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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS vs CELTICS

May 17, 2018

Tristan Thompson

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. How does feeling down 0-2 in this particular series compare to somewhere you've been with your backs against the wall in the past?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: You know, every year is different. You know, I don't want to always go back and compare it to being down 3-1 because it's a completely different team, but the Celtics did a good job of taking care of home. They had home-court advantage, won both games at home. Now it's up to us, like what Milwaukee did, come back home and protect home.

Q. Physicality is something that Ty talked about in the past against Indiana and you guys talked about it in the past and it's been brought up in the first two games. How do you get into that mindset of ratcheting up the physicality even more than what was required previously?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: I think in terms of physicality, it's not just barking and chirping. I think it's just making it tough, pressuring the guards, 94 feet. When the bigs have it, ball pressure them, too. [Al] Horford and [Aron] Baynes, they like to run a lot of their offense, get the offense going, try to pressure them, have them start running their half-court sets at 15, 16 instead of at 20. Those are ways that you can pick up the physicality. This is a team that's going to -- they're going to play hard. They showed it the first two games, and we've got to be able to respond, especially at home.

Q. Was it concerning at all that you get 42, 12 and 10 out of LeBron and you guys still don't win?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: I've never seen a game score in the 40s unless it's in the Big Ten, Penn State and Illinois and Ohio State. Other guys got to contribute. Other guys got to step up. We've all got to do it collectively. Of course it's a huge luxury having LeBron on our team, but at the same time we've got to be ready to play, and we've got to do our job. If you're shooters, you've got to make shots. If you're going to finish on the rim, you've got to finish on the rim. Rebounders, whatever your job is on this team, we need you to do it at a high level.

Q. You talked the other night about the defense being so poor. Do you think this long break is a good thing to fix that?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: I think as long as we can watch film and watch the breakdown -- that's what we did today with Coach Lue and everyone in the film room. We could see that we weren't communicating, and they had a lot of just open shots, whether it was Marcus Smart, Terry [Rozier], Jaylen Brown, they had a lot of open threes and open looks, especially with them at home. They shoot the ball really well at home, so if you limit that, that changes the whole game.

Q. What have you seen on film that makes Boston struggle on the road in these Playoffs?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: I mean, I'm not going to say struggle because they messed around and knocked all the shots down in the first quarter. I think it's on us. We don't have to worry about what they're going to do. We know they're going to come out and play hard and they're going to want to take a game in the Q, and we can't allow it to happen. That's our focus. We don't care what they've done in the past. It's about right now.

Q. When you look at Boston on the offensive end of the floor, one of the things that they do a really great job of sharing the ball and moving it. Conversely when you look at your offense, there are times where that's not happening. How do you guys ramp that up and get that ball movement really going?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: I think Boston does a great job moving the ball. I think the ball -- when everyone is touching it, it gives energy and it makes guys feel good. It makes guys feel good, and as a player you feel way more comfortable making a play if you touch it every possession, not just if you're scoring. But if you just feel the ball instead of going five possessions and just getting the ball and you have to shoot it with five seconds on the clock. You've got to get the ball hopping, and if we get bodies moving, we've got the athletes and the players, and if we can cause triggers, that's going to be in our favor.

Q. With the communication breakdown in the past, are there certain guys that are better at being that vocal guy and everyone follows suit?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: I mean, we've all got strengths and weaknesses. Some guys aren't huge communicators, but at the end of the day, it's the Playoffs. This is for all the marbles. We're down 0-2. If you don't like to talk, you're going to talk now. And if you don't want to talk, you can sit your [butt] on the bench. That's what it is, point blank, simple. If we're not all communicating, all five of us, we've got no chance.

Q. Marcus Morris got in your face a little bit, Marcus Smart has been getting a little physical. Can you feel them trying to get under your skin, and do you have to find a balance in terms of responding to that?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: No, no basketball player gets under my skin. It's just basketball. Can't get under my skin. There's more trials and tribulations in life for someone to get under my skin. It's just basketball. But they're playing hard and chippy, and I love that. I love that. I think the city of Boston loves players like that. That emulates their city, and Cleveland is the same way. We've got some chippy players like myself, and that's what the city is about, so it's good that they bring that to their team.

Q. What you just said about communicating and maybe some guys don't do it that way all the time, could you say the same thing about the physicality and what's required --
TRISTAN THOMPSON: Yeah, some guys are just not -- a big man has got to be physical at all times, of course. Obviously with Marcus Smart, he's a strong guard, and he knows how to be physical, which is a great advantage that he has at that point guard position. Whether we have guys that are not physical, we've got to come, set a double-team, force the ball to get out of his hands, and we've just got to stick to the game plan.

Q. With the miscommunication, you guys talked about seeing it on film. Is there anything else besides watching it that can maybe help you remedy it?
TRISTAN THOMPSON: No, I think it's just the communication and the physicality. I think those are the two big areas that we've got to improve in. Definitely the communication on defense, because they move the ball so much and they cause so much triggers, it's got to be a multiple effort, and when you're doing that, you've got to communicate so guys know who's the X, who's the low man, who's trapping the box, so if we communicate, that takes away so much of the mistakes.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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