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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT v BULLSMay 21, 2011Erik SpoelstraMIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day ERIK SPOELSTRA: Back to work today. We actually had a full complement of 15 players. Hitting and grinding and trying to prepare for the toe-to-toe battle that will resume tomorrow night at 8:30. Q. Considering all the days off, how do you think LeBron will benefit from it, considering the minutes he's playing? ERIK SPOELSTRA: I never ask him if he's tired or if he can absorb that many minutes. He's a remarkably well-conditioned athlete. In many ways he's a freak of nature. So I think it's welcome for him to ice up and feel some of the bumps and bruises. But if he had to play every other day, he would be able. Q. Did you give him some practices off -- ERIK SPOELSTRA: No. Q. The same stuff that you normally do? ERIK SPOELSTRA: No, no. All of our leaders set the tone, from that regard, all season long. All season long they've marked big minutes per game. It's good for us to build the proper habits and teamwork. They've got to be out here working with all the other guys. They didn't go extreme today. It was not a training camp practice today. But it's important we continue to drill and work on our habits. You cannot take them for granted. Particularly in a series like this. Q. Erik, you guys I believe, have an eight-game home win streak going. Has there been any common thread in the victories, whether it's energy or defense or the guys other than the big three succeeding? ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't know. So now you have two forces going against each other. All they talk about is how they never lost two in a row. We haven't lost three at home. I think all of that is probably irrelevant. The two teams are so dependent, good road records. They've proven they can win on the road. It will still come down to those keys we've been talking about for the last two games. You can't take our home record, our home energy, performances for granted. We have to come out ready for the mental and physical grind. It will be an enduring battle. Q. (Indiscernible)? ERIK SPOELSTRA: We all hope he will be. And we anticipate he will be. He's come such a long way. And like I said yesterday, most professional athletes would not have pushed that far and been so committed to try to come back this year. A lot of players physically wouldn't have been able to do it. So he will earn whatever minutes he gets tomorrow. We're all pleased that he's able to contribute however he's able to do it for us. I don't know what we can expect from him, other than the intangibles in a championship (Indiscernible). Q. (Indiscernible) ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's hard to measure those things. It still comes down to playing with your identity. Both of us have a similar identity. Whoever can get to that identity more often has a better chance to win. And quite frankly, we have to play well against them. It's not good enough just to play hard. We have to put together a good game and be able to endure those times when it's a grind. And when it's a little bit ugly, it's inevitable for both teams, how hard they compete defensively. So we've got to be able to endure all of that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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