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NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 8, 2011

Rick Carlisle

DALLAS, TEXAS: Practice Day

Q. Coach, last night pick-and-roll defense, 34 possessions for them, only 17 points. What is it that you think you did that was so effective on defending the pick-and-roll?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Well, we scrambled. We didn't play a perfect defensive game by any stretch, but a lot of times when coverages aren't perfect, you have to hard-play through them and scramble through them. Look, once you defend the pick-and-roll aspect of it, then a lot of times it turns into a one-on-one situation.
Again, with their individual ability to break you down, it becomes a team responsibility to keep those guys in front of you. That's not easy.

Q. Rick, can you speak to Tyson Chandler and how he just seemed to make a lot of, I guess, the hustle plays that often don't show up and his impact that he had.
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Well, that's who he is. His enthusiasm, his energy and tenacity have been a big part of us being as successful as we've been to this point. I disagree, I do think a lot of them show up in the stat sheet. A lot of them are offensive rebounds. The tip-outs, those are a different story. Sometimes those don't count. Balls on the floor loose and he dives and it tips it to somebody, that's a place it's not going to show up.
He's the kind of guy you love to have around on your team, because he's into winning, and he gets it.

Q. Also, can you give us an update on Haywood and Shawn in the fourth quarter last night sitting. I know that was a coach's decision, but did it have anything to do with his calf?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: No, that was just the way the game was going. DeShawn was playing well. I was pleased that we could get Shawn some rest. And then Haywood, he's going to continue to be listed day to day. You know, he gave it a shot last night, and, you know, it just wasn't quite where it needed to be. A tough situation. But with each day hopefully Mother Nature can help out. And we'll see if we can have him ready for tomorrow.

Q. What have you done to instill a defensive mentality in this team?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: We work a lot on it. On our opening meeting the beginning of the year it was something we talked in great detail about and put forth some goals that were the kind of goals, that if we wanted to be a championship contending team, we had to get into the top ten. We were 11th last year.
And look, it's not unlike every other team in the league. There's 29 other coaching staffs going the night before training camp starts and talks about the importance of defense. But we had more consistency this year. Through some of our injury things that we had to deal with, we had some difficulties. But in many ways the season is kind of like possessions in the series, it's a scramble, and you have to get through it. And we did.
So you have two of the better defensive teams right now.

Q. Coach, how is Dirk feeling today? Did he do much of anything in practice?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: I think he's feeling better. He went through the stuff that -- we didn't do any contact things today. There wasn't any real running or banging. But hopefully by tomorrow he'll feel even better.

Q. Do you almost have to quarantine him from the rest of the team? Are you worried about anybody else getting sick?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: I'm not sure it's that kind of a bug. He from time to time has sinus things that come up. Those things can present situations where he gets a fever and has difficulty sleeping and does a lot of sniffling and coughing. I don't know. I don't know that it's that contagious. If it is, we'll keep him away from people.

Q. Rick, this team gives off the impression it's a very coachable. First of all, is that perception correct? And why do you think they're agreeable to your instruction and your words?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: Well, I think most teams are coachable. I think guys want to be coached. Our guys are so focused on winning that they just -- they understand. A lot of them have been in this a long time. Everybody has the same big-picture vision and then understanding the detail aspects of executing that. And I said this last night after the game, this has been my favorite team to work with for a lot of those reasons.

Q. Rick, you obviously got four future Hall of Famers out there. Last three games somebody has got the ball in their hand with the last shot to decide the game. When you're involved in it, can you appreciate the competition? Or is it strictly for you minute to minute, play to play, game to game? Can you ever pull back and say this is, almost like a fan, pretty good stuff?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: At times. You know, we're all so immersed in this, both teams. It's such a binary situation. You win or you lose. That's the end result. If you do win, being able to then focus on things that you need to do better is more challenging.
In terms of as the game is going on, there are times -- and this happens with any coach, you say, hey, this is a great basketball game. Sometimes I say it to teams in huddles, just so they understand that this happens during the regular season at times, that they're part of something that's really special, and to just keep embracing the challenge of trying to come out on top.
These games have all been extremely competitive, obviously, so we're seeing great basketball.

Q. Rick, the decision to put J.J. in the starting lineup, could you just kind of take us through your thought process, what led you from Game 3 to Game 4 to do it, and some of the other adjustments? Did you have a thought in your head, this could possibly blow up in my face or it could be genius?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: I never had any thought that it could be genius. You know, this is a move that we've made several times in my three years, starting Barea. And we've done it in a lot of instances where there have been big games. He has always stepped up and competed at an extremely high level. So I had no doubt that he would.
But the reason to do it, there were several. There was the whole rotation, the issue with Marion's minutes I thought we could address sort of in a residual way, I guess, for lack of a better word.
Then Miami is so active and such a great rotating team defensively that having play-making on the floor is important. And so it just was something that I felt it was the right thing. Talked a lot about it with the staff. Talked about it with some of our key players before doing it, because it's very important that everybody has the same vision of the situation. You know, it worked out.

Q. Rick, it seems like when LeBron is running point, there seems to be more of an effort than usual to try to press the ball, sometimes running a press, or if not to body at mid-court, try to get the shot clock down. Is that something you try to focus on when he's the ball-handler?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: This is the fourth playoffs we've been in and we've tried to pressure the ball in all series. When we've been able to do it effectively, it's helped us. When you let teams operate this time of year, you get your ass kicked. There's your answer.

Q. Two questions, Rick: First of all, after Game 3, Jet was saying that, hey, I don't know if LeBron can stay with me for the entire series. Let's see if he can do it. He beat me two games. I beat him one. When I heard him say that, I thought oh, my, this guy is challenging the beast. As it turns out, he played probably his best game, his best fourth quarter, and LeBron wasn't much of a factor. When you hear Jet say that, those kind of challenging things to a great player, what kind of things are you thinking could happen to Jet and to the other player?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: You know, I knew somebody was going to ask me that, and nine years into doing this job and 240-something playoff games over 27 years, I've seen a lot of stuff. I've seen Reggie Miller put a Superman shirt on during pre-game shoot-around stuff and a lot of different things. I've seen Bird do some things that you would shake your head at.
But everybody is different. Jet says what he says, and he has his reasons. I don't necessarily need to know what they are. But I think the one thing that he knew was that once he says some things, he's going to have to back it up. So I give him a lot of credit. It's a lot easier to stay low-key and sort of go with the flow and then think I'm going to go out there and be more aggressive. Another thing to say I'm putting it on myself, and let's see if he can -- hey, I give him a lot of credit for that.
At this time of year, if you're going to win and win big, you better have guys that want the responsibility and ain't afraid to talk about it.

Q. As far as Marion goes, I know you're saying he played 43 minutes against the best athletes of the world and that was too much to expect him to play at both ends. Last night he played, I think, 25. Are you looking for more of the 40 or the 25 going forward? And how much will his calf determine that?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: If you average them together, he's averaging probably in the low 30s now over two games. I would like to keep him in the 30s, because I think his energy level will be optimal, and he'll be able to keep pressure on the ball and be able to stay in a stance and do the kind of things we need all of our guys to do to play their best. And still have enough energy to give us what he can give us offensively.
The other challenge that you have this time of year is making sure that you got fresh guys on the floor all the time. Now we have Chandler that's running up some big minutes, and that's something that I've got to have a plan for going forward. Look, it's three games in a six-day period. You know what, that's the kind of stuff you have to get excited about. If guys play a few more minutes, they play a few more minutes. I think the key thing is to spell them so that they don't get into a situation where they get completely gassed.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.

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