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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 11, 2017

Tyronn Lue

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. How much of what you do to win Game 4 do you think you can replicate in Game 5?
COACH LUE: Just our physicality. I thought we brought a physicality to the game. I thought our defensive mindset was really good, and I thought offensively we really played with a pace. We shared the basketball. We moved bodies, and it was very effective for us. So we have to have a carryover to Game 5.

Q. The Kyrie from Games 1 and 2 and the Kyrie from Games 3 and 4, what's the biggest difference that you've seen from him?
COACH LUE: I think playing with more pace offensively. Pushing the basketball. On misses or makes, he's pushing it and trying to create an advantage there. I think that with the switches, he's attacking early. Not messing around with it too much. Just attacking early. We already know he's one of the best one-on-one players in the game. So when he's attacking early, we are moving bodies on the weak side, and they can't load up to him.

Q. Are you using him differently offensively, or is that been something that he's chosen --
COACH LUE: Yeah, we have. We have been playing him off the ball, let him move, come off pin-downs and been trying to cause confusion and make Klay work that way. Klay is a great defender, so being 6'7" and locking into his body, being physical makes it tougher. So trying to move Kyrie off the ball a little bit and let him come off pin-downs and screens and give him a different look.

Q. It seemed like early in the game last game Tristan immediately got into the game, had a lot of energy early, gave you bunch of rebounds. And I know you guys made a lot of shots. Seeing that that really set the tone for the physicality you're talking about, what, if anything, allowed him to kind of get going in a way he couldn't prior to that?
COACH LUE: I think offensively, I think moving bodies and moving the basketball and making cuts allows Tristan to roam free because they have to help and try to get back, and by that time it's too late.

So I thought offensively just moving without the ball, making the extra pass, ball movement, that allowed Tristan to get free and get to the glass a little bit for us.

Q. One of the many things you did well in Game 4, you limited Stephen Curry to 13 shots, and he only made four. Was there a conscious adjustment made against Curry, or did you guys just do a little better job defending him?
COACH LUE: We had the same mindset going into the Game 3. Just being aggressive, trying to take the ball out of his hands. But I thought the most important thing is transition defense. I think that holding him to only 14 points, transition was big for us. That's where Steph flies, in transition, because he can shoot the ball from anywhere. So I thought getting back in transition defensively really helped us out.

Then in the half court we did a good job of just staying physical, staying on his body and trying to trap him when we had the chance.

Q. It seemed like you double-teamed him a lot when he didn't have the ball, particularly coming off screens. What is the theory there, that you don't want him to get to certain spots or --
COACH LUE: Well, he's dangerous, so we just wanted to limit his shots, take the ball out of his hands. And we did a good job of that in Game 4. We have to try to do it again in Game 5.

Q. On that same idea, has Steph looked like a different player to you in the first three games of this series, Game 4 aside, compared to what he did last year in the Finals? He struggled the last three or four games.
COACH LUE: No, he's always been a great player. But our mindset in The Finals the first year and the second year was just try to take it out of his hands and make someone else beat you. He's just so dangerous because he's a great passer, he's a great shooter. He can get to the basket.

So just trying to limit his looks is important for us. That's always been our mindset every time we played them in The Finals -- try to limit his touches, limit his shots and make someone else do something.

Q. Does he look more energized or healthier this year than last? Did you notice that last year?
COACH LUE: He's dangerous no matter what, so, I mean, not really a big difference. When he's open, he's going to make shots. And when he's playing free and you don't bring a physicality, he's able to roam and do whatever he wants offensively. He's one of the most dangerous guys in our league.

Q. There's a lot of talking going on in this series, conversations, trash talk. Do you tell your guys not to talk, to talk more? Do you let them be them in terms of their conversations on the court? And what have you thought about the kind of the interaction in this series?
COACH LUE: Me personally, I liked it. I thought the first two games were being too nice. The first three games, helping guys up off the floor, smiling, talking to guys and -- yeah, I didn't like that. So I think Game 4, talking trash, being physical, whatever you got to do to try to get that edge to win, you got to do it.

Q. On the play that Kevin Durant got hit in the head by Kevin Love, did Durant say something to you? Was there a conversation between you and him?
COACH LUE: To me after that?

Q. Yeah.
COACH LUE: No.

Q. You had an expert performance in Game 4 as a team. Do you feel that in order to win Game 5 you need some kind of historic performance too?
COACH LUE: We have to play well. We're playing against a great team, and we know you have to play great every single night. And both teams in The Finals, they both feel the same way. So we have to come back with that defensive mindset, with the physicality that we had, and just playing with pace and sharing the basketball. I think if we can kind of duplicate that same thing we did in Game 4, we have a good chance to win in Game 5.

Q. You said you thought it was too nice the first three games. Did you make that a point to the guys going into Game 4?
COACH LUE: Yeah, like bringing a physicality, being physical. Our mindset has to be winning games and not smiling back and forth or talking and playing. I mean, they're coming right after us, so we have to go after them. I don't see anything's funny or anything's to smile about. So hitting and being physical and just everything they do to us in the first three games, we have to do that.

Last game, in Game 4, I thought that's who we are. Got to be physical. If it's talking trash or knocking guys on the floor, whatever you got to do, you got to do it. We have to be physical.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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