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NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEATMay 31, 2011Erik SpoelstraMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game One THE MODERATOR: We'll open up to questions for Coach. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Everybody is ready to go. No new updates from the shoot-around. Q. Erik, same inactives would you expect? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I'll submit it when I have to. Q. Coach, on a personal note, from the Philippines -- COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's good to see you again. Q. How do you feel, personally, how you have carried this team and been a part of it through all the turmoil at the beginning of the season and up to where you are right now? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: One of these days I'll sit down with you guys. We're putting that all in the past right now. It's been a very productive season for us. We squeezed everything we needed to out of the regular season. A lot of the adversity and the pain we went through, strengthened our group. And it brings us to where we are now. But now it's -- it all starts over. We're looking forward to the challenge. It's been a long wait to get to this point. It's good to see you guys made the trip. Q. Erik, can you talk about how Pat Riley has toed the line between being available to you and helping you, without looking over your shoulder constantly? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't know. I don't overanalyze it. I knock on his door quite a bit. Most of it was unscripted. Certainly the majority of it is informal. He comes to every practice, and so usually we speak after practice informally before I talk to all of you, or sometimes I go into his office after practice. So it's been invaluable for me. Especially going through this season with this team. Q. Just from like a human nature standpoint, is there any part of you who wants to kind of puff out your chest and look at the camera and say, I'm still here? Because four months ago, five months ago everyone said the Heat might make it, but you're not going to make it. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: You haven't been around our team. That's not really my personality. I'm extremely honored I have this opportunity to coach this team. I've been focused on doing my job all season long. The majority of the noise we've been able to compartmentalize it and not let it be a distraction, and not feel we have to prove ourselves to the expectations or to the noise, but rather to concentrate on just our job and task at hand. I know that sounds like an oversimplification. That's what we've all needed to do. We've all been in the same predicament at some point in the season. It's not about that. It's about the goal we set for ourselves 425 days ago when we stepped on that Air Force base. Q. What's the coolest thing Pat Riley ever said to you? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't know. I'd probably have to give that some thought. I don't know. Nothing immediately comes to the top of my mind. Q. Let's say you were to get hit by a bus and you never talked to him again, what would be the one thing he said that you remember? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I've always referred to that meeting I had when he told me he was going to hire me as the head coach, and it was like talking -- if you know Pat, you go into his office, he calls you in there, and it's like talking to the Godfather. The lights are always dim. He can see you, but you can't really see him. And when he told me he was going to pass the reins over to me, he had full confidence in me. I think he actually had more confidence that I could do the job before I actually felt that I was ready, whenever that was. But he just said, hey, focus on doing your job. I believe in you. Don't worry about what anybody says, expectations. You coach this team. You're ready for this. Push 'em, prod 'em, demand of them and don't get caught up in anything else. So I've tried to stay true to those words. Q. Erik, you went from not playing Udonis to then working him in, to then playing him more than 25 minutes on some occasions. Are there any limitations as far as minutes or playing time with him at this point? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Who are you asking, me, the trainers or UD? Q. You, I guess. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: No, not at this point. It's hard to explain UD and what's inside of him. The championship heart. None of us really anticipated he would be available to this extent. But he has complete and 100% freedom and clearance from the staff. So unless I hear otherwise from he or the staff, from him or the staff, I'll continue to play him. The championship intangibles that he brings are invaluable. At this point of the year he can make it seven games. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach? Thank you. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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