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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT v BULLSMay 17, 2011Erik SpoelstraCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day Q. Erik, you said all year everyone is a rotation player. Did you ever envision there would be this many switches, and even this late in the season with center or point guard? Or do you think you would have gotten to something a little more stable come playoff time? ERIK SPOELSTRA: It depends. Each team is different. You deal with the hand you're dealt. We've dealt with injuries all season long in the very first month, dealing with Dwyane missing preseason. And then Miller being out with his thumb. And then UD from there. We've had to make adjustments. The majority of the teams do make adjustments. We've been able to do it fine during the playoffs. Now we have a full complement of players. But there is no cavalry. What I told the guys, the cavalry is our mentality. And we have to come out with a much tougher, aggressive disposition regardless of who plays in the game. Otherwise, the result won't change. So the cavalry is our mentality. The cavalry is our habits. We've built up tremendous habits as a tough, physical, defensive team that rebounds the basketball all season long. We've done that now for five, six months. We did not do that the other night. And they hit first, and they were able to sustain it. Now it's our turn to bounce back. Q. Erik, your centers are so different. You have Joel, very active, Z is a shooter, Jamal is bulk. How much does things change when you go from one center to another because things are so different. ERIK SPOELSTRA: Sometimes it depends on the series on what we may need. We are flexible. We do think our versatility is a strength of ours. The centers we do have on our roster, we value every one of them and they do bring something different. So there are a lot of elements that go behind the decision-making for that in this series. Some of it is the rebounding. Some of it is containing the pick and rolls, which are so important, and occupying some space in the paint offensively. So those things we feel we can, you know, provide with what we have. But it's not necessarily about who, it's about what; what do we bring and what is our mentality to this game. Q. Similarly, your point guards, Mario and Mike are very different players also. How much does the game change when you have maybe the defense of Mario in there versus the shooting and savvy of Mike? It's a different game the two of them, isn't it? ERIK SPOELSTRA: When they are both playing aggressive and confident and when they're efficient, I like it. I like the fact they both bring something different. Mike gives us that veteran poise. He's been in a lot of different playoff situations and been extremely successful in those situations. Our half-court offense, when he's running it, is very poised. He can get guys to their spots. He can also play off the ball. Mario brings us a different element. He's an aggressive defender, which fits our style of play very well, and he's also fearless. He'll put the ball on the floor, make some plays, and we know that he'll step up and make big shots. Q. Is he too fearless for the moment -- ERIK SPOELSTRA: No. Q. Because he takes risks like that in this level -- ERIK SPOELSTRA: Three years now of being around Mario, usually the bigger the game, the bigger the moment is when he'll have his best moments. And you have to deal with that. With all aggressive players, sometimes that will lead to mistakes. I want him being efficient. I want him playing under control. But the fact is he is an aggressive player. We do need another element of guys putting the ball on the floor and creating some opportunities in the paint. And when he's on top of his game, he can do a lot of different things. He can get in the paint, but he can also knock down the three. And he can create some havoc on the defensive floor, which will be critical in this series. Q. When you talk to a football coach like Eric Mangini, he says when he started xeroxing press quotes when he was 20 years old for a football club, he said, "I want to be an NFL coach some day." When you started in the video department with the Heat, how much were you thinking I'm going to coach this team one day? ERIK SPOELSTRA: More of it was fear, making sure I had my edits and job done on time for Coach Riley. I wasn't thinking about anything else. If I did have a quiet moment to myself over a pot of coffee, I was thinking about coaching high school, to be frank. I was maybe thinking about coaching college. I didn't think about anything further than that, than doing my job. I was fortunate enough to get some lucky breaks to stick around. Pat brought an incredible amount of stability to our franchise, so we have had the same staff for 16 years, which is a lot of people to be promoted and to understand the philosophy of the Miami Heat. Q. How much do you think that first job helped you become the coach that you are right now? ERIK SPOELSTRA: All of your experiences in your entire life, you know, lead you to a point where you hope you're competent and feel confident. Working for Pat, working for Stan, all these things will push you and drive you. I never wanted to be anywhere else than working for this organization. Q. Coach, what do you do to get LeBron going more in Game 2? ERIK SPOELSTRA: More of it is in the detail, the collective aggressiveness in all of our parts. We can do some things differently, more efficiently. He's the type of guy that can get involved in the game regardless. And a lot of that energy starts on the defensive end when we create some opportunities in the open court. But also collectively executing offense, which allows our guys to get into the paint. This is a very good defensive team, as we know. They protect the rim as well as anybody. That first strike, unless you're in a semi-transition opportunity, a lot of times that won't be there. And you have to have trust and you have to have the poise and patience to execute your offense. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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