NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 7, 2022

Ime Udoka

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. This series has seen some smaller, shiftier lineups on Warriors' side. The rotations you're running, have you seen the need to adjust at all to go smaller against this team?

IME UDOKA: Yeah, we discussed all situations, scenarios. We are looking at different lineups and combinations that have worked and know what we can go with against them.

Part of it going into it was shaving Al's minutes down after some major minutes in the last series, and then a chance to reevaluate Rob as we went. Those are things that played into some of the things we did in the first few games. We're also looking at adjustments with lineups and rotations.

Q. I know you talk about Robert almost every day for the last couple months. Marcus fell into his bad leg in the first half maybe. Is he worse or is he okay?

IME UDOKA: No, he's okay. He was more scared than anything, honestly. Said he took the hit in that knee, more so stayed down to make sure he was okay. Once he got up and started running, he was fine. No difference.

Q. We've talked a lot about the turnover issues in the playoffs. Has there been any sort of thing you've seen your team doing when you've had the bad turnover games or a variety of stuff?

IME UDOKA: Majority is over-penetrating, playing in the crowd as I talk about quite often. Just not keeping it simple. You look at Game 1 where we had 33 assists on 43 baskets, crisp and sharp with our ball movements, not in the crowd. Led to a lot of wide-open threes against a team that packs the paint.

To have 19 for 33 and 11 in the first half last game, 15 of those 19 were steals. That's directly playing in the crowd. Unforced at times, but also over-penetrating. Have to have carryover and consistency in that area.

We look at the numbers overall, we're 13-2 when we have 15 or less turnovers in the Playoffs, and we're 0-5 when we have 16 or more. That kind of tells a story.

Q. There was a lot of talk in Game 2 from their side to your side. How do you tell your guys to approach it when obviously they're trying to shake you? How do you tell your guys to react to that? Do you think you were shook a little bit throughout the game? How do you change that for Game 3?

IME UDOKA: I say be who you are. If you want to ignore it, ignore it. If you engage, engage. Do what you do. Be who you are.

The main thing is to continue to stay composed. With us, I don't think it's the talking as much as the physicality that they brought. That was noticeable at times. Talking about the first Milwaukee game, the adjustments Miami made were to be more physical. We know obviously that's what Green does. Kind of bleeds over into the team.

For us it's to be who you are. I told them if I was a player, who I was, I would probably get a double technical immediately. But that's not everybody. Do what you do. Block it out or meet physicality with physicality.

Q. Specifically about Draymond, do you have to have a conversation with your guys about him in particular not to let him get under their skin, maybe even stay aware of where he stands with technicals?

IME UDOKA: No. I think everybody knows everybody in this league by now. We've had several guys that have played with him with the Olympics, know him well enough. That's part of our scouting report going into it, whether it's Patrick Beverley or whoever the case may be, we always highlight a few things about guys. Everybody knows that going in.

When their team is struggling, he sets the tone for them. That's one of the ways he does it. But we embrace that. One of the best defensive teams, we like to impose our will, as well. I have to meet that with the same thing.

Q. Off topic, you made a point to mention Uvalde after one of the first games. Do you think it would ever come to a point where a team, player or coach would feel so strongly about making a message that they would say, I don't want to play in a Finals game or I'm not going to play tonight?

IME UDOKA: Yeah, that was after the Miami series. Had been a week since the incident. What I did say was keep it on everybody's mind, not just forget about it. Obviously more things have happened since then.

You never know. It's something that is a serious issue that's touched several communities recently and over the years. You saw it with the Black Lives Matter movement, things that happened in the bubble.

Everybody kind of processes everything differently, hits home differently. Me being in San Antonio for three years as a player and seven as a coach being in that area, knowing how close that community was, I felt it, understood what was going on down there.

It touches everybody differently. I think part of what happened in the Bubble was due to being in the Bubble. Maybe that's a different incident as far as that. Whatever the players decide to do, we always obviously support them.

Q. You guys are not scoring easy baskets in this series. You're hitting threes, but not scoring much at the rim. Does there have to be an emphasis in Game 3 or is it designed not to maybe take what they give you?

IME UDOKA: A little bit of both. This is a team that's undersized. We talked about it going into the series, that they really pack the paint, like several other teams we've seen, but doing it a different way. Without rim protection, more rotations from their players.

Green did a good job of bluffing, keeping our guys off balance a little bit there. Taking a great defensive player, taking away the lobs as well as the layups. The kick-outs we missed, it was noticeable on film we showed the guys today. Whether you take it into the Miami series or Milwaukee, obviously Game 7 against Milwaukee, they did the same thing.

You make the right amount of threes, you kind of get them out of that. But it's a mix of that. With the lack of rim protection, we got guys that should be finishing a little bit better than we have. We also had several turnovers on our dump-off passes there. They were clogging the paint and missed some kick-outs. It's a balance of both.