NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

September 29, 2020

Bam Adebayo

Miami Heat

Practice Day

Q. Bam, you were so hard on yourself after Game 5 and looking ahead to the Lakers they are such a big team, which makes your role, which makes Kelly Olynyk's role even more important. How do you approach the early minutes looking towards this matchup to avoid getting in ticky-tack foul trouble early? How do you see your role here?

BAM ADEBAYO: Obviously you've got to be smart about, like you said, ticky-tack fouls, but being active, just matching their energy. There can't be a second on the floor where they're playing harder than us. I feel like that's where our chance is. We just can't let them get free lay-ups and get in this motion, and that's when everything starts clicking for them.

Just making it tough for them, and then also being smart with the basketball and then just setting up strategic plays to get easy baskets.

Q. You've probably been through like 700 practices with this team in three years. Did today have any sort of a different feel as far as it being a Finals practice? Was it just a typical Heat get-down-to-work day?

BAM ADEBAYO: Yeah, it's preparation. We've been prepping for this since September, which is kind of crazy. If we would have been preparing for the Finals two weeks ago, we wouldn't be ready. This has been like a grind throughout this whole year, just shaping and morphing and trying to figure this out, and now we're here. It's a toss-up now.

Q. Spo was almost defensive earlier in the postseason when someone kept asking, people kept asking about your style of play and whether you should be more aggressive. And he said, Bam is Bam, stop trying to make him something else. But there's no doubt your numbers have gone up significantly in the playoffs from All-Star level to almost superstar level. What has been the difference, do you think, in your production?

BAM ADEBAYO: I don't know. You know, to me I feel like I'm out there hooping and just doing the right things and making the right plays. Just holding myself accountable. We're in the playoffs, this is win or go home. When you have that type of mindset, you've got to go out there and back that up. I've been doing that and I need to keep doing that.

Q. Both Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard have been very complimentary of you as a player, and kind of watching you -- Dwight went on for about three minutes, when he was in Miami when the Lakers came in, about how much he just enjoys your style of play. What is the challenge for you against both of these players? Because you're going to be seeing, I'm sure, a lot of both before the series is over with.

BAM ADEBAYO: They're shot blockers. That's one thing that they're gifted with, shot blocking. Just not letting them off the hook, just staying aggressive, and then getting my teammates open and keep playing my style of basketball.

Q. Staying on that same line of questioning, Jimmy and LeBron are going to get a lot of the attention going into this thing, but the series could hinge on the matchup between you and Anthony Davis. How do you view that? And then also going back to a Kentucky connection, do you guys have any sort of rapport or relationship through that?

BAM ADEBAYO: I mean, when you go to Kentucky, you'll follow it forever. Me going to Kentucky, it could mean you probably heard of me, didn't know who I was. Probably thought I was a kid going to Kentucky.

You know, you never know. This series is going to be fun. Like you said, it might be me and AD, it might be LeBron and Jimmy.

At the end of the day, we're just going to go out there and just play like we've been playing throughout this series and put together 48 minutes of Miami Heat basketball, or even longer if we have to.

Q. You've been wearing the Kobe Vibes throughout these Playoffs. You wore them in the last game. His death this year, how did it affect you? And when you wear those shoes, do you spend any time thinking about what he's meant to you or the game?

BAM ADEBAYO: Well, obviously you know what he means to the game, because you saw everybody when they heard about it. Nobody wanted to believe it. It still doesn't feel real to this day. But you see the effect that he had on the world.

Me growing up, I was a Kobe fan, Kobe fanatic, and just getting -- just being able to just wear his shoes, it's my favorite shoe to play in. I've been playing in them this whole playoff run, so can't stop now.

Q. Bam, curious, what's one specific thing from your time at Kentucky that you think most prepared you to have this kind of success this early on this big of a stage in the NBA?

BAM ADEBAYO: In Kentucky, when you play against rival schools, it's kind of like their Super Bowl. So whoever we play away or at home, they're going to give us their best game because they want to beat us so bad. You can't be scared to be in those moments that define you, define your team. You can't be scared to live up to those moments. I feel like that's the biggest thing that helped me get to where I am, living in those moments.