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NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 6, 2011

Erik Spoelstra

DALLAS, TEXAS: Practice Day

COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: So we still continue to have the same mentality. It's a possession series. So many different things could happen during the course of the game. Make here, a miss here, a rebound here, a loose ball there, that can change the complexion of it. We have to continue to try to get better, and make sure that our mindset is right for Game 4.

Q. Spo, so much got made in '06 of Shaq and Zo taking Dwyane for a car ride one night and just telling him, this is what we need from you during the Finals. I know that story has been growing over time. Are you seeing similar traits now from him? Is his voice getting even louder in the room at this time of year?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: He has the ultimate respect of everybody in the locker room. He's done that from the very first day of training camp as the captain and as the leader, the guy who can set the tone of what our franchise stands for as a first-class championship organization. And he's been able to sustain that all year.
He leads with his example, but more so, the last couple of years, he's been doing it with his voice. And I think the guys really respond to that. He's proven time and time again in the biggest moments when he's at his best, and that's not only just on his play on the court, but where the guys can see his sense of urgency.

Q. Erik, is there any sense tactically for you that Dirk is going to get his, and the best bet for you guys is --
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's never as easy as that. It just isn't. Our defensive system and the habits we've tried to build, we try to make it tough on everybody on every shot. This team is such a great offensive team. They will challenge you in a lot of different ways. Nowitzki is a shotmaker. Arguably the best one in the league in terms of his ability to get a shot off, even off-balance shots. But for them to be high-percentage shots. So we're trying to make it tough, always get a contest. But at the same time, we want to get to their shooters and make it tough on them as well.
It's never as simple as allow somebody to score and try to stay home on everybody else. They do enough actions, multiple actions with people involved that you have to guard multiple situations, multiple players, and be able to protect the paint, get to shooters and try to keep a body on him at the same time. It's a whole lot easier said than done.

Q. Erik, have you thought at all, at all, that you could be 3-0?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's absolutely irrelevant at this point. They probably could say the same thing. A series develops how it develops, and it's a possession series. It can go either way every single game. And so the most important thing is to stay in the moment and focus on what you can control. And that's the next game. We want to come in with the right mindset, with a sense of focus, with a sense of urgency. It's not bigger than that. We're not talking about anything else but coming in and trying to get tomorrow night's game.

Q. So that's a no? You haven't thought that?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: No. That's wasted energy. We're not 3-0. Why would I spend time thinking about that?

Q. Erik, we were talking about this since October, do you even game-plan for who is going to have control of the offense in the fourth quarter?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yes. Ad nauseam.

Q. When is the decision made? How is the decision made?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: A lot of times the way it should be - the way the game is developing. You have to make reads. How players are being defended, what's looking -- what's effective, and sometimes what you may feel in your gut. But we've spent a lot of time on our late game, execution and package since March. And that's been well documented, obviously.

Q. Erik, there are some players whose values don't measure necessarily in the boxscore. You have a starting center who scored two points in three games. Can you talk a little about the value Joel brings and his road to this point.
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's been an uncommon road. But we value the things that Joel brings to a game. Probably more so than other franchises might. He came to us as a guy who only averaged one point in college. But an incredible athlete. An incredible worker. He's tireless. So we can see a level of possible improvement and potential with his game. And he's a phenomenal athlete. He's in the top percentile at his position in terms of speed and quickness and jumping ability.
So he's put in the work. It's really a credit to his work ethic to be able to learn our defensive system, find a way to be effective in it, and regardless of the boxscore, we never looked at that. We never looked at his impact on how many points he scores or rebounds. It's whether he's helping us win or not. And he's done that.

Q. Coach, can you tell us a little about your relationship with Wade, how you've grown together in the organization from his rookie year, from when you became head coach as well?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We've been through a lot. Through a lot of different roles together. This probably helped our relationship. It's been eight years. Obviously I started out as an assistant. We spent a lot of time working together individually. But then also within the team context, been through a championship season together. Been through a horrible season together, 15 wins. That's when you really get to know somebody. And then obviously the relationship even changed a little bit now that I've been a head coach. But he's made it a whole lot easier for me, and I will never take that for granted. Since the first day I walked through the locker room door as the head coach, he helped that process with incoming players to let them know what to expect. Not only from me, but the franchise. Without that type of instant credibility, it likely would have been much more challenging for me.

Q. Erik, so far in these playoffs, once your team has lost a game, it hasn't lost again in that series. Can you talk a little bit about what that says about their ability to adjust and just the competitive level and then seizing the moment?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I think both teams have that. That's the way it should be when you get to this level. That doesn't guarantee you anything. I think what that probably speaks to are a lot of the habits that we've built. So when you bring competitive guys into an intense situation like this and you experience some pain and a little bit of failure, that you're able to make some necessary adjustments to not let that happen again.
We've been fortunate. Sometimes in the playoffs it becomes about make or miss or a rebound here or a rebound there, a loose ball, et cetera. But our guys have been able to stay the course and keep it to what it is, and not get caught up in all the noise out there, but rather on trying to win the next game.

Q. Erik, I don't think there's anybody in the league that probably gets more flack than Mario Chalmers does. Not just from fan base, but from his own teammates sometimes. And you've talked about not only your frustrations with him sometimes but also his high ceiling. What is it about him that you see that allows him to be a serious contributor in an NBA Finals and a potential championship-type team?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: He's a gamer. You see that. You can't teach that. You can spend hours upon hours in a gym, but that type of element and quality in a player a lot of times you have it or you don't have it. He is not afraid and is not going to shy away from the moment. So all the other things that we've been trying to develop, and that's natural for a young player, and he's come a long way, that's because we believe he does have a high ceiling. And he's played well for us in the playoffs. But it's about consistency. So can he do it again?

Q. So much of your offense, your set offense, you've discussed, is getting to first, second, third and even fourth triggers. How would you rate the team's willingness in the series and patience in sort of working through the offense, being willing to sort of work towards the third and fourth triggers?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: At times it's been very good. At times last night it was very good. We were able to establish our game, which is an attacking, aggressive game. But in order to do that sometimes for us, we have to have great trust, because the defense will be loaded on that first initial attack. And we have to have the patience and poise to get to another situation and execute different layers of our offense to get our guys into the paint. And then Game 1 and Game 3, I think we were pretty good with it. Game 2 we took the easy way out probably a little bit more often than we normally would.
But we've come a long way in that department. Because of Dallas' defense, it's required. Their defense is very underrated. And we do need to execute to get our opportunities. This is not a series, I don't think you guys or anybody, the fans should think this is a series that will be in the 110s or 120s. It's two good defensive teams.

Q. Coach, a couple of questions. Can you talk about the great leadership that Dwyane Wade showed before and during the game.
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Not only during those times. Those are the times that have been highlighted, that everybody sees. But, again, it started earlier on for us in the first day of training camp when he set the tone for what our franchise stands for. And we believe we are a defensive-oriented team that's a work team, that's a lunch pail team. And if your best player and your leader is not like that, you have no chance of establishing that type of work ethic. That's been probably one of the understated themes of our season, the guys have been really willing to work to get better.
Now before the game, he set the tone just in terms of his voice of how important the game was and what attitude he wanted and disposition he wanted the guys to bring to the game. That's invaluable. You can't put a price on that from a leader, and what that means, how that manifests into our effort on the court.

Q. Can you talk about the pick-and-roll with Wade and LeBron at the end of the game, where LeBron passed to Bosh and got that great screen from Haslem. Is that what you envisioned? Talk about the play call and how that unfolded.
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We have different actions. It's a play that we've used a few times. I don't want to get into too many specifics about it. But obviously we try to get a lot of actions with the three of them involved. But the best part about that play was it was the right basketball fundamental play to make. You see an open man, you draw two, you make the pass. And LeBron got the play, had a defender on him, two people on him, saw somebody open, he made the right play. Without even thinking about anything else than that's the right play. And there's a karma to the game. Two open passes to an open shooter. And we were fortunate enough to make the shot.
If he missed the shot, the point is that's the right play and we have to do that again.

Q. Erik, you've talked about LeBron and Dwyane learning to play off the ball maybe a little bit more this year. What is the difference for them playing off the ball maybe in the last couple of minutes of the game as opposed to any other point in the game?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's been a long process. They had to learn how to impact the game and be involved when they didn't have the rock in their hands. And they were so used to impacting end of games at the top of the floor, making all the plays. We had to spend a lot of time developing a game where they all can feel comfortable, confident and aggressive. They've been getting better with that.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.

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