NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

October 1, 2020

Erik Spoelstra

Miami Heat

Practice Day

Q. Do you have any updates on Jimmy, Goran or Bam?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Just the ones that have already been released about Goran and Bam. Jimmy is the same as last night.

Q. Is the neck part for Bam new?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, yeah, it's a different injury than his previous shoulder injury. It's on the same side, so it's easy to draw a comparison, but it's a different injury.

Q. Obviously you're not on the floor today. You've got a lot of uncertainty with a couple of starters doubtful.

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah.

Q. Is the blue print now -- is there all sorts of stuff written on it, or do you have a sense of what tomorrow night is going to end up looking like?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Well, no, that's part of the process. You have to go through your plan A, plan B, plan C. We love getting to work as a group. It's not going to be between the four lines and grinding it out. It's just looking for solutions and trying to get to a better version of our game against a quality opponent. We all know that we have to play much better than we did last night at all levels, and that's what today will be about.

Q. You had a very successful different lineup during the regular season. It was a different style, it was a bigger lineup. If you have to go back in that direction to cycle back after such dramatic changes, how much work will that entail, or you always talk about sort of players have that muscle memory. Do you think you can get back to what it previously was if Kendrick is starting, say, and maybe Meyers plays a little bit more, or did the success sort of create optimism for that?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: You know, at this point, it's all hands on deck, and it's not like the guys that were potentially sliding into the rotation haven't played before. These guys have confidence and have played big roles for us all year long. Our depth has been one of our biggest strengths. It's not just coach speak. We've utilized our depth all year long.

The other benefit of all of this is we've been in this bubble with an extra training camp and everybody has gotten great work in, regardless of whether they've gotten big-time minutes in these playoffs series. We'll just have to see tomorrow who's available and make the adjustments accordingly.

Q. Along those lines with Kendrick and Kelly, is the kind of second halves they had, even though it was in very adverse circumstances for the team, is that something that you feel is helpful for guys who might be playing a bigger role in Game 2?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, again, it's not like they haven't played this year. Those guys have both played significant roles for us at different times during the season, and we've seen them play extremely well here in the practice setting. I said it last night, it's more from a human standpoint for Nunn to have to go through COVID and showing up to the bubble 25 days late. That's something that's real. You have empathy for him.

He's really worked behind the scenes. We have confidence in him. The other series played out just the way we felt that it would be best for those series. But he didn't put his tail between his legs and just feel sorry for himself. That's not how he got to this point. This guy has great competitive character. He's had to overcome a lot, and he was a big weapon for us during the course of the year. So it's good to see him get that kind of rhythm.

That wasn't anything that notified this head coach, oh, now I can trust him. I'm watching him behind the scenes when nobody else is watching. I love seeing him work at it and just checking all the boxes to make sure he's ready when the opportunity presented itself.

Q. What does a day like today for you in terms of prep with one day in between, making these adjustments, even that next-man-up mentality, what does it look like in terms of prepping and adjusting for tomorrow?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Well, we'll get to work once we finish all this. We'll go back and get together as a team and work for some solutions. That's, again, what I enjoy arguably the most about this group is the commitment just to get better, not to get caught up in a bunch of different things. But to work collectively to try to get to our best version. That was not our best version last night. Obviously the Lakers had something to say about that. Their game was really good, and that's something we're going to have to adjust to.

It's tough to even evaluate some of the things according to our game because it wasn't our best version.

Q. You've been down in a lot of series. You've been down in the Finals before. Obviously not with this group, it's new for them, but how much do you and the staff, Pat, everybody who's going to have a voice and an opinion in the next 36 hours, how much do you savor these times? Because history says you don't shy away from them, you almost find some sort of strange comfort in these moments? You'd prefer the alternative, obviously --

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, right.

Q. Have you grown to like these in some weird way?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: You know, I'm not like sick in the mind like that. But this is when you feel most alive, when you're being tested competitively and challenged in new ways, different ways. This is a quality opponent. This is the way the whole playoff system is supposed to be set up. It's supposed to get tougher and more challenging every single round and may the best team win at the very end.

That's what we'll work for today. We took it on the chin last night. It only counts as one. But we know that we didn't play well. We didn't compete at a high enough level. The Lakers did. I thought they were the more physical team. And also we're just playing their game and imposing their game way more than ours, and that's what makes this matchup interesting. It's contrasting styles, and so we'll just work for some better solutions for tomorrow.

Q. Spo, you've said all season how important it is for Duncan to be aggressive. The three shots yesterday, how much of that was what the Lakers did to limit his touches, and how much is it on Duncan to be more aggressive?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Usually in these type of things, all things can be true. I think each round, the scouting report on Duncan Robinson becomes much more laser detailed, and he's earned that respect. He continues to figure out different ways to be more assertive, to help out our offense more. He's as persistent as anyone. So just when you think that you can put him in one box, he finds a way to be aggressive and put pressure on good defenses, and I expect him to do the same thing.

We do need more to our menu. He gives us some of that catch-and-shoot element, regardless whether he's shooting or not. If he gets more attempts and he's really finding those moments in between to find spots where the ball finds energy, that can also move the needle, as well, for us.