NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 1, 2023

Erik Spoelstra

Miami Heat

Game 1: Pregame

Q. How is Gabe's ankle now compared to earlier this week, last week?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's good. He's ready to go.

Q. You guys have talked about the experience you all had going to the Finals in the Bubble together, but how valuable has the experience that Kyle and Kevin bring as guys who have been on this stage with different teams been?

ERIK SPOELSTRA: It actually has been really important for our group, just to bring that added veteran decorated experience. They've been through the battles. They really infuse a lot of confidence in our young guys. I don't even want to call them young guys anymore.

But also, the example that they set. When I say they're decorated champions, even at this stage in their career, they're willing to take on different roles, and they both have started for us this year, they both have come off the bench, and they've both been really effective in both of those roles. And right now, where we are, this is just what makes the most sense. But they're willing to do whatever, and they just want to help this team get over the top.

Q. Mike was just in here telling us about giving his players a quiz at shootaround, and he mentioned that he kind of got that tactic, that idea from Pat Riley. I'm wondering, is that something that you employ, as well, and if so --

ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't.

Q. Quiz your guys about the upcoming game --

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Like on a sheet of paper?

Q. Sounded like it might have been just a Q&A type of thing.

ERIK SPOELSTRA: I'm not sure. No, I don't know. We're going over our prep and that kind of thing. I don't know if that's what you're talking about. I'm glad Pat has never given me a quiz. I probably would have failed.

Q. You and Michael are two of the longest tenured coaches in the league, and I just wonder if you think that says something about teams that stay with continuity and stay with their people, whether they win or lose in a given year or a given playoff or a given Finals, and if that's a lesson for maybe other teams to look at as they --

ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, of course we both feel the same way about that, and it feels at times awkward, us talking about it. It feels like we're lecturing other organizations when we have no business telling them how to do their business. We can only speak from our experiences.

What Denver has built, that culture, it really started with Tim [Connelly] and then Mike, and they've just built something that is stable, that's consistent. You know what they stand for, year in, year out.

They can withstand -- I saw somewhere along the way where he said, one of the years where they didn't make the Playoffs, that he likely would have been fired anywhere else. And that totally resonated with me because I've said that, that I would have been fired four or five times already, any of the years we didn't make the playoffs or whatever the years where there were great expectations and we didn't do what people thought we should have done.

There's something to be said for consistency. It is really a tough task to rebuild a culture over and over and over with new people and doing it every one to two to three years. That's just a tough task.

Then obviously we think about our coaching peers. We're talking about Hall-of-Famers and champions that have lost their jobs because of ridiculous expectations, and people don't understand what it really is in this business. There's only one team that can win, but we're just both very thankful that we have stable ownership and management groups that get it.

I've said that enough about Pat, that when I get to this stage, I hardly trust anybody else -- the only person I want to talk to is Pat because he has the direct experience of not only being just a great coach in this league, but he knows exactly what it means to sit in this chair, being a head coach for the Miami Heat, and all that that entails. That's why I trust his voice more than anybody.