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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS vs CELTICS

May 20, 2018

Tyronn Lue

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. How does the look of your offense change when you guys are tracking threes early in a game?
TYRONN LUE: Well, I think it opens everything up for us. I thought when we showed film today we had three times where they made a basket, we came down and scored in six seconds or less. We didn't hang our head, we pushed the basketball, we pushed the tempo. That's what we need. If we're playing with pace, we're going to get open shots like that. When we're making threes early, it opens up the paint drive for us.

Q. You've been trying to get Jordan [Clarkson] going all Playoffs. Last night he hit a couple threes. You won't know until he plays the game, but could that be the start of something?
TYRONN LUE: Yeah, I hope so. We've got confidence in JC that he can score the basketball. He was second in the league in scoring off the bench. The Playoffs, they try to take away what you do best, so he's figured that out, and he's going to get shots, and he's just got to make them. We know he can make shots. Seeing a couple go down last night was good for him.

Q. You've talked a couple times about telling him to be more aggressive, be himself, that sort of thing. Have you had to deal with nerves for him?
TYRONN LUE: No, I don't think he's nervous. He's not scared and afraid at all. You take 11, 12 shots off the bench in the Playoffs, you're not scared. You're not afraid. That's what he does. He's got to be smart, time and score, when to do it, but he's doing a good job just trying to be aggressive attacking, and I think he will make shots.

Q. If he got right, what would that mean for you?
TYRONN LUE: Scoring off the bench with him and Kyle [Korver], I think Jeff [Green] orchestrating offense, I think it means a lot. With him scoring the basketball off the bench with Kyle, it gives us another dimension that we can go to.

Q. The Celtics' struggles on the road in the Playoffs are pretty well-documented. How different is it [playing on the road]?
TYRONN LUE: I liked it when I played. I liked being on the road. But it's a different atmosphere. I think at home you can make mistakes and still overcome them. But when you're on the road, you can't make as many mistakes and overcome the mistakes you make. Playing at home, you have a great fan base, great crowd, it's easier for the crowd to get behind you and give you that extra energy and boost that they gave us last night.

Q. How much tougher do you think it would be for a young team that just hasn't experienced that?
TYRONN LUE: It can be tough. You know, it can be tough. Not being in those situations a lot, and coming to our arena, the Q was rocking last night, the fans were into it, and it can be a tough environment to play in.

Q. When you have a huge win like that, how much do you have to spend today and tomorrow reminding the guys that you're still down?
TYRONN LUE: Not down, just remind them that this is the way we have to play. I think bringing the physicality to start, G [George] Hill picking up full court, got a little deflection in the backcourt, picking up, making Rozier turn. I thought JR's first possession in the game, not letting [Jayson] Tatum catch it easily and they had to go to a second option. Just remind those guys, just bringing the physicality 1 through 5, picking up full court, being on bodies, and the biggest thing is the multiple effort, making the second effort. We made some mistakes defensively, but we covered for one another last night, really continued to keep moving, and I thought last night was LeBron's best game I've seen in a long time as far as helping, closing out to Jaylen Brown's chest, making him put it on the floor, closing out to [Marcus] Morris, closing out to [Marcus] Smart. He did a really good job of just setting the tone with multiple efforts, so it was good for us.

Q. Did you change his defensive responsibility or how you used him defensively?
TYRONN LUE: No. I just thought he did a lot better helping, getting back out, getting to Smart, getting to Jaylen Brown, getting to Morris. He really did a good job, and he had a few blocked shots at the rim, being the low man on defense. He was really active last night defensively.

Q. Advanced numbers can be deceiving, but last night was LeBron's lowest usage percentage of the three games against the Celtics. Did you make a concerted effort to put the ball in George's hands more, allowing him to be aggressive?
TYRONN LUE: Well, we put in a few new sets last night. It gave us more movement. Bron, he doesn't want to move too much, so we had to make JR [Smith] and G-Hill do all the moving and Bron just hold the ball, but G-Hill did a good job of just pushing the pace. I thought he did a tremendous job of getting downhill, playing fast, into drags, double drags, our flow offense, and when he's attacking the paint and being aggressive early, him and JR are scoring, it really opens everything up.

Q. You guys brought a must-win mentality to Game 3. Do you do anything to keep that rolling for 48 hours?
TYRONN LUE: Yeah, I mean, we know what it takes. We've been here before. We've got a lot of veterans, a veteran crew, and they know what it takes to win. We just can't get satisfied with this one win. It's just one. We've got to come out tomorrow night and duplicate it again.

Q. Did Larry [Nance Jr.] have to feel his way to kind of get in the flow -- seems like he's been playing better lately.
TYRONN LUE: Yeah, his energy, his athleticism, his ability to switch and guard multiple positions is good for us, and when he's rolling to the basket, he got a couple dunks last night, and when they pulled in the help, they've got Kyle pulled and JR making threes. His athletic ability and his force going to the rim is really key for us.

Q. It seems obvious, but do you ever have to stress to him he has to dunk the ball?
TYRONN LUE: No, just make the right play. I think when he's around the basket, he's going to try to dunk it. That's not something I think I have to tell him.

Q. The way LeBron has gotten Nance the ball, do you think it's the athleticism that they're able to sort of make some good connections?
TYRONN LUE: I think Larry does a great job of just when plays break down, sprinting to pick-and-rolls, so his man is not on his body. He gets there quick, he touch and go, and now he's open. I think he does a good job just sprinting to pick-and-rolls and creating a separation so he can get lobs and dunks and easy drop-offs.

Q. Brad [Stevens] was saying last night you guys were really connected. He was talking about defensively. But when you have a game where you have six guys in double figures, what does that do to a team's chemistry?
TYRONN LUE: It's great. I mean, it's big for us. I think when we're playing defense the way we played last night, when we're getting out in the open court, everybody is going to touch it, guys are going to get easy shots, and we can get four, five, six guys in double figures when we're playing that way.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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