NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

October 8, 2020

Frank Vogel

Los Angeles Lakers

Practice Day

Q. Frank, just wondering at this point of the series, do you still feel like it's that game-to-game adjustments are as key or do you feel like you've already gotten a sense of most of the things Miami does? How does that factor in once you get to a Game 5?

FRANK VOGEL: Yeah, you're always trying to anticipate what the other team is going to do from an adjustment standpoint, especially after you've won the most recent game. So, we've got a long list of things that they could possibly go to that we've been working on today to prepare for.

Q. Before you guys departed for the bubble, we talked to you a lot about preparing your family for your time away. Now that we're at the end of it, how have your conversations been like with your wife and daughters as maybe they prepare for you to come back finally after a really long time, and do you have to try to block that out going into a close-out game or do you try to lean into it and use it with your team?

FRANK VOGEL: I'd probably prefer to keep my conversations with my family private, but in terms of blocking it out or using it, I would say I try to block it out. To me this series is far from over. We've got a lot of work to do. This is a great basketball team that we're playing, and my focus is solely on all the little details that go into what we have to do to get one more win.

Q. LeBron said that he feels like the Laker experience for him has taught him that Laker fans don't care about what you did prior to putting on the purple and gold. I wanted to know if you felt the same way yourself at all, if this has been a validating experience in and of itself separate from what happened in Indiana and Orlando?

FRANK VOGEL: Well, I could say it's been a great experience. I think this is the coolest franchise in the whole NBA. The fan base, the history, Southern California. There's nothing like the LA Lakers. It's been an honor to be a part of it. I hope to add to its history with one more win, and I'm not sure if what happened with me prior to coming here has anything to do with it. For the fan base, they just want to see their team win and be back on top. We're in position to do so, but still obviously one more win.

Q. Of course always a lot of praise goes to Anthony Davis and LeBron James, as it should, but the role players in the last game, you had 27 points from the bench; Danny Green, KCP hit some big shots. Can you talk about how important collectively as a team, every time it seems like somebody is doing exactly their role, if you could talk a little bit about that?

FRANK VOGEL: Yeah, that's been the story of our season. We set out at the beginning of the year to be a team that's greater than the sum of our parts, to be a team-first team that has obviously our two mega stars but we needed everybody else to try to star in their roles. Without those guys, we don't win at nearly the level that we have. We are not in the position we are right now.

Like you said, I think KCP and Danny and Rondo the other night in particular were huge for us winning that basketball game. I think Kyle Kuzma is quietly having a huge impact on this series, Markieff Morris is having a huge impact on this series, Dwight sets the tone with his physicality, both of our bigs have been great for us all year long.

You know, it's definitely a team effort in what we're trying to accomplish.

Q. Frank, when you sat down with Rob after you got hired and you guys kind of went to work on figuring out what this team was going to look like, what struck you about sort of his willingness to collaborate? I know he's spoken a lot about talking to LeBron and talking to AD about stuff, and just what was it like working with Rob through that process?

FRANK VOGEL: Well, you know, everyone always wants to talk about collaboration but are not always willing to exhibit that type of collaboration. That's what struck me first is that I was very, very involved in every personnel decision, really every, like, organizational decision that was made from the time I was hired. And it really has been a wonderful partnership between Rob and myself. Obviously extending to Jeanie and Kurt Rambis and Tim Harris and then to our players, starting with our captains but all of our guys. We set out to achieve for organizational togetherness, and I think Rob's relationship with me from the start set a great tone for that.

Q. In terms of the history of this franchise and sort of all the connections to the past, I know you talk about your deep respect for that, but what does Jeanie represent to you in that terms, feeling connected to the history of the franchise?

FRANK VOGEL: Obviously Dr. Buss is who created the Laker way, you know, and the love for the LA Lakers. Jeanie being a big part of that, you know, obviously being raised through that and being a part of their rise, all those types of things.

But for me, it's been a different dynamic with her leading the way now. She's been an incredible leader for our organization. She's really given us every resource that we could ask for, has shown support in every way that you can support a coaching staff, a team, a front office. She's just got a great demeanor about her. She's great to be around, and she's a huge part of why we're so connected.

Q. Obviously you guys have preached all season long one game at a time, whatever is right in front of you. But how much do you as a coach in preparation for tomorrow kind of take into account the human nature of understanding, it's one game away, this thing is one game away, and allowing maybe for that to be part of your preparation, sort of an understanding of just the mentality of how hard it is to avoid thinking about it?

FRANK VOGEL: Well, like you said, all year long, the focus has remained on the task at hand, not on what's going to happen if we execute, and the result has never been at the forefront of our minds. Right now we're not thinking about that. We're not thinking about tomorrow, we're not thinking about win or lose. We're thinking about how to guard pick-and-rolls, how to execute better offensively without turning the basketball over, all those types of things that fall in the bucket of the process and the task at hand, more so than what the result is going to lead if we're able to have success and get one more win.

Q. You're in this deep playoff run now in the bubble and then you obviously had a few deep runs with Indy outside of it. If you can think back, which of them in terms of physically, mentally, the different challenges, which is harder and which is easier or what the differences are maybe, if one of them isn't harder or easier?

FRANK VOGEL: Bubble versus non-bubble?

Q. Yeah, when you're in this Conference Finals and the Finals.

FRANK VOGEL: Well, I'd say obviously playing the road games is easier in the bubble because you're not really on the road. We have home-court advantage, so I think that plays against us in some ways because the other team doesn't have to deal with the Laker fan base at Staples. I think the no travel has been easier on all of our schedules, sleep schedules, all those types of things. Those are probably the two biggest things.