NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

September 30, 2020

Erik Spoelstra

Miami Heat

Game 1: Pregame

Q. With all the Finals matchups that Andre [Iguodala] has had against LeBron, what have been your takeaways during those times and how might it apply to this series?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: I think the most important thing is just his championship level experience, his competitive nature. The way his game just rises at this time of year is the most important thing. More important than obviously the experience against Cleveland all these years. We sought him out because he brings a level of experience that we felt that our roster needed, particularly since we're relying on some young guys. So he and Jae and Jimmy and Goran have just been vital for this roster to work.

Q. CB [Chris Bosh] has been really active on social media. He's making no secret about how much he's enjoying seeing what you guys are doing. How much does that mean to you that he's really savoring it?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: I love it. No, I got that question just asked by the guys from ABC and it's heartbreaking. We really thought we had a contending team in 2014 and '15. We made that promise to Goran and we lost in Game 7, and it's just things you can't control. And we still think about CB because it was promised to him and it was promised to Dwyane, it was promised to Goran. But he's been around this team, which we like. He was around this year. That feels like a different season ago when he was sitting there in the front row with a beer and enjoying our games. But he's, we need that energy from our alumni. I'm not on social media, but I love it and I've heard some of it.

Q. On that same note, the hug that you shared with Goran after winning that final game in the Eastern Conference Finals felt like it was a million miles wide, you know, like six years long?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yup. We take that to heart when we make promises to guys, and we did make that promise. I feel like I've been in 50 playoff games with Goran because of all these years where we have been fighting for our lives for six weeks a season to make the playoffs and you get to know somebody, how they handle those stressful situations, those life -- and it wasn't life or death, but it just felt like it was, every game had such context and he has such incredible, incredibly high competitive character. And then I traveled over there to see him two times, preparing for his National Team. So I've seen him on this kind of stage. We just never really did our part where the general public could see him in this kind of competitive nature and this kind of environment. But I'm just thrilled that he's actually getting this opportunity with this team to do what we have seen behind the scenes now for six years. So that part's been cool.

Q. What do you remember about coaching against Jimmy years ago when he was in Chicago and you guys played him in the playoffs? Like, what did you think of him as a player then and how is he different as a player now that you have him?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, he didn't play in the playoffs when we played against them. But he's everything that we thought he would be from a competitive standpoint. You disliked him. Those are the kind of guys we tend to like. He competed every single possession and he competed the right way. You could just see that. He was a two-way player. He defended. I've always said that I found it so ironic that his nickname is Jimmy Buckets, because he really is an unselfish player. He sets up other guys. He has play-making ability. He just raises the level of all of his teams, and real competitors do that. He's the anti-analytics guy because he can't really, you can't put a number to how much he impacts winning. We used to see that when we would play them or compete against him. You feel competitors on the other side.

Q. It's been almost three months since you guys got here. It feels like your team has embraced kind of the grind that was ahead of them throughout this journey. How have they done that? And then secondly, you've literally sat, like, on this stage before. What's it like to sit on that stage and look out at this?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Totally different. Yeah, like, everything that we're experiencing right now is unprecedented. It's extraordinary. Like, the fact that the two franchises, the teams that have been here for over 80 days, just, you know, if you step back and think about that for a second, that just seems incredible.

But I think everybody that made it through at least a couple months really grew from this experience and all of it. And our guys, it's been a special thing to go through together. I think our group has really grown together. It's been an amazing life experience. Our guys are ultra competitive, so they live for the competition part of it. But the moments in between are also some of these things that we're going to remember for years from now.

Q. You started with Miami as a video coordinator and now you're back in the NBA Finals, how do you feel about all this journey?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: I feel extremely grateful for the Arison's and the Godfather [Pat Riley]. I said this many times -- he doesn't like it when I say it, but I would have been fired probably three or four other times if I worked for somebody else. So I'm just, I'm extremely grateful to have this opportunity with this group and we're looking forward to getting started. Thank you.