NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

October 5, 2020

Jae Crowder

Miami Heat

Practice Day

Q. Jae, how important, big picture, was it for you -- you got some shots to fall, I think Duncan got a couple to go down, Tyler made his last couple after kind of a slow start. Winning was of course the biggest thing and what Jimmy did was what Jimmy did, but how much did you guys need to see the ball go through a couple of times to keep this thing going?

JAE CROWDER: Well, obviously that was big, but at the same time we know we have two major guys out, especially on that end of the court for us, and we have to fill that void collectively. I think that's what we've done last night, and we've got to continue to do so throughout the whole series.

It was good for us to support and have some good options for Jimmy on that end of the court.

Q. Jae, Anthony Davis after having obviously a really strong previous game, you guys limited him quite a bit more in the second game. Obviously I know it's difficult to replicate against a player of that quality, but were there specific things that happened in the game in that regard, or is it just playing harder or differently? What happened there?

JAE CROWDER: Well, I mean, obviously he's a great scorer and you just want to make it as difficult as possible. I felt like we played less zone, I think, Game 3 than we did in the previous games, so that controlled his offensive rebounding a little bit. I think if we want to take that away from him, we obviously know he can score the ball at a high level but we gave him a lot of second-chance points that we did not want to give up. So we just wanted to cut that out a little bit and put a body on him as much as possible, and make every catch and every shot attempt, every iso as difficult as possible.

You can't stop a player like that. He's a hell of a player. You just want to make stuff as difficult as possible for him on that end of the court.

That's pretty much it, I feel like.

Q. How much experience have you had guarding taller -- do you like the challenge of guarding guys who have got some length on you, a little taller than you? How is that different than guarding a guy your size?

JAE CROWDER: I just take on the challenge. It doesn't matter if I like it or not. I take it on. Obviously it's a tough task for anybody in our league to take on that challenge. But I'm willing to do it. I'm one of the guys who are willing to do it, and I try to do it at a high level, try to make it as difficult as possible.

I know I'm not going to stop him, not going to stop him from making shots, but I can make him work and I can make it as tough as possible, and try and wear him down as the course of the game goes on.

Just try to take on the challenge and make it as difficult as possible. That's my whole mindset.

Q. There seems to be a variety of ways you guys have gone about this, all the way from the Pacers series to now, in each of your wins and seemingly each one is needed more. Spo talks about the more that's always needed in each game that succeeds. What is the more that's needed tomorrow?

JAE CROWDER: I mean, just try to impose your will, impose our game plan for more minutes of the game, hopefully give ourselves a chance to close it out in the fourth quarter. I just think that's our mindset. We want to start the games well.

And obviously the game of basketball is a course of runs, so we've got to respond to their runs, as well, and limit those runs to as less frequently as possible that can happen. I feel like with that team, they're a great offensive running team, and once you try to make it as difficult as possible for them and try to slow the game down, from them on that end of the court, less fast-break points, you put yourself in position to win the game. I feel like we've got to continue to do that. Easily said, but it's not an easy task.

And I just think we have to start games well and find a way to sustain that throughout the game and close out games and put ourselves in position to close out games and not play from behind.

Q. You've had your run-ins with LeBron's teams when you were in Boston in the playoffs, then you guys were teammates and now you're here in the Finals. How do you view him as either an influence or a character or someone that's kind of been a constant in your career?

JAE CROWDER: I mean, if you're trying to get to the top of the food chain, you've got to go through him. I just always viewed it as that. Obviously I joined him, and I just took from joining him just his approach to the game, whether it be physically, whether it be mentally, just as a total approach is high level. I think you respect that as a player in our league, you just respect what he puts into his craft.

And like I said, playing against him, he's just -- there's no way around it. At some point if you're trying to get to the top, you've got to go through him. That's just what it is. I like that as a competitor. You've just got to -- you want to beat the best. You don't want anything to be handed to you, and I feel like this is where it has come to. This is the Finals and you've got to go through him to get to where you want to be, and that's winning a championship.

It's just the mindset I have. I've always had going back to the Boston days, you've got to go through him to get out of the East. That's where I'm at with it now still.

Q. You guys seem to embrace the fact that once you got here, you might be stuck here for a while. How have things like Big Face Coffee, Little Face Coffee, that type of stuff, how does that help break up monotony, and has that been good for overall chemistry? And what's your order?

JAE CROWDER: The coffee thing it help us just to laugh, just to find laughter in it. Obviously it helps us laugh like we're doing now. But we don't talk about the other stuff that we do, like the card games we have that I'm dominating in. We don't talk about stuff like that. That helps just build chemistry. That helps just get your mind away from obviously missing family. A lot of us miss family tremendously, but we do have a goal here and we are locked in to achieve that goal, and I just feel like we do a lot of stuff together just to help us cope with the fact that we're away from loved ones and we are here for a purpose, and no matter how long it takes, we're all in it together and we're all here inside the bubble trying to achieve that goal.