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NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 8, 2011

LeBron James

DALLAS, TEXAS: Practice Day

Q. LeBron, you're a two-way player, of course. At what point do you in the fourth quarter say, one guy on their team is killing us. I'm going to go guard that guy, and the guy is Dirk?
LeBRON JAMES: I don't think -- what do you mean? We have matchups. We have schemes. It's not one guy that's hurting us. I think Tyson Chandler had an unbelievable game last night. Offensive rebounds, he had nine offensive rebounds. Dirk made shots. He can make shots against anyone. He can make shots against me. He can make shots against anyone in this league. Just try to make it hard on him. We did that.

Q. LeBron, I've never heard you make an excuse, fatigue as an excuse ever in your career. But you've played the full second half of every game for the last month, almost. Is your energy level where you need it to be at the very end of these games?
LeBRON JAMES: You can always use -- if you can get a minute or two minutes there, it helps anyone. It would help me as well. I feel like I'm in condition where I can still be effective. I just have to figure a way I can be effective on both ends of the floor. Last night, you know, eight points is definitely inexcusable for myself. I hold myself up to a higher standard than that. I had to do a better job of putting myself in situations where I can benefit myself and my team, no matter how many minutes I'm out on the floor.

Q. LeBron, we've seen you in the last couple of rounds just take over fourth quarters against Boston, against Chicago, put teams away. So obviously you know how to do that, when to do that. When you say after a game like last night, I wasn't aggressive enough, how does that happen? How does it get to a point whether you're lulled into something or you just kind of get lost?
LeBRON JAMES: You're at a point where you just not in a good rhythm. You start aiming shots, you start thinking about plays too much. You start thinking about the game too much and instead of going out and reading and react and playing the game. It happens to all of us where you get to a point where you feel so out of rhythm, you try to impact the game some other way than offensively. I try to rebound the ball, try to defend. If I wasn't -- had it going offensively, just trying to get guys to defend, to play two on the ball where I can give it up to someone so someone else can make the play.
When you're out of rhythm, it's tough to get back into the flow in that particular game. I guess the best thing about it is you try to watch that film, see the things you can do better the next game and then go after it.

Q. Scoring aside, it looked like times you weren't even involved in the play. Is that unusual? And is that because as you said, if you were struggling do you kind of withdraw a little bit?
LeBRON JAMES: You just have to pick your spots. At times -- I watched the film again last night when I got back to the room. I watched the film today with the whole unit, and there were times I definitely could have attacked. When you're out of rhythm, I guess it feels like you have nothing going offensively. You just try to focus your play somewhere else.
At the same time I have to make sure I keep myself active, some way, somehow. Getting offensive rebound, the put-back, cutting when someone else has the ball. Figure out a way to still be effective even if I'm not bringing the ball up or initiating the offense.

Q. LeBron, throughout Dwyane's time with Miami, he's always taken pains, it seems like, to get guys involved early. Together you guys have taken the same approach all season. Does tomorrow have to be a night where you come out from the word "go" and start looking for your shots first and opposed to getting other guys necessarily involved?
LeBRON JAMES: I think it's that time. I think it's that time that I try to get myself going individually. But at the same time still play my game. And when I say be more aggressive, that doesn't mean be more aggressive and have to shoot the ball. It just means being more aggressive and looking for opportunities to get a look. And if I bring two defenders and give the ball up. That's something I've done my whole career. Still be aggressive but at the same time get guys involved and have to do that.

Q. With all the things that have been said over the last 11 months or whatever it is, DeShawn Stevenson was saying today that he thought you checked out in the fourth quarter. At this point in the year does something like that even matter much?
LeBRON JAMES: I like when I smile and the flashes go off and -- it's pretty cool. (Laughter).
Like I said, I'm not -- DeShawn, he's been talking for a long time, since out Washington-Cleveland days. I don't let that get to us. Those guys are playing well. We're playing well. It's a three-game series. Talk is cheap. You have to play the game of basketball. Let the scores and the plays define the game. We don't get caught up in that too much.

Q. LeBron, you watched extra film last night and with the team today you did that and you'll practice today. What else are you going to do to use the time until tip-off tomorrow night to become different in Game 5?
LeBRON JAMES: Just mental. It's just a mental -- your mind state going into the game tomorrow night. You watch film, you watch too much. You don't want to drag on what happened last night. You get into the books, you get into your studies, and then you move on. It's a new day. Tomorrow is a new game. And just like when we moved on from Game 2 to Game 3, we will move on from Game 4 to Game 5 and try to come out with a better outcome.

Q. Is there anything that helps you do that? Music? Talking to anyone in specific? Things like that?
LeBRON JAMES: No. Not really. Just being back on the court. Just rushing the opportunity to be back -- having another opportunity. If it was the Super Bowl, I would be kicking myself in the foot. We have one game. That's it. The great thing about this, it's a series. No matter if you can have a bad game, you can always make an imprint on the next game. Game 5 is a huge game.

Q. LeBron, we know since last summer you've been criticized for so many things, some of them fair, some not fair, are you saying everything that was said or written about last night, is that mostly fair?
LeBRON JAMES: I haven't read anything that was written. I didn't play well, especially offensively. I know that. I've got to do a better job of helping this team win basketball games, especially late, no matter what it is. If that's getting an offensive rebound, like I said, making a couple of baskets, being more aggressive to give my guys opportunities to get open looks. I have to do that. That's what my job is. That's what I'm here for.

Q. Do you fall into a trap sometimes knowing now you have more help than you ever had, sometimes you don't think you have to have it going right away?
LeBRON JAMES: You can. Because you know you have other guys. You have other options. You feel like you don't have to take over games. You don't have to take as many shots. Sometimes you can get out of rhythm doing it. I think we've all seen that at this point -- at some point this year. Kind of waiting and waiting and waiting, and then it gets to a point you're just out of rhythm. We've all been through that. But we figured it out through games, through practices, how we can all be effective at the same time. And we need to put it together now.

Q. LeBron, when you go through some struggles, do you almost relish the opportunity to come back from them when things don't come easily?
LeBRON JAMES: I have. Both series, the Boston series and the Chicago series, there was a couple of games I didn't play well. You come back and you just do better the next game. I understand that I have the ability to go out there, my teammates give me all the confidence in the world to go out there and try to help them win a basketball game. You definitely relish the next moment. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. LeBron, with your pick-and-roll offense, a lot of times the guy on the weak side is sort of in the parking lot a little and it takes away from the dynamic of you and Dwyane. Is there something you guys can do so you're both active more often? How hard is it to be that guy sort of in the parking lot there who is not necessarily involved to keep yourself in the play?
LeBRON JAMES: It's a challenge. But at the same time like I said, you have to figure out a way to still be active in the offense. That's cutting behind the defense and making yourself closer to the ball. You have to do that. D-Wade does a great job sometimes of cutting baseline getting dunks, getting lay-ups. I try to flash behind the defense at times when I don't have the ball necessarily and get some looks for myself or for my teammates.
You can't ever feel like you're not in the offense even though you're on the weak side. You always have to be like the ball is coming to me, the ball is coming to me even when it's all the way on the other side. You have to stay in tune with whatever is going on if that instance.

Q. LeBron, you're a competitive guy and I know you're going to move on and yesterday is yesterday and Game 1 is Game 1, but with yesterday's point total and the loss, were you bothered? Are you upset? Ticked off? What was the emotion after the game even though you may have gotten over it today?
LeBRON JAMES: Absolutely. I criticized myself. I was hard on myself all last night. Anytime I feel like I could have played better and the team loses, that's what it's all about. If I have a bad game and we win, I'm hard on myself, but at the end of the day we win the basketball game. That's ultimately what it's all about. When we lose and I don't play well, and I feel like I could have did one or two more things to help our team win or get over the hump, you're definitely hard on yourself. That's just me. That's just the make-up of who I am.

Q. I don't know if you know the answer to this, LeBron, I certainly don't. I didn't check the tape. Do you have any clue how many times you got in the paint last night?
LeBRON JAMES: I have no idea.

Q. It didn't seem like a lot, though, did it?
LeBRON JAMES: There's always opportunities you feel like you can get more in the paint. I had a few times -- I can always get more, be more aggressive. I said that last night after the game. I have to be more aggressive, even if that takes for me getting out in the open court sometimes, getting the rebound, getting out in the open court where I'm at my best or playing in the post. I'm playing a lot in the post, too. So I'm in the paint there. They're bringing double-teams, I'm able to get it out to a lot of our shooters.
I don't know the exact number.

Q. LeBron, how early or late into the game did you realize that you didn't have it offensively the way you wanted? And what bothered you most about what you did or didn't do last night?
LeBRON JAMES: I don't know at what instance I felt like I was out of rhythm. I think what bothered me the most is that it resulted in me being out of rhythm. It resulted in us having a loss. That's what it's all about for me. At no point should I ever feel like I'm out of rhythm, because my teammates key on me and they look at me to come through for them.
There's times when you're out of rhythm, it's hard to get back into it. But you have to figure out a way to still be an impactful player on both ends of the floor. Like I said, if that's getting a defensive stop, if that's creating a charge defensively, or getting an offensive rebound to get us another possession, you have to figure out those ways to do it to help your team win.
I didn't do that last night. Those are the things that I pride myself on that hurt me the most. I'll just be hard on myself and figure out a way to do it better the next game.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, LeBron.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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