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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v HEATMay 28, 2012Erik SpoelstraMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game One Boston Celtics79 COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Okay, so one down, and they still have an opportunity in Game 2 to accomplish what they want to. At times it was a strange game. Some good runs, both teams. I think we felt we could have played better. I'm sure they felt the same thing. But we were able to find a way to grind it, and you have to do that against this team. You have to be instinctual. While you have great habits building for months, because they have so many live weapons out there, you have to cover ground and just play to your instincts and your speed. And we were able to do that a little bit better in the second half. I think we were thinking too much in the first half. Q. Erik, it seemed a lot of times when Rondo got into the paint that you had multiple guys who were getting to him affecting shots. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, you know what, it's extremely tough to scheme against Rondo. He's that type of player. He's that unique. And his unpredictability, that's his greatness. So the only thing you can emphasize is you have to make unpredictable, possession‑saving plays as well. And he can go at any time. He can do a lot of different things. And our guys were able to make some plays at the rim when it looked like he had openings. But he was able to get into the paint, and I'm sure he'll be much more aggressive the next game. Q. Erik, in both series prior to this one, you guys had some big wins, and you talked about having the team keep their edge. Is that something that you discuss with your team after this game, kind of keeping their edge moving into the next game? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't think that would be an issue with this team. We have way too much respect for them as champions. They've proven themselves, and we haven't accomplished anything. We know that. The way they grind, they've already thrown this game away, and they're just focusing on what they can do to try to steal Game 2. Q. Erik, on Saturday and Sunday and maybe even shoot‑around today, rebounding was such a big role in the last three games of the Pacers series. How much did you stress that in keeping momentum in that part of the game going? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, it's tough with them. You're scrambling so much. They shoot a lot of jumpshots, long rebounds. And arguably the best offensive rebounder is a 6'1" point guard. He gets lost behind the crowd, behind your defense, and sometimes it has to be a big that literally has to block him out. And we had to do some different things on the free throw when he's there. He's so disruptive on all those types of plays. We were able to win the rebound battle tonight. They missed some shots; that probably helped. We were able to corral a few of those. I think there were some loose balls, 50/50, that we were able to get with our speed. And so we'll see what happens the next game. I think we missed some open shots, too, and that's why it was a little bit of a strange game. Q. Erik, you had a difficult time scoring against this team in the half court in the regular season, but you had a very good efficiency tonight. Was it just as simple as LeBron and Wade being very aggressive? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, I mean, that's a big part of it. And they were terrific tonight, really giving them some space. But those guys taking responsibility to really attack and have that mentality. And it's not necessarily meaning to drive every time, sometimes it's just set up a teammate. But when they play aggressive, it requires a lot of different triggers. It requires other guys to be running, sometimes set screens, sometimes to help with our spacing. We think we're improving as a half‑court team as well. But they're tough. This is a very good defensive team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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