town, Mexico, Missouri, there were more people in the stands tonight, double than there is in my hometown. We have 11,000 people in my hometown, and you've got 22,000 in the arena tonight. So it's just an unbelievable feeling.

And just happy that small-town boy could do something positive and show the younger kids that there is hope. There is time to grow as a person and to do the right thing. It's just an unbelievable feeling.

Q. What's that 4th of July weekend going to be like?
COACH LUE: It's going to be unbelievable. I can't wait.

Q. Have you spoken with Doc [Rivers] yet or seen his text?
COACH LUE: No, not yet.

Q. What do you expect him to tell you?
COACH LUE: I probably can't say it up here (laughing). Man, just so much love and respect for Doc, who is my mentor, and everything I've learned and everything I do is Doc Rivers driven. Seeing me being a great coach, when I even know I wanted to coach in 2003, when he told me you can come coach for me, when I played for him in Atlanta, I was like, yeah, right. I don't want to be a coach because I see how hard and difficult it is.

But he saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. He gave me my first opportunity, and I'm very thankful to Doc and I'll always love him. He'll always be my mentor.

Q. Could you tell me a little bit what happened in the third quarter? You guys made a nice run. You were behind to start, but it felt like you came out with a different kind of vibe that third quarter. Could you talk a little bit about that?
COACH LUE: I just told the guys at halftime I didn't think we were giving it our all in the first half. We made a lot of mistakes. We didn't give the maximum effort for a Game 7. I just told them that in Game 6 in Toronto, that was maximum effort. I thought we really played as hard as we could possibly play.

In that first half, I didn't think we did that. In the second half we came out, we really had a defensive mindset. J.R. came out and made eight straight points for us, which was big for us. And that kind of got us going.

But I thought defensively those last five games of the series was unbelievable. That's just a credit to the guys of following the game plan. We made a few adjustments and we stuck to the game plan. Confidence never wavered, and it's a credit to the guys.

Q. Do you think playing more in the middle of the floor made a difference in those last four games -- or last four of the five last games?
COACH LUE: You're an offensive guy. I'm not sure. You got to tell me. We didn't win a lot on the elbow tonight, so I'm not sure. You've got to tell me (laughing).

Q. LeBron has his greatness that you know, but watching Kyrie develop throughout this playoff run and even this last series and reaching greater heights, what was that like for you as a coach to see a young player sort of excel and find his way in the NBA?
COACH LUE: It was great. And I know he was hurt from last year, him and Kevin missing the NBA Finals after getting hurt. It's a long summer of rehabbing and strengthening his body. They've done a great job with that.

When we hit the Playoffs, I thought he was really at a hundred percent, and he really hit his stride. Kyrie's back to being special Kyrie. You know, that shot that he made tonight, that three-point shot was probably one of the biggest shots in NBA history, especially knowing that no one has ever come back from 3-1. Only three teams out of 18, I think, have won a Game 7 on an opposing team's floor. Just that has to be one of the biggest shots in NBA history.

I'm just happy for him. For all that he went through last year, the whole grind this year, the media, worrying about his assists when I'm telling him to be aggressive and score the basketball, and you guys are worrying about assists, I just love that he stuck with it. We need him to be aggressive. We need Kyrie to be aggressive and be a scorer, and that opens up his passing.

So I'm just very happy for him. This is a moment that all of us will always cherish. When you win a championship together, it's like a blood transfusion. No matter what, no matter where you go, 15 years from now it would be the same love like I have for Ron Harper and Robert Horry and Horace Grant, Brian Shaw. Fifteen years since we won a championship, and when I see those guys, it's like we've never missed a beat. It's just something you can never change.

Q. When you see LeBron break down with the trophy, I mean, could you imagine the burden he took on to break this title drought 52 years? Did that set you off to see him kind of letting loose there?
COACH LUE: I didn't see it. I was crying myself. I was on the bench crying myself. Just a lot of emotions. But for LeBron, he deserves it. He's a hard worker. He's been the face of the NBA for 13 years. He's always been on top, and just to come back to the state of Ohio, the city of Cleveland, to bring them a championship when he came from a situation where he won two championships, and to leave Miami to come to Cleveland to give the city of Cleveland a championship, just shows you who he is.

The biggest thing with LeBron and the reason why I say he deserves it is because of the person that he is. He's a giver. He's always looking to take care of people. He's always been nice to everyone. If anyone deserves it, LeBron James definitely deserves it.

Q. A minute left, the game's tied, and you call a timeout and Kyrie hits the three. I wonder what you said in that timeout, and what were you trying to get at that moment? Was it the three-pointer? What were you trying to get there?
COACH LUE: We tried to get Kyrie with the basketball with Steph Curry guarding him and let them go one-on-one. Like I said before, they're a good defensive team. They switch one through five on pin-downs, on pick-and-rolls, so it's hard to get two on the ball. Because when you're playing basketball, you always try to get two on the ball so someone's going to be open.

But the way they play defense, that's not going to happen. So we just try to get the matchup that we wanted, and I wasn't for sure if it was going to be a three or not. But Kyrie, the player he is, he's not scared of the big moment, and he made a big shot for us. That's what we were looking for coming out of the timeout. Just told the guys, we need one score and one stop, and we were able to do it.

Q. Was there a plan B?
COACH LUE: One score, one stop (laughing).

Q. Do you feel like you got enough credit as a coach that actually molded this group? Because sometimes I felt like people almost thought that they won in spite of you. Do you feel like you got the credit you deserved?
COACH LUE: I don't care. I don't care about credit. We won. Everyone deserves credit. One through 15, all of our coaching staff, the organization, everybody deserves credit. So I don't need the credit. I don't care.

Q. The second part of that is you're the sixth African-American coach to win a championship. Are we past talking about that, or is that a special moment to you given that a lot of coaches in this league that happen to be African-American don't get the opportunities that many others do?
COACH LUE: I mean, I'm just happy to be in the position I'm in. There are great African-American coaches. Most of the time you don't get a chance to take over a championship-ready team like I did. And I was just fortunate to have this opportunity.

With that being said, there's a lot of great African-American coaches. Larry Drew, who is on my staff who is a great coach and doesn't get enough credit. So there are a lot of great coaches that sometimes have to take over bad situations, bad teams and work their way up. But that doesn't mean they're not good coaches.

It's all about the talent you're given. People winning championship in spite of the coach, like I did, you know (laughing). You know, that's how it is. When you get a chance as an African-American to win a championship, it's very important, it's very special, and hopefully that opens doors for other black American coaches.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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