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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 8, 2017

Tyronn Lue

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. I guess you watched the film now. How satisfied are you with the performance of your team last night?
COACH LUE: I liked the way we competed. I thought we played hard. I thought we really scrapped. But we just have to to clean up a few mistakes. Fouling teams in the penalty, offensive rebounds, getting back in transition, things like that. But for our overall grit and toughness, I liked the way we competed.

Q. You obviously were on the '01 Lakers, they went 15-1 in the postseason. How difficult was that, and how do you sort of compare the era that you played in with that team and what the Warriors have done to this point in the postseason?
COACH LUE: I really don't know. Because I won, so I mean, I was on the other side of it. So for us, with the Lakers, we just had two dynamic pieces, two of the best players in the world at the time with Kobe and Shaq. They were both dominant, and everybody else on the team was a star in their role. They played their part. Whatever they had to do to win is what we did. And it was just a great run. We beat some great teams.

And then Philly came in and won their first game in The Finals on our court, and we won four straight. But it was just ultimate team. Kobe and Shaq were our great players, and everybody else was just great role players.

Q. Did you sense then how difficult it was to go through the postseason? I mean, no one's ever gone unbeaten in the NBA in an entire postseason. Sort of how difficult that is.
COACH LUE: It's very tough. When you have a great team, you have opportunities to do things like that. When I was with the Lakers, we had a chance to do it. But we had had like a 12-day layoff, and Philly came in and it was like they were running a hundred miles per hour. We couldn't keep up the first game, and they just came off a seven-game series. So that's what made that first game difficult against those guys.

Q. There's just less recovery time between Games 3 and 4 than there were between Games 2 and 3. How do you manage especially your main guys, especially LeBron, to make sure that he's strong and energetic at the end, given that when he goes to the bench, you guys haven't been able to keep up?
COACH LUE: There's no tomorrow. So we just have to play. He needs a break, he'll let me know. We'll get him out, get him right back in. But right now our season's on the line, and we just have to play.

Q. There's a fourth quarter, though. So you want to get to that, I assume, with him, right?
COACH LUE: What do you mean?

Q. Obviously you don't need to save anything for after the game, but you want to be able through the game to manage it --
COACH LUE: Yeah, that's why we -- the thing about the Playoffs, the timeouts are long, so we're able to call two timeouts in a two-minute span to give him an eight-, nine-minute rest. And we just have to see how the flow of the game goes.

We just have to end quarters better. We took him off the floor in that first quarter; they go on a 12-2 run or something like that to end the quarter, and that's tough. So we have to do a better job of just taking care of the basketball, making the right play, defensively being good.

So just see how he feels. But we're going to have to play extended minutes if we want to try to extend this series.

Q. Obviously you guys didn't do on-court work today. Did you meet or do film or anything?
COACH LUE: Yeah, we did film.

Q. I know you're not much of a baseball fan, but it's almost like you guys have a chance to break up a perfect game here. They're 15-0, going for history. How important or why is getting one tomorrow night important to your team?
COACH LUE: Because it's a step in the right direction. We're not going to give in. We're going to keep competing. We had a chance to win last night, and if we come out with the fight and intensity that we played with last game, clean up a few mistakes, then we have a chance to win on Friday. So by no means are we giving in. We're going to be ready to play on Friday.

Q. Given how the series has gone, you're down 3-0, are you considering giving a guy like Derrick Williams some time off the bench or anything like that?
COACH LUE: Just have to see how the flow of the game goes. We'll take a look at it.

Q. When you say we made a few mistakes, are we talking about the offensive end, defensive end? What can you share about the specific adjustments you can make for Game 4?
COACH LUE: No share, but we made some mistakes coming down the stretch that we know we have to be better with. We had talked about before. But you can't make these mistakes against this team. They're too good. Every time you make a mistake, they make you pay.

So we have to be better in our execution down the stretch. But like I said, overall our fight and the way we competed was great. So if we come out with that same effort on Friday, I feel confident we can get a win.

Q. A little unrelated, but this Warriors teams has been to The Finals three straight years, like you guys have. Doesn't look like they're going anywhere. I wanted to know how much of your regular season was spent thinking about this series and how much will you spend next regular season thinking about a potential fourth matchup with them?
(Laughter.)

COACH LUE: I don't know. We know that over in the West they're a tough team, they're a strong team. And over here we're a great team in the East. So you still have to play in the Playoffs. You still have to get to the right points. It takes hard work and dedication, but it takes a little bit of luck of staying healthy. And if it happens, it happens.

But we have to just worry about this year, have to worry about tomorrow night's game. And if we continue to play, if we play how we played the other night, I feel comfortable where we're at.

Q. Kind of piggybacking off the earlier question, that stretch at the end when LeBron was sitting, was that more execution, or was it just kind of scheme and what you guys had planned on doing with LeBron on the bench?
COACH LUE: When he was out at the end of the first quarter?

Q. Yeah, the 10-0 run. And you mentioned it was sloppy and there were turnovers. R.J. had that wide-open look in the corner. There was some open shots that just didn't fall. Can you continue to do what you did and hope for better success, or do you got to change things up there?
COACH LUE: Well, the one time we had a chance to take the last shot, we didn't take the last shot. We shot it quick. They came down and scored at the end of the quarter. One time we were supposed to be in the blitz, we didn't blitz; we end up switching Kevin onto Steph Curry, he makes a three-point shot. Supposed to be on Steph's body, we try to shoot the gap on the pin-down, he makes a three in front of the bench.

So just those things that we know that we have to be aware of and locked in. And we can't allow those things to happen. When that happens, they make you pay.

Q. Considering what you guys did at the end of Game 7 last year, the last three minutes, did you almost think this is so uncharacteristic of us? Just, you know, the -- last year you made every clutch play, and this time none of them sort of went your way?
COACH LUE: Well, that's how the game goes. If you take good shots, you can live with the results. If you play good defense and they make shots, you can live with the results. But when you don't execute the right way, that's what's tough. So just have to be better down the stretch at cleaning up our execution. If they make shots, they make shots. If you play good defense, then you just tip your hat to them. The same way offensively. Just have to do a better job executing down the stretch.

Q. The way you guys played Game 2 and particularly in Game 3, does it beat every other team in your league, do you think?
COACH LUE: What do you mean?

Q. Like how well you played and to come out a loser, is there any other team that would -- that wouldn't be good enough against?
COACH LUE: Well, I don't know. I mean, we know they're a great team, but we're a great team also. Like I keep saying and keep talking about, we have to do a better job with understanding the game plan, of what we're supposed to do. And you can't relax and make those mistakes, because every time you do, they make you pay.

That's the toughest part about this team. Against other teams you can make these mistakes, but against them you cannot. And every time you do, they make you pay. So just have to clean up those things, and we'll be fine.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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