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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 6, 2017

Tyronn Lue

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. Do you think your chances to win Game 3 will depend mostly on LeBron, himself, or his ability to inspire his teammates to play better?
COACH LUE: Our team overall. I just think that we all have to play better, and we will. I know coming out Game 3, so it's not just LeBron, it's our whole team. We all have to play better, and we will.

Q. What went into the decision to go with Shump on Kevin Durant? I think it was the second quarter of Game 2. And did you get out of that defensively what you wanted to in that matchup and for the scheme that you were trying there?
COACH LUE: Durant's a tough cover. Just like LeBron started on him to set the tone early, try to bring a physicality to him. And then after that, we got to put other guys on him so LeBron can get his rest. We ask him to score, score the basketball, pass the basketball. So with Shump on him, with R.J. on him, just try to give him different looks. It's going to be tough to guard him one-on-one anyway, so having LeBron off the ball where he's able to get some steals and roam a little bit and play free safety, it was good for us. So we'll see how it goes.

Q. You've talked about how much you like Shump because he can guard ones, twos, and threes, and you've used him a lot against opposing point guards throughout. Are you comfortable in that kind of matchup with that kind of scorer in Durant?
COACH LUE: Yes.

Q. So much is being made about pace. One, is that being overblown and, two, how much of it is execution within your current pace that you're kind of deploying from a game plan standpoint?
COACH LUE: We have to play fast. That's our game. You saw early in the first half when LeBron's able to attack and get downhill with the floor open, that's when we're at our best, if they help, kicking it out for threes. So we want to play with a pace, but to play with pace you got to get stops. So when we get stops, we want to get out and run, we want to play with pace and we want to attack early.

Q. This time last year Tristan was a big part of your success or what ended up being your success in The Finals. What do you need from him to turn this series around?
COACH LUE: It's not anything Tristan isn't doing, I just think that against this team you have to score the basketball. They're doing a good job of helping off of him and roaming and getting back, but Tristan hasn't played bad, it's just he hasn't got a lot of minutes. And I think to beat this team, you have to score the basketball. So we have thrown some offensive units on the floor, and we have been productive with that. So not anything that Tristan hasn't done, it's just that to beat this team, I think you got to score the basketball.

Q. You mentioned before about playing with pace, that's your game. Of course they are so good playing with pace also. So how do you -- I guess how do you keep control so that they don't get those 10-, 15-point runs, that kind of thing?
COACH LUE: We just have to take care of the basketball. I think taking good shots when we're playing with pace and not turning the basketball over, letting them get out in transition. So that's our game. We're not going to change our game because of who we're playing. And I'm confident that we can play that way, and we did it last year. A lot of people said we couldn't. But that's our game. That's who we are. And we're not going to change just pause we're playing Golden State.

Q. So when it's gotten away is when you started kicking the ball around, turning it over --
COACH LUE: Some timely turnovers, yes, some timely turnovers and taking some bad shots. I think that we got to play our game and play with pace, but we can't let -- we can't get in a hurry. We can't take bad shots. We can't turn the basketball over. And in that first half, we saw we was playing with pace, getting downhill, LeBron getting into the paint, getting layups and dunks. That's how we got to play. If it's not there, kicking it out for threes. If it's not a good shot, then run our offense.

So just got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball when we're playing fast and also taking good shots.

Q. I apologize if you have been asked this already, but there's been speculation that you would consider swapping JR with Shumpert in the starting lineup. Is that a decision that you've made yet?
COACH LUE: Nope.

Q. What would you weigh, if indeed --
COACH LUE: I'm not doing it.

Q. Oh, you're not. Okay.
COACH LUE: No.

Q. So JR will start in Game 3?
COACH LUE: Yup.

Q. Any tinkering with player rotations at all that you can share or thinking about?
COACH LUE: Not that I can share, no.

Q. Just along those lines, but not to -- but is there a making -- a fine line between making too many changes and sort of doing something drastically different at this point in the season?
COACH LUE: I'm not making a change. I'm just, you know...

Q. But I was even thinking more along the lines of strategy or game plan decisions. Do you want to stick with what got you here?
COACH LUE: As far as what?

Q. Well, I guess --
COACH LUE: I don't understand.

Q. I guess I'm just thinking about maybe the rotations or different combinations of guys or that kind of thing that maybe you haven't used very much.
COACH LUE: No, not really.

Q. You guys, I think you're 21-60 from three in the first two games and you shot close to 40 as a team during the regular season. Are you comfortable with the looks? What could you do better do you think to get that percentage up in Game 3?
COACH LUE: We have to make some shots. But also they're closing out hard to us, so we got to be able to read when we have a shot or when we have a chance to attack the basket. So drive and closeouts is one of their weaknesses, so we got to do a better job of shooting the three, but if it's not open, driving and closeouts and then making the extra pass and finishing at the rim.

Q. Your three-point defense is something that you focused on a lot. In the first two games, the Warriors have gotten 32 wide-open threes. What hasn't worked for you guys on the defensive end to make sure that you keep them from getting those open looks?
COACH LUE: Some of it has to do with transition, turning the basketball over, trying to get back in transition. A lot of it is just being aware, staying alert. With this team, you can't relax at all. If you relax, they make you pay.

They made some tough shots, but that's what they do. They make shots behind, three or four feet behind the three-point line, and they're capable of doing that. But we got to do a better job of just staying locked into these guys, being physical, staying on their bodies, and then we can do a better job with the three-point shot.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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