NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 5, 2024

Maxi Kleber

Dallas Mavericks

Media Day

Q. What is this moment like knowing it's the eve of game day?

MAXI KLEBER: It's not game day yet, but it's obviously very special to be here. This is what you dream of, just making it here.

As a team, we have our ups and downs during the season, but we deserve to be here. We want to take advantage of that.

Q. What sort of reception are you anticipating for Kyrie? How do you have his back?

MAXI KLEBER: There’s a little bit of a history, so I think it will be very energetic. But that's why we are mentally prepared. We just have to keep the composure, focus on ourselves, what we have to do. Play with the same energy that we had in the last games.

Q. How are you feeling health-wise and how has the last several days having off helped you phsyically?

MAXI KLEBER: The days off obviously helped. I had a little bit more time to get treatment in and work on strength and everything else, also on conditioning. Overall feeling great.

Q. There was no ramp-up for you, you were thrown right back into the fire. What was that like for you to be immediately back into these high-pressure situations?

MAXI KLEBER: I mean, it's the Playoffs, so there's limited time. You get back and get the amount, the reps, practice. But we did a great job I think of ramping it up before that.

Also the minutes were kind of restricted, too. We tried to make the best out of it. It's not ideal, but it's what you got to live with. I think we did a great job overall of pushing with the right pace.

Q. It's a game-by-game moment. You're four games away from reaching that accomplishment. Do you think about the championship and how close you are?

MAXI KLEBER: Yeah, I think especially after winning the Western Conference Finals it's a thought that you have. Now it’s really game to game, you can't get too excited because it's a lot of ups and downs for each individual game, for the whole series. You just got to stay locked in and prepare the same way for every game, keep your composure.

Q. Take us more inside your rehab plan, wearing your shoulder thing. Dealing with all that.

MAXI KLEBER: What about it?

Q. Does it take you time to get adjusted to?

MAXI KLEBER: No, it's just like to stabilize it a little bit, some comfort for the shoulder. Nothing to get adjusted to, or change. No big changes here.

Q. Defensively how big of a series is it with you knowing the Celtics and just they have guys one through five who can score? Defensively how much are you looking forward to the challenge of going up against such a talented team?

MAXI KLEBER: I think every series that we play prepared us a little bit for that because we had other lineups against Minnesota where they had five guys that shot. I think we have a really strong defensive core now, with Gafford and Lively playing big. I think they're also doing a great job.

Overall we have so many defensive possibilities, lineups that we can throw out there, without having big disadvantages.

It will change a little bit because they play a little bit more five-out. Obviously, the rotations, defensive rotations, will be a little bit different. That's why we worked on it for a long time. Hopefully we can just adjust to it in the game tomorrow.