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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS vs CELTICS

May 18, 2018

Tyronn Lue

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. Can you talk about the challenge now of having to win four of the next five games?
TYRONN LUE: We've got to win one. That's our main focus, to come out there tomorrow night. We're not looking at four out of five. We're looking at winning tomorrow and then seeing what happens from there.

Q. Obviously as the game evolves more and more, guys can either shoot the three or play facing the basket. Guys like Tristan Thompson and Clint Capela from Houston, what does their skill bring to this league when everybody seems to be playing small ball?
TYRONN LUE: I think Tristan, as well as Capela, it's just versatility. I think being able to guard multiple positions. I think being able to guard the pick-and-roll, guard the small guys, but also rebound the basketball. I think Tristan gives us a lot of extra possessions by offensive rebounds and being able to guard multiple positions. That's their value. And when they're finishing around the basket, it's a plus.

Q. Is Boston doing anything to make it more difficult to put LeBron in post-up situations? It seems like he's done that less.
TYRONN LUE: They're putting bigger defenders on him. I think when they switch, you've either got [Al] Horford, [Jayson] Tatum, [Jaylen] Brown or [Marcus] Morris. They're putting bigger guys on him, bigger defenders, showing two bodies when he is posting up to make it appear crowded. They have bigger defenders and stronger defenders guarding him.

Q. Along that line, are they doing anything with George Hill that might be making him less effective than he was in that Toronto series?
TYRONN LUE: I think they're switching. We've been playing to the switch a lot, posting Kevin [Love], posting LeBron. Just showing on film, he has to be more aggressive as far as when they switch, being able to take the big man off the dribble. We've emphasized that the last couple of days. I thought the first two games we really talked about posting the mismatch like we did in the other series. But they've been doing a good job of double teaming, pushing our guys out. Just got to be more aggressive, I think, attacking the bigs when they switch on to him.

Q. The first quarter is very important for you guys to get off to a fast start. What do you need to see in the first quarter to get your guys locked in?
TYRONN LUE: I think getting off to a good start, but sustain it. I think when you get up 10, 12, continue to take the same shots that got you there. Don't take bad shots. And taking care of the basketball is the most important one. We can't give this team easy baskets. They struggle to score at times, so we just can't gift them any baskets off our turnovers or miscommunication on defense. That's the biggest thing.

Q. When you know this team has struggled on the road, how defensively do you jump on them early and take their spirit away?
TYRONN LUE: We have to do that. We have to come out with a sense of urgency, looking to attack early.

Don't ease into the game and let this team off the hook. We know they've played well at home. They had two big games, so now it's our turn.

Q. Did you get what you wanted with Tristan on Horford?
TYRONN LUE: Yes. It was tough for them to score. They really didn't look to feature him a lot when Tristan was on him. I thought Al took advantage of a couple mismatches. A couple times having Kevin [Love] on the block, he scored. But I thought Tristan did a good job of really being physical with him. When they tried to run their five action, he did a good job of pressuring the basketball and made it uncomfortable. He did a real good job on Horford.

Q. Have you figured out what makes George Hill tick in terms of having a good game versus a less effective one?
TYRONN LUE: He's a veteran. He knows what he's supposed to do. Like I said, we just talked about taking advantage of the switches and mismatches of posting Kevin and posting LeBron. But now since they've done a good job of playing it a little bit, we want to change it up with him being able to attack the bigs and being aggressive. Playing with more pace, miss or makes, getting the ball in fast, running to our drags, double drags. Just playing with more speed and pace.

Q. It's already been established as a physical series, and it seems to be officiated that way so far. Is there a danger with you guys trying to ramp up the physicality --
TYRONN LUE: No danger. We've got to do it. We've got to play physical. They're a physical team. They're a team that can switch a lot of things because they have similar-sized guys. They're doing a good job of taking away our post-ups and being physical, and we've got to do the same.

Q. J.R. Smith said something yesterday about LeBron passing his teammates the ball. Have you gotten a sense that something was kind of lost in that regard, where he doesn't want to -- like how many shots J.R. is getting? He made it sound like the ball distribution was lacking and like there was an issue there.
TYRONN LUE: I think LeBron came out and set the tone early to score the basketball and be aggressive, but that's what we needed him to do to start the game, especially on the road. We've got to do more stuff with getting guys more involved, but I thought LeBron did a good job of setting the tone early.

We've just got to be able to play off of that. No bad thing for what he's done. We've just got to be better.

Q. Are you concentrating more on offense than defense in this --
TYRONN LUE: Offense.

Q. Tristan talked about having perspective about basketball, to recognize that this is not a be-all, end-all. But just in terms of the basketball season, how does this feel compared to the other trials and tribulations you've gone through this season?
TYRONN LUE: We're down 0-2. No need to panic. We've played a Game 7, so that's the danger. The danger is not like we come out and don't play well tomorrow, lose, it's over. We still have games to play. It's not like it's a Game 7. They did a good job of taking care of their home court. They played well. Now we're back at home. The Q will be rocking tomorrow. We'll be ready to go.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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