NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

October 2, 2020

Frank Vogel

Los Angeles Lakers

Game 2: Postgame

Los Angeles Lakers - 124, Miami Heat - 114

Q. On the walk-off for Spectrum, AD said he wasn't satisfied with the way that you guys as a team played overall, thought there were a lot of places things could improve, so despite winning by that margin, what do you take away from his reaction to the game?

FRANK VOGEL: I agree with him. Particularly on the defensive end, we knew they were going to be different and with no Bam they bring five three-point shooters and their movement on offense is very difficult to guard no matter who is in uniform, but we definitely have to do a better job, in particular on the defensive end.

I thought we attacked offensively really well. Had one of our -- well, we had a poor shooting night from perimeter, but I liked the quality of the shots for the most part and even having a poor shooting night, we still end up with an offensive rating of 136. So I was pleased with what we did at that end of the floor. Obviously you can always get better on both sides but defensively we have to be better.

Q. What are conversations like in practice with LeBron and Rondo about dissecting the zone and when you get to that level of talking about hoops?

FRANK VOGEL: Yeah, just we know the spacing that we want to get to and a few different alignments. Obviously a lot of teams don't have 10, 15, 20 different zone offensive plays like they do with man-to-man. But there's a few different alignments we want to get to out of the zone that we feel are favorable to the offense. We've got a lot of them tonight, and obviously Do [Rondo] and Bron and our whole group has a great ability to communicate where the holes are, what they are looking for and work together in those types of things.

Q. What were you seeing happening in the third quarter there when they cut that 18-point lead to nine, especially defensively?

FRANK VOGEL: In the third quarter, you said?

Q. Yeah, when you had an 18-point lead and they cut it down to nine, what did you see there?

FRANK VOGEL: Yeah, this team has a lot of fight. Like I said, they are extremely difficult to guard, no matter who is in uniform. Doesn't matter that they had some guys out. They are a deep team, and you know, with Bam out, they become different from the standpoint of more spacing at the three-point line, which presents different kinds of challenges. Obviously Bam is an All-Star and one of their best players, but they become different. You know, with him and Dragic out.

Those guys played extremely hard and kept fighting to cut into the lead. Like I said, we have to do some things better, a lot of things better on the defensive end, but that's what getting to work and the process is all about. We review the film, meet tomorrow as a team, and make some improvements.

Q. This is the first time a pair of Lakers teammates scored 30-plus in a Finals games since Shaq and Kobe in 2002. What is the way that Anthony and LeBron are able to dominate at the same time? Do they take turns, feed the hot hand? How do they work it out together that way?

FRANK VOGEL: We both, they both and our whole team attack the defense and reads. Obviously they both have the ability to score against single coverage, so to speak, whatever action you are talking about, but they are both brilliant passers. Sometimes they are feeding each other. Sometimes they are destroying their own man, and sometimes they are making the extra pass to the open man. Both have that elite ability to score and to read defense.

Again, a big reason -- those two were huge tonight and a big reason for the win.

Q. You guys had, looking right here, 16 offensive rebounds and eight for Anthony. Physically, how have you guys been able to dominate and use your size in the series, and how big of a factor is that?

FRANK VOGEL: Yeah, we got a lot of those rebounds, not even with our big lineup. There's a lot of holes in the zone. That's one of them, being able to crash the boards. And we definitely punished that aspect of their zone defense.

Q. In those situations where you're leading late, you've been in that position a lot, gone on to win a number of those games anyway and turned it back. What do you look for in the groups you want out on the floor, and to your observation, what's their sort of dialogue? Are they trying to simplify things or how do they approach it?

FRANK VOGEL: Well, each group knows what the strengths are of the personnel that are out there. You know, the great thing is, we always have either Rondo or LeBron out there to quarterback the action and make sure that we are seeing the targets and trying to get the ball to the guys in positions to be effective. When you have two guys like that, or one of them on the floor for all 48 minutes, you're going to get a lot of good action. So I credit those guys.

Q. Why hasn't going large worked for you guys?

FRANK VOGEL: Well, we haven't necessarily gone large -- you used the word "large." We are a hybrid team. We played all season long, half the game in big lineups, half the game small, and we have the ability against bigger teams to play more minutes with a big lineup, and we have the ability to play more small lineups against smaller teams when that's needed, like you saw in the Houston series, like you saw with a lot of tonight's game.

Dwight started but he was very effective in his minutes and you know, that's the biggest thing is our ability to be a hybrid.

Q. You indicated in your on-court interview with Rachel [Nichols] that offensively for AD in that third quarter is probably about as good as it gets. Curious what you've seen from him kind of throughout this postseason run from him in terms of, you know, his confidence and his aggression and what kind of growth you've seen in mindset as you guys have gotten deeper into this.

FRANK VOGEL: You said the word right there. His mindset is he wants to be a champion, you know, and he's extremely motivated to play at a high level and you're seeing it every time he steps on to the floor.

Obviously defensively, he's a unicorn, in my opinion, Defensive Player of the Year. But his shot making, the many ways that he can hurt you offensively in the post, throwing to the basket, working the baseline like he did against the zone, working the middle, shooting threes from the perimeter is just very unique, and you can just see his determination to win this championship on both sides of the ball, but I thought tonight you saw even more on the offensive end.

Q. There were three or four possessions in the second quarter where Rondo ducked into the middle and created offense for himself or somebody else. Is that something you instructed him to do or something he thought up on the fly?

FRANK VOGEL: It's one of our looks against the zone is to put him in there. We want to put play-makers in the middle. If we can get the ball there and suck the defenders in, it opens up the perimeter. It opens up the rim. Obviously you want great decision-makers in there. Bron, AD, Rondo, all those guys being in that spot benefits our offense.

Q. You went to J.R. Smith tonight after he had been out of the rotation for a while. I was just wondering what you saw from him and kind of what the goal was with getting him out there tonight?

FRANK VOGEL: Yeah, just Danny was battling a hip injury, and you know, he and KP were playing well, but were struggling a little bit from the perimeter. So was just looking to see if we can buy a few minutes with J.R. because of Danny's injuries, and obviously he carries that threat to knock down a three or a few threes. I just like the threat of him being out there against the zone.

Q. Because LeBron and AD are playing so well at this point, there's already chatter about who would win MVP of the Finals if that were to happen. What's it like having them both play so well on this stage?

FRANK VOGEL: It's unbelievable the way they work for each other. Like you said, both of them playing at such an elite level and both of them extremely determined to win a championship. You know, we are not there yet. We have a long way to go. This is a very resilient basketball team that we are playing and a team that just flew through the East with a [12-3] record. We have great respect for them.

But those guys are playing at an extremely high level, and hopefully we can get two more wins.

Q. Jeanie [Buss] was in attendance tonight. I know when the game starts, it's all business, but is there any sort of -- you said the other night you wished her happy birthday, said, we can't wait to see you. Was there any exchange through plexiglass, so to speak?

FRANK VOGEL: No, not tonight. I knew she was coming to town. I wasn't sure what day she was going to get here, but we definitely miss Jeanie and excited to get this win for her.