NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 13, 2024

Maxi Kleber

Dallas Mavericks

Practice Day

Q. After yesterday, being now in a position of 3-0, we know a team never came back from this position. What is the way that you take that to stay now focused and knowing that you maybe can do the impossible?

MAXI KLEBER: I mean, overall I think in sports when it comes to competing you always have to believe in yourself, and that's what we do, too.

Even before the Playoffs, I think a lot of people didn't believe we could be here. We stayed together as a team at any time. Obviously, it's not ideal. It's not where we wanted to be, but this is also a great learning process for everybody involved.

But overall in sports you keep competing no matter what, so you just approach it in the right way. Our backs are against the wall, obviously, being down 3-0, but we still have to continue to just play hard and believe in ourselves.

Q. We saw the support from the arena was great. Everyone was locked in. Would you say for tomorrow that the support of the fans could be the difference?

MAXI KLEBER: Yeah, I think our fans have been great all season long, but obviously yesterday, especially when we had the early run at the beginning of the game. They were loud, and then when we made the comeback from 20 points, they always supported us. They're always here for us, and obviously we wanted to take advantage of the home court yesterday. So that's something we have to do tomorrow.

Q. You know how much of a fight it's going to be to stay in this series. Is there a better group of guys you'd rather be in this fight with?

MAXI KLEBER: No, I love everybody on this team, coaching staff, everybody around the Mavs organization. I've been here for a long time now. I don't truly have a comparison to other teams, but I know it's hard to top the character guys that we have here.

Q. For you with your shoulder, will we still see you not taking as many shots as you would normally take? Do you still have pain that is going on? How do you feel with your shoulder?

MAXI KLEBER: Obviously, I still have pain. It's not just gone now. But you make the best of it.

Q. How do you spend the days in between the games?

MAXI KLEBER: We have practices. We analyze tape. We try to see what we have to do better, obviously, and then outside of that, just try to get my mind off a little bit, try to relax and then come back and focus my mind.

Q. Is there less pressure now that you've lost three games? Is it easier to play being down 3-0?

MAXI KLEBER: I wouldn't necessarily say easier, but obviously when your back is against the wall, you can play a little bit more loose and just go out there and fight. You have nothing to lose.

But overall I think the pressure remains the same at all times. You just want to win as a team no matter what. It doesn't matter if it's 0-0, whatever. We just still got to continue focusing on what we have to do, and also when we watch tape and analyze what we did, learn from it, also for future purposes.

Q. At this point is it still about shooting percentages and statistics, or do different things come into play?

MAXI KLEBER: Well, that's a result of how the game goes. I think we just have to create better spacing for Luka and Kyrie to operate and get the right guys involved, and that will also give us better percentages.

Also, Boston is playing a little bit different in this series than they have before, a lot of switching, stuff like that. But it's good for us to just analyze and keep improving on what we want to do.