NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 11, 2024

Josh Green

Dallas Mavericks

Practice Day

Q. What kind of adjustments are you looking to make?

JOSH GREEN: It’s a must-win for us. We need to come out aggressive and deliver the first punch and make sure we’re ready to go as a team.

As far as adjustments, I think we need to be a lot better at just overall. Offensively, we’ve been awful. We know we need to be better. We know what we need to do. It’s just about us doing it.

Q. Is there a different comfort level at home?

JOSH GREEN: Yeah. The guys are definitely excited to come back to Dallas. We’ve been on the road now for a week. Coming home and getting the energy from the crowd, I think it’s only going to help us. I think we’re really looking forward to that.

Q. What is the level of desperation? You called it a must-win.

JOSH GREEN: I think every single game in every single playoff series is a must-win. But I think for this, we have to win this game. That’s the intent going into this game; it’s a must-win game.

Q. What has Jason’s message been?

JOSH GREEN: Coach has been good because obviously he has been in this position before and knows what it’s like as a player, too. Obviously, he has had his message and he’s been able to get that across to the team.

In saying that, he has also done a great job of being able to hear the players’ opinions and how we feel like we can fix things. So I think it’s been a mixture of both. But obviously I think it comes down to aggression and just having trust and confidence in one another.

Q. Other than Luka, you guys have struggled with the three-ball so far in this series. How do you balance the need for that to happen without forcing it?

JOSH GREEN: We need to make them. It’s obviously frustrating not making them, but at the same time, we need to make sure we’re taking every opportunity, even if we are missing.

At the end of the day, it’s going to get better. We’re not going to keep missing. It’s been a big emphasis. We’ve been shooting a lot, getting extra reps in. We know what we’re capable of.

Q. How much of it is shots not falling or the defense of the Celtics?

JOSH GREEN: We’ve been shooting great throughout the Playoffs. I think it’s an adjustment. A little bit of jitters in the first game. It’s one of those things now, it’s do or die. We need to make those shots. That’s just how it is.