	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 5, 2011

Rick Carlisle

DALLAS, TEXAS: Game Three

Miami Heat 88
Dallas Mavericks 86

Q. Rick, this was obviously a game that went down to the wire. Can you evaluate what the complexity of the game, with the absence of Haywood?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Well, not having Haywood was, you know, it made it tougher for us because he's a regular rotation guy. I thought Mahinmi's energy was good. At times maybe a little too energetic, but that was expected. We'll see how Brendan is for Game 4, and that's a day and a half away now. He's been doing better. So when we get to that point, we'll see where we're at.

Q. Coach, even as great an offensive player as Dirk is, is too much of an offensive burden put on him tonight and in this series for you guys to win?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Well, he knows that he's going to have to carry a certain load. Not just a scoring load, but he's going to have to make plays, he's going to have to facilitate, he's going to have to get guys involved. And so, you know, I don't think this is anything that he doesn't expect. We would like to make it easier for him, and at times we can give him some relief, you know, with some rest and some better balance. But tonight was tough. Tonight was not one of those nights.

Q. Is there a No. 2 or even a No. 3 you're confident will consistently be there?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: As far as what?

Q. Scorers.
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Look, we've got a top nine guys that are rotation guys. I've consistently pointed out that we don't have a specific pecking order. We're a team built on balance. We're a team where it may take seven guys scoring four points or more or five points or more or eight scoring three points or more. We never know for sure. I think tonight one of the things that hurt us was we were digging out of holes all night, with the exception of the very beginning of the game. We get down five or seven, climb back into it, get a one-point lead or get it tied, and then we were a minute or two later back digging ourselves back again. It's very difficult playing from behind all the time.
So they played a better game tonight for sure. But we're going to have to play more efficiently. We're going to have to get the ball in the basket more. And overall we're going to have to play a better game.

Q. Coach, in three of the last five games, you guys have needed some remarkable comebacks to win those games. Like you say, you've been digging out of the hole. Do you feel you guys have lost some of your efficiency since Game 3 in that Oklahoma City series?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Games get tougher as you get deeper into the playoffs. We know that. Some odd things happen. They throw in a half-court shot that may have been a back-court violation at the end of the first. That goes from four to seven. That's a great play for them, and it's a tough one for us. And then we climbed out of that. Again, I don't know the number of times we climbed out of holes, but it's just always going to make the game harder.
So our overall game, yes, is going to have to be better from start to finish. Our balance has been one of our calling cards, and I believe it will be better as well.

Q. They get the 19 points off your turnovers. Is it just you know you can't make mistakes against them? They're going to find a way to make you pay for it?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Yeah. They were the best in the league during the season. No. 1 at converting steals into turnovers. In many ways it's turnovers and two points. Steals into points, actually. In many cases it's just turnovers in general. So, you know, we only had six in the first half. It led to 14 points, which is an inordinate number. So it's a good example of the importance of taking care of the ball.

Q. Tonight, Rick, the Mavs won every quarter except the first. How important is it going into Game 4 that you guys get that lead early?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Look, it's as much a first quarter league as it is a fourth quarter league. It's something I've talked about a lot of the year. Again, things that happened in the first, they add up and they count in the total number of events that happen through the course of the game.
Yes, we have to be better in the first. Again, our overall game has to be better.

Q. Coach, after the first quarter, the rest of the team not including Dirk was 10-for-35 from the field. Was it just a failure to execute and good looks from your perspective or difficult shots and something you guys have to look to improve on in terms of getting your guys better opportunities?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: I think when we look at it we'll find out there were some difficult ones, but there were also some very good opportunities that we couldn't get down. And so, look, it's a long series. One of the things is there are ebbs and flows. The shot-making, it comes and goes. The defense has to be consistent overall for the whole game. We can argue that 43.6 is a good enough number to win. It's below 90s. But this is a team you have to score in the 90s to beat them in most cases.
So, one or two untimely turnovers and the inability to get the ball in the basket in some of the better opportunities cost us.

Q. Rick, you talked about battling uphill all tonight. That's kind of indicative of the series. You hadn't trailed in the series coming into this Finals, and then you lose Game 1, and now you lost now. How do you guys have to rally around each other to get out of this deficit and to win this series?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Well, look, it's seven games. Any notion that it was going to be easy would have been foolhardy by us or anybody else. Every game has been extremely difficult. I think we have to look at this -- we'll break down the film, and I think one of the things we need to do is point out some situations where execution needed to be better. Point out that there were many positives. Sometimes missed open shots can be positives, because they're opportunities that we did create that were good. And we have to eliminate a couple of the turnovers that lead to the quick points.
It's extremely difficult when you're watching James go down the court and dunk the ball with his head over the rim. That makes it tough to win.

Q. Rick, two things: First of all, your observations on the last shot and the way it came off for Dirk. Secondly, Dirk was the focus of their defense. He shot 52%. A lot of you guys had really open looks. The rest of the team shot 35%. Why do you think guys like Barea and Peja are struggling so much to score in this series?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: You know, our guys just they have to be systematic and approach each game with the same kind of aggressiveness they approached every game leading up to this. There's going to be some nights you don't shoot it good, but to sit up here and just bellyache about missed shots, that's never what the success of this team is going to be about. We held ourselves in the game in Game 2. We held ourselves in the game tonight. And we made some other mistakes that were uncharacteristic.
So we're going to have to eliminate some of those. We're going to have to look at our overall disposition in the game. Again, I really believe the fact that we were digging out of holes all night was something that, you know, it was difficult to overcome.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297