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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT v BULLSMay 17, 2011LeBron JamesDwyane WadeCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day Q. The cavalry. Coach kept talking about you have to have a cavalry mentality. DWYANE WADE: I don't know. I'm sure he'll break it down to us. I mean, my kids went to Cavalry Christian school in Chicago. I don't know. I'm sure the coach will break it down for us. We haven't been able to talk to him yet. He had to talk to you guys first. Q. When you guys are playing in a lot of different lineup combinations, and obviously Joel is different than Z and Magloire and Mario is different from Mike, how much of an adjustment is it for you guys with the lineup change with a different center or a point guard? DWYANE WADE: I think it's a bigger adjustment for them, not knowing really what to expect from time to time. Coach kind of explained it to us earlier, told us certain things are going to be done by committee. He kind of told everybody the rules. We knew what to expect. It really doesn't change our game plan too much. I think it's more so to get ready for the game. Q. Lebron, same question. When there are different centers and point guards, clearly different styles, how much do you guys have to adjust to that? LEBRON JAMES: You have to adjust somewhat. Of course. I can't say we don't have to. Because you have different guys out there that does different things. You just kind of play it by game. Play it by series. And the lineup that coach puts out there, you float with it. We've had enough minutes with every lineup as far as who has been the starting point guard and who has been the starting center, we can be comfortable with it when it happens. Q. Dwyane what's your favorite piece of Chicago Bulls stuff when you were growing up? DWYANE WADE: Favorite piece? Q. Did you have a certain banner? What did you have that you carried anywhere? DWYANE WADE: I wasn't fortunate enough really to have that stuff. My favorite piece was just being in Chicago and being proud to be able to watch the Chicago Bulls on WGN, and the rest of the world could see them as much as me. That was the favorite thing, just to be proud to say I was a Chicago Bulls fan and Michael Jordan fan. I felt like it was personal. Like I knew the guy, although I didn't. I just felt that way. It made me proud. Q. What do you think it is about growing up in Michael Jordan's Chicago that created great basketball players like you and Derrick Rose, that you're both playing on this stage right now? DWYANE WADE: I mean, just looking at him, you come from the streets of Chicago. Even though MJ wasn't from Chicago, he made you feel like, just like a lot of kids think I'm from Miami when you're growing up. It just made you want that. You wanted to be great like that. You wanted to do some of the things off the court that he did. So when you went in the backyard, when you went to the gym, whether you watched "Come and Fly With Me" before you go, whatever you do, you're going out and emulating that person. You're imitating him. And that's what I did. I'm sure it's what D-Rose did. You know, it's funny, kids today are still doing it. Jordan has not been playing for a while. He's just been an inspiration to the game. Q. As much as you guys have a sport (Indiscernible) a way to say, hey, we have to rebound, we have to -- LEBRON JAMES: Absolutely. We have to do a better job of rebounding. Fourth straight time we've gotten outrebounded by the Bulls in the regular season. That's where they're very dominant. We did a great job of holding them on forced attempts. 38% from the floor. They got up to 42, 43%. We allowed them 13 to 21. (Indiscernible) Me and D-Wade is athletic enough. We're aware enough to see where the ball is coming off the rim, or first coming off, to go get it. Q. (Indiscernible) LEBRON JAMES: At this point (Indiscernible). Q. You guys are having to wait an extra day for Oprah (Indiscernible) DWYANE WADE: It's a huge event for Chicago, for Oprah, obviously. We'll take a back seat to Oprah any day. Good luck to her. Congratulations. Q. Is tomorrow a must-win for you guys? DWYANE WADE: We approach every game as a must-win. We don't look at any game we can lose this one. We try to compete in every game we play. Our job is to come up here and steal home court advantage and win one game. We didn't do that in Game 1. We have an opportunity to do it in Game 2. That's our focus. Q. To play on that United Center floor where you did watch so many games on, and of course the All-Star games that you played, what does it mean to play a game so important to get to the Finals? DWYANE WADE: Right now it's a business. I'm trying to get somewhere, do something. Maybe one day I'll look at it and see how special it is. Right now I'm just trying to win. I'm just trying to approach it like it's just another role -- team -- another role game and not get into the hometown thing. Obviously I don't want to lose to my hometown team. Obviously. These guys know that. When you're in the game, you're not thinking about that at all. Q. You almost played with Derrick in two situations. When you went into the draft, that ping pong ball went the wrong way, you guys could have gotten set, had it gone the other way. And then of course this summer talking to the Bulls about playing there. Did you think about that? What do you think it would have been like if the fate had gone the other way? DWYANE WADE: The first time I was there, I was in New Jersey. I was setting up on stage. I thought we were going to get the number one pick. It didn't happen. Obviously everyone knew Derrick Rose was going to be the number one pick. I thought for the first time my career I was going to play with a young up-and-coming point guard that was -- that had some of the same talents, some of the same skills I had from the same neighborhood -- I mean, from the same area I was from. It was very close then. One pick away. And free agency, one team away. It was between Miami and Chicago. What can I say, it wasn't meant to be. Q. Can you guys learn at all from the situation you were in in Boston (Indiscernible)? LEBRON JAMES: Absolutely. That's one thing we can learn from, the regular season, the postseason. To learn from our mistakes from the previous game and then move on. We've done that. We're looking forward to the challenge. We're excited about tomorrow's opportunity to be here and try to steal home court. Q. It's one thing to practice and another to play. How do you practice the hustle and stuff? LEBRON JAMES: That's just energy. You can't practice hustle plays and getting on the floor and getting loose balls and things like that. Nobody practices those. Joakim doesn't practice diving on the floor on loose balls or outworking. You don't practice those. It's in you. You have to be determined to go get it. Q. Is it a pride thing, pretty much, LeBron? LEBRON JAMES: Is it a pride thing? It's competitive. This is the biggest stage. If you don't have it by this point, you're in the wrong business. Q. Coming from behind the first time in the series (Indiscernible) LEBRON JAMES: I've been down before. DWYANE WADE: We've been behind before in our careers. You understand -- as we continue to say, you understand that you have to approach every game, every possession as its own. You can't think we're down one game. It's a seven-game series. We moved on from Game 1 yesterday. Today we come in and prepare for Game 2. We approach it totally different than Game 1. Q. How do you think once this series is over (Indiscernible)? DWYANE WADE: I don't know. I don't come to expect anything from that. I mean, obviously they're fans. They're great fans. They love Chicago sports. I'm not a Chicago athlete. When I come back this summer, I'm sure my people will talk to me. I don't expect them to say much now. Q. They boo LeBron -- DWYANE WADE: I know why they boo him. It's obvious. Q. How did growing up in the Michael Jordan era (Indiscernible)? LEBRON JAMES: (Indiscernible). DWYANE WADE: The things he did, a lot of hope (Indiscernible) he went out and did some of the things he did. He has a lot of greatness in him, he has a lot of athleticism. (Indiscernible) Q. Is there a kid out here in Chicago watching this series thinking I want to be like D-Wade and D-Rose? DWYANE WADE: I'm sure. (Indiscernible) it's great for our community. It's great where you come from. They look up to us. It is right here. (Indiscernible) Someone is seven, eight, nine one day hoping to be in the NBA. Q. When you're back here in Chicago, do you think people pay more attention? LEBRON JAMES: Absolutely. I know it means a lot more to him personally playing a meaningful series in his hometown. At the end of the day, even though the fans boo him, we all know they still love him. You have to respect a kid coming from the inner city from Chicago that's done the things that he's done as a professional on and off the court. We all know how they really feel. But they have to root for their team. Whoever is wearing that jersey, that's who they're going to root for. Whoever is not, they're going to boo. We understand. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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