NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 6, 2023

Kevin Love

Miami Heat

Practice Day

Q. Kevin, you keep hearing every round of the series pundits talking about the talent disparity between your team and the ones you've beaten. Do you think the talent here has been underestimated, or are these players simply better than people give them credit for?

KEVIN LOVE: I'm going to take the same route as we've done really the whole Playoffs. We have a belief system with this team that we can compete and win against anybody. You look down there, that's an incredibly talented team. They're big. They're physical. They pass the ball. They shoot the ball. They put you in a lot of tough positions.

Like I said, our belief system is very high, and like Gabe said after the last game, we don't really care about the noise. Our position is we want to take care of business and go out there every game and compete and try to get ourselves a win.

Tomorrow we're looking to do that on our home floor.

Q. How does this Finals experience compare to ones you've had with other teams? Does it feel the same or different?

KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, fifth time, definitely each and every playoff game in itself is different, but in the Finals it's such a battle of attrition, who can make the most plays, both offensively and defensively, but definitely getting here with a different team than Cleveland is different in itself.

Playing in Denver, a different team that poses a ton of threats and is very well-coached, yeah, I think that every series, but certainly every Finals has posed different threats.

Q. How do you guys remain so loose?

KEVIN LOVE: This is who we are. Obviously when it's time to get down to business, our focus is all the way there during our prep, during our film session. When every coach is putting us through drills, going out there through a walk-through and obviously especially during the game.

But when we're working we still like to have fun and keep it loose. It keeps us loose out there on the court starting the game and throughout 48 minutes. But it's not without intention and the willingness to do whatever it takes.

Q. How important would it be to have Tyler back with the team?

KEVIN LOVE: It would be huge. He's another guy that provides so much shot making, play making ability. You saw in Game 1, we were a little bit cold from the three-point line, didn't shoot the ball particularly well from the field, so he's just one of those guys that provides so much firepower and can put a team on their heels.

Q. Some of your teammates have said that you've been a really welcome addition to the locker room, helped improve the locker room. Did you feel the need to do that? How did you go about indoctrinating yourself here?

KEVIN LOVE: I think just being myself, unapologetically. I'm very grateful for them that they accepted me throughout the entire organization, just being myself, on the floor, off the floor. I think that helped me get acclimated.

But also people that I've been around --I like to keep it light. I like to get to know my teammates on and off the floor personally but also professionally, see how I can best help them, uplift them and get the best out of them.

Everybody has their style of leadership, and getting a locker room right, I certainly have mine. But just want to be an extension of guys like UD, like Jimmy, like Bam, Kyle, players like that that provide so much not just on the floor but off.

Q. Caleb and a couple other guys have said they almost feel like they've been here before because of the guidance you and Butler have given them. What kind of guidance have you given them to help prepare them for these moments?

KEVIN LOVE: I've been on these guys the entire Playoffs, that good advice I got early on, kind of like we were talking about with the Finals is that every game is different, every game is going to pose its own set of problems.

Sometimes it's going to be missing shots and trying to find ways to get stops on the defensive end to keep you in the game. Sometimes you're going to blow it out and catch fire, then have to deal with another team playing in transition. Those are just a myriad of options that you might see out there.

But I think that these guys have been able to wipe the slate clean, certainly after every round, but after every game they've really been just pros the entire time, and the level of perseverance and bounce back has been at a very high level with this group.