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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 3, 2017

Tyronn Lue

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. In Game 1, maybe you guys put some emphasis on stopping the three-point line. What adjustments do you make in this game to do the same but also keep Kevin from going down the middle untouched and also get more from Tristan Thompson?
COACH LUE: We have to stop the ball. That's the most important thing. We can't let Durant get easy baskets like that. With him being probably one of the best scorers in the NBA, you can't give guys like that easy opportunities at the basket.

So we have to do a good job of stopping the basketball, but we also have to get back out to shooters. One guy has to stop the ball and the other guys have to get back and get to Steph and Klay and those guys. But we have to stop the basketball first.

With Tristan, he's going to be fine. They're doing a good job of hitting him with two or three bodies to keep him off the offensive glass. But with him running the floor, with his will, with his passion for the game, he's going to be fine. So we're not worried about Tristan.

Q. Klay is in a little bit of a slump here in the postseason, but how quickly can that guy catch fire and how does it dictate you how you guys guard him?
COACH LUE: He's one of the best shooters we have ever seen. For him to be in a slump is crazy. He's missed some shots or whatever, not in a great rhythm because Steph and KD are playing at a high clip, and they have been in the playoffs. So maybe be a little bit out of rhythm, but as far as off in a slump, I don't believe that. A guy like that is never slumping.

Q. So as a coach and as a player, how much did being hot in a game dictate whether you were going to stay in the game or not? Like if Kyrie hits a few shots in a row but he should be coming out, are you going to leave him in there to keep that hot hand going?
COACH LUE: Yeah, we did it in Boston. He had a great third quarter, and we kept him in for the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to let him ride it. That's what this game's all about. When guys are hot, you got to ride them.

Q. Did your feelings on that change as a coach? Or you had the same mentality as a player?
COACH LUE: Same mentality.

Q. Keep riding that hot hand?
COACH LUE: Oh, yeah, for sure.

Q. When you looked at the tape and you had mentioned before about all the turnovers and things like that, what did you see looking at that that was causing so many of those?
COACH LUE: We know that's a great defensive team. But I thought some of them were unforced, and then a lot of them they did force. They did a good job of helping and then getting back out to shooters or stabbing at the ball and getting back out, playing cat and mouse.

So when we make a move to the basket, we just have to be decisive -- take it to the basket or make the pass. And I thought they did a good job of just playing in between, making us be off guard. So we make a move, we have to be direct with what we're going to do; if not, move the basketball.

Q. In terms of trying to get more fast-break points --
COACH LUE: When we get stops, we have to get out. We have to play with pace. We've got to play in transition. They're a great team in the half court, as far as loading up and taking away what they want to take away. So when we get stops, we have to get out and run and play with pace.

Q. Where on the list of LeBron's accomplishments do you rank the fact that he's won a road game in 30 straight playoff series?
COACH LUE: Well, he's a great player. Anytime you want to win a championship, you have to win on the road. And we understand that. With Golden State having home court the last three years, we know it's going to be tough. You have to win on the road to be great.

Q. If you go back to March, April when you guys were struggling a little bit and people were kind of wondering what you guys could become again in the playoffs, what was your level of concern at the time about this team's ability to get back to a championship form that would get you to this spot?
COACH LUE: I wasn't concerned. My biggest concern was getting healthy. I thought once we got healthy and we got all the pieces together, we can kind of figure out how we wanted to play, what style of basketball.

Defensively, I just knew we're more of a scheme defensive team. We have a scheme and take things away. And in the playoffs, we're a lot better defensively than we are in the regular season.

Q. You were a veteran of some Lakers teams where flipping the switch was like the whole phrase that went on, and we saw it --
COACH LUE: I don't like that phrase.

Q. So when your team took off in this playoffs, though, that was the perception, like, oh, okay, well, they flipped the switch. What truth is there, if any, to that?
COACH LUE: I thought we played better. We were playing better in the playoffs, but we got healthy. We had a set rotation. And I think the defensively we were able to lock in on certain teams we played and were able to take away what we wanted to take away. So if you want to say flip the switch, I just think we got better a lot defensively, and that opened up our offense for us.

Q. You said people have said that you guys plan to try to play more physical. Do you have to establish that early in order not to draw fouls early, and what do you plan to do?
COACH LUE: You have to be the first one to hit. I thought they hit us first. You have to be physical. The game is physical. You have to bring a physicality to the game, one through five. And I thought last game we weren't as physical as we needed to be. We were off bodies, let them run free. So we have to do a better job of being on bodies, being physical and bringing the contact to the game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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