NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 11, 2023

Caleb Martin

Miami Heat

Practice Day

Q. I'm curious, you only played Denver twice during the regular season, now you've played them four times in 10 days. What have you learned about them that maybe you didn't know coming into this series?

CALEB MARTIN: You know, they do a great job of just sticking to the system, whatever it is they do, whether it's defensively, offensively. You can definitely tell and have the feel of how much chemistry they have playing with each other, how well-coached they are, and no matter how things are going throughout the game, they just stick to what they do.

That's a credit to them, just how well they continue to do it and how well mentally they are prepared no matter how the game is going.

Q. Caleb, looking at the two series, the Boston series and now this one, I think it's pretty obvious you came into this one as a bigger part of their scouting report. They've come up with ways to maybe close out on you a little harder and whatnot. Have you really felt that out there, that they're paying more attention to you than Boston did initially in that series?

CALEB MARTIN: Yeah, it's definitely a different scout for sure. You get a different feel. For me personally I get a different feel out there, kind of being a little bit more of a priority, closing out, knowing where you're at, knowing when it's time to cut and those type of things.

Like I said, that's part of them sticking to the system. They've done a great job of having a game plan and sticking to it.

But that's what it's all about getting to this point of the season. They're going to make things difficult, and it's going to be our job to do the same on the other end. We've got to continue to find ways to find cracks whenever we can, and I think we do a great job.

We'll have a great prep today and find better ways to be more effective on both ends.

Q. Caleb, your shot attempts are down. It's not like you're shooting poorly from the field. It's the attempts. Do you have to be more aggressive? How do you maneuver and get your opportunities?

CALEB MARTIN: Yeah, you've got to find that balance between being aggressive but not forcing anything, as well. Like we were just talking about, I've kind of been in that role where you kind of take what is given, and they've done a great job of that.

The opportunities I've had have been a lot lower because of how they defend and what their system looks like. It might be a series in a game where I have to be more assertive and be more creative and find ways to get my attempts up because I think, like you said, last series my attempts were pretty high, probably the highest they've ever been in my career.

I think whenever I get -- have my attempts that high, I typically can be a pretty effective and efficient.

I've definitely got to be more assertive but also within the offense. I'm a role guy. I've got to take what's given. But for sure I definitely need to find ways to be more assertive in that aspect for sure.

Q. When it comes to closeout or elimination games, a lot of times the spotlight is most on the stars, and people look to those guys to say, get on my back. What's the dynamic like for you guys with Jimmy and Bam in terms of them leading, you following? Do they look to you guys in a certain way to pick up a lot of that role?

CALEB MARTIN: Yeah, I think that, like you said, naturally everybody looks to the stars to get us past that game and get us to the next one, but we're a group of guys who depend and lean on each other, and that's what makes our team so great and our stars so great, that they're so unselfish.

The trust factor they have in the other guys like us on the team, it pumps confidence into us, and they understand how important and key of a piece that we can be to get us to the next game, as well.

I think it's a collective thing to where we all understand we all need to elevate our games, and while also, like you said, the stars being the stars, and the role players gotta be stars in their roles.

Q. Game 2 against Boston you got hit on the arm on a three and it airballed, and then it went out of bounds and you knew you got hit, but that play seemed to get you going for the rest of the series. You hit two more and I think you yelled at the officials and said, see, that's what I do, I don't airball threes. How much did that sequence get you going for that series and up your confidence for this series?

CALEB MARTIN: Yeah, I definitely get fuel while being disrespected. I felt like if someone doesn't believe I can do something, I typically find the best way possible to do it. That definitely gets my juices flying, like you said, especially airballing like 3 feet from the basket.

I'm not Steph or nothing like that, but I don't think I'm airballing three feet from the rim. Yeah, we've got to find ways to continue to be aggressive and have those internal battles all the time to keep things going.

Q. Under 100 three times in this series. I'm wondering how you feel about the process on offense. Do you feel like you guys are getting to the kind of looks you want, and if not how can you tilt that in your favor for Game 5?

CALEB MARTIN: Yeah, we're definitely getting great looks. They're doing a great job of taking some things away from us. But I think we'll have adjustments to find ways to get our guys going. That's their job, is to take away certain things, big muscle things for us. That's been in their favor. We've got to take advantage of that.

We're a great enough offensive team to where if you take something away, something has gotta give. We'll definitely find ways to be more impactful on that end for sure.