NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

September 30, 2020

Erik Spoelstra

Miami Heat

Game 1: Postgame

Los Angeles Lakers - 116, Miami Heat - 98

ERIK SPOELSTRA: So I don't have any more news on Goran or Bam. You probably heard the statement from TD [Heat VP of Media Relations Tim Donovan]. But regardless, the Lakers set the tenor, the tone, the force, the physicality, for the majority of the game and they just took control and we weren't able to get it back.

Q. You've been through a lot of these and you know that Game 1 is often a feeling-out game, and I mean I think all three of the times you guys have won it, you've lost Game 1. But can this be a motivating point? Can this just be a wake-up call, a dose of reality?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's high-level competition, so you have to do things with force and detail. It's a cliché but every single possession counts, and there were too many possessions where it was either a poor offensive possession or a miss that led to a couple of poor possessions defensively or vice versa, and those stacked on top of each other can get away from you pretty quickly against a very good team like this.

We're much better than we showed tonight. You have to credit the Lakers, and we'll get to work for the next one.

Q. Could you just walk us through, it appeared so Goran left with 6:04 left in the second quarter, when did he exactly hurt himself? And it looked like he, if he did on the Rondo play, he stayed in for a little after to maybe test it out. What was your observation?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't know right now. I know he's as tough as anybody, and it's the Finals. But I don't have an update where he is on his foot right now.

Q. We talked about this before, was Bam's injury just more from today or is it exacerbating something that previously was in place?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't have that answer right now. We'll just -- we'll re-evaluate him and see where we are.

Q. To follow up, Anthony Davis is never a good matchup, he's so unique, you put a big on him, he goes to the perimeter; you put a small on him, he goes into the post. Can you take us through your thought process with Jae Crowder and sort of what's the next approach with Anthony Davis?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: We have 48 hours to figure out what the next plan of attack will be. He was extremely good tonight and we have to be better.

Q. They were able to kind of ping the ball in and out to get to their corner three-point shooters. How do you balance being aggressive on the ball without getting caught in the back like that?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, we're better than we showed tonight. Now this is a very highly skilled, talented team. They have guys at the point of attack in James and Davis that are going to break your defense down, can make plays over the top. So you have to be on a string, and you can't start to make things up, you have to be extremely disciplined and stay with it. There was too many times that they got us out of our typical things that we do. But that's also a big-time credit to them.

Q. To that, somewhat, they did sort of have you chasing it sometimes.

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah.

Q. The last time I looked they were like 21st in the bubble in three-point shooting. How much did that just catch you off guard the fact that they could make that many that quickly?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, you don't want to leave anything to chance in The Finals, so we clearly have to just be a lot better, more resolve, more commitment, more multiple efforts, more communication, all of these things, more trust, we have to be much better on that end. And then, yeah, offensively we also have to generate some better looks.

Q. I know it came late and with the Lakers already holding a big lead but how encouraging was it to see Kendrick [Nunn] play the way he did in the fourth quarter, and is that something you can take moving forward in the series?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Well, you're always rooting for him. This has been a tough playoff for him, and these are -- the human side of it, you want to get him in there, you want him to play well and based on where we are, we could use some scoring punch. And you have to guard him and he's very skilled. So we'll see where he we are for the next game.

Q. You've coached in many NBA Finals games and you know how hard these series can be. What is your message for the team after losing tonight?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't have my message right now, but I've got a night to figure it out. Right now it doesn't really matter what you say, we get to work and get together tomorrow.