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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS vs CELTICS

May 26, 2018

Brad Stevens

Boston, Massachusetts: Practice Day

Note: The Cavaliers announced that Kevin Love is experiencing concussion-like symptoms and has been placed in the NBAâ€™s concussion protocol. As part of the announcement, the team said Love is now listed as out for Game 7 on Sunday in Boston.

Q. Coach, the Associated Press reported that Kevin Love is out for tomorrow. In what ways does that affect your preparation?
BRAD STEVENS: Well, I think, first of all, I've seen it reported both ways, that that'll still be decided and then he's out, but regardless, we'll have to prepare our team to play well regardless of who's on the floor for them. That changes how they -- some of the things they run offensively. Obviously they have a package of Love plays that they go to on offense, so if they end up doing more stuff with LeBron, I thought [George] Hill and [Jordan] Clarkson were good off pick-and-rolls last night, I thought that Jeff Green was really good, and I thought that they continued to have all of the different little wrinkles for [Kyle] Korver and [JR] Smith coming off the screens. You know, you just -- obviously they run a little bit less of the Love stuff and more of the other stuff, and then on the other end of the court, I thought that their -- they switched -- they continued to switch, trap, scram out of the post, kind of use that versatility all around the court, and did a good job. I thought they played really well, and obviously LeBron had a huge game, but I thought that offensive rebounds and specifically Larry Nance's impact yesterday were big parts of the game, too.

Q. Al [Horford] scored only six points in Game 6, and he said it was because he was double teamed. What can you do to help make him more productive?
BRAD STEVENS: He was really productive in the first quarter. He was outstanding. Every time he touched the ball in the post, it felt like we scored. You know, Al doesn't -- Al does not care if he's the one that's scoring, he cares that our team scores, and I thought that we needed -- we can go to him more, but when they double, we just have to make the right play out of it, and Al is one of our best at doing that.

You know, I think it's easy to look at a stat sheet, but I think the way that they were playing, he made all the right plays, especially early in the game.

Q. He didn't end up with a lot of assists. It seemed like he wasn't as productive after the first quarter.
BRAD STEVENS: Well, he didn't end up with a lot of assists because the pass out of the post is not the one that's going to get the assist. It's going to lead to the second, third hockey assist because of their rotation. They're a good rotating team. When they double, the first pass, they always come to that guy, and then you just have to make the right read after that. It's a selfless role to play, and Al plays all of those selfless roles exceptionally well.

Q. Going back to the Kevin Love situation if he does not play, he was averaging 27 minutes a game during this series, probably more than that before he made only five last night, but as you said, they switch a lot when he is not on the floor. Their offense is different. So is it in a way like preparing for a different team because you're taking 30 minutes of that specific type of play when Love is on the floor out of the equation if he does not play? And if so, what is the difference in preparation for that?
BRAD STEVENS: Like I said, we have to prepare ourselves to play well. You know, defensively they played basically a whole game without Love yesterday, and again, they did a really good job, and then offensively, again, there's a series of plays that they'll usually run for Love. Maybe they end up running it for somebody. They put LeBron in his spot a couple of times. But what they end up doing is they'll -- ultimately they've run all the different actions for all their different guys, and have done so really well, like again, if Love is not available, then probably more opportunities for LeBron, more opportunities for Korver and Smith and those guys, and you know, the point guards off those pick-and-rolls. All of those were very effective against us last night.

Q. I was curious to get your thoughts, your emphasis on rebounding. It's always important, but coming off what happened in the fourth quarter and all of their offensive rebounds, how much did you stress it tomorrow and how critical is it?
BRAD STEVENS: Oh, it was a big part of our film emphasis. It's always critical. I've said all along, like we can go through each and every play in the half court on both ends of the floor and see the little things that maybe we can do a little bit better, but it all feels a lot better if we get back on D and only hold them to one shot. You know, in the games that we've lost, one of those two areas has not been pretty, and so that's where we have to be better, and we have to be great in both those areas tomorrow night. We've got to get back, set our defense, we've got to hold them to one shot, and it's easier said and done. They've got -- [Tristan] Thompson and Nance are really good on the offensive glass, and they put so much pressure on you with, again, LeBron with the ball and all the eyes that are on him, on his drives, and then all the -- like I said, all the actions they run for Korver that draw attention, as well.

Q. I wanted to ask you more about the atmosphere and the stakes and everything, coming back home. As it relates to your roster still being so young, and I know they've been through so much, I was kind of wondering if you still consider them young, or have they proven so much to you that they can handle such intense conditions? What do you think about that?
BRAD STEVENS: I mean, I'm sure we've slipped on this, but I've tried my best all year not to talk about their age, you know, both to them and in the media. I think obviously you get asked about it a lot. It's not about that. It's about they're really good basketball players. They're really committed to each other. They're a great group of guys. It's a fun team. They care about team. And we all have a job to do, go out and try to play the best that we can. And that is regardless if it's Game 7, Game 1, a game in November, whatever the case may be.

So we need to be ready to play. We will be ready to play, and our guys are looking forward to it.

Q. You mentioned last night you might be keeping an eye on [Jayson] Tatum over the next 24 hours and his health. Do you have any updates on him and how he's feeling today?
BRAD STEVENS: Yeah, we just got out of film about an hour and a half ago. All of our -- we had our primary physician and our team doc both in here today checking on him, and he's great. He felt great this morning, felt great last night when he landed, felt great after the game. So nothing there as far as to be concerned about, but we will continue to check in especially over the next probably day and then when he wakes up tomorrow morning.

Q. Another area you were pretty adamant about early in the series was shot selection. Offensive execution tomorrow evening a priority, as well?
BRAD STEVENS: Yeah, and I thought we played better offensively last night. I thought we did a lot of good things. Again, Al got -- people talked about Al because of the number of shot attempts and everything else, but Al's passing out of the post and our cutting out of the post in the first quarter was tremendous, and then our -- I thought that our -- we had some great drive-and-kicks later. I thought we drove and did a good job getting to the foul line. Like I just thought we did a lot of good things yesterday that we can build off of. Just like we said all year, tomorrow it's not going to be perfect. You just go in there, you compete, you play as hard as you can and let the chips fall where they may. You just have to have perfect intentions.

Q. Do you chalk up the troubles at the foul line to just an off night? It's not in character for your team.
BRAD STEVENS: Yeah, I don't even -- I never worry about the foul shooting numbers. These guys put in a ton of time, they're good foul shooters generally. When you make them -- you know, obviously there's always going to be times where you have nights like that, but we've been a good foul-shooting team all year. I don't worry about it. I just want us to play aggressively and get there.

Q. On the court after the game, LeBron called Game 7 the two best words in sports. Just curious if you agree and if you have any favorite memories either coaching them or being involved in them?
BRAD STEVENS: You know, I mean, I remember obviously as a kid, you always paid closer attention to Game 7. I've had a chance now to be in a couple here in Boston, and I think it's really important, again, that we focus on the task at hand and try to play our best, try to play with great togetherness, great competitiveness, and enjoy that. You know, I think that's one of the things that I don't think has been lost on this group throughout its entire journey, before the Playoffs and now, is we have fun. Like we're going to go out and compete, but we're going to enjoy playing the game that we love. You know, that makes it even more fun to be around these guys.

Q. Do you think the atmosphere will be electric tomorrow night?
BRAD STEVENS: I don't think there's any question about that.

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