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June 2, 2012
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day
DWYANE WADE: I think last night I did a press conference about midnight. I woke up today at 12:00 something. Ain't nothing changed. Nothing at all. So what y'all got for me? What kind of questions do y'all got?
Q. Dwyane, a lot of us didn't hear that press conference late last night?
DWYANE WADE: Y'all didn't get the transcript?
Q. Can you talk about no free‑throws for you last night.
DWYANE WADE: I can't really explain that. I just have to come out and be just as aggressive or a little more. Hopefully I get some...
Q. What challenges do they impose on you defensively?
DWYANE WADE: Well, they are doubling me a lot. Me personally, they are doubling me a lot. I have to find a way. We have to find a way as a team to open up the lanes a little more.
But they're a good defensive team. They do a great job of protecting the paint. They try to make you beat them from the outside. (Indiscernible) they've always been that way. They've always been a good defensive team.
Q. How is your knee?
DWYANE WADE: My knee is all right.
Q. Dwyane, is there an adjustment period each game where you kind of see what the defense is doing and then react? And do you think you need to be more aggressive in Game 4 right from the get‑go?
DWYANE WADE: Yeah, you have to read the defense. It's no secret, guys, I'm getting doubled at the top, at the key, I'm getting doubled in the paint. So unless I turn around and shoot a turn‑around jumpshot all the time, which is not a good shot for our team, we're going to have to find other ways to loosen things up.
Eventually‑‑ I'm a patient person. So eventually things will hopefully loosen up, and I get my opportunities where I can attack and get into a rhythm a little bit more. You give them and Doc Rivers credit for coming up with the scheme. And now we have to do our job in making adjustments.
Q. You guys have seen a number of different bigs throughout the playoffs. Is Kevin Garnett in kind of a different unique category as far as the bigs you guys have been dealing with?
DWYANE WADE: Yeah. Obviously. He's Kevin Garnett, one of the best players that's played this game for many, many years. So he puts a lot of pressure on you obviously offensively with his ability to be able to shoot from the outside just as good as any other big in the game. And also his ability to roll to the basket and finish down low. And also, he's a good defender, he's a good communicator and talker.
So me personally, I enjoy playing against someone like him, because he's going to give everything he has. And when you beat him, you know you've taken everything you have. And when you lose to him, you know he gave you everything he have. He's one of those 100%. If it's 110, he give you 110 kind of guy. So you enjoy that.
Q. Dwyane, after what happened in Game 3, how useful is it for you guys to get out here on the practice court and work on some stuff for Game 4?
DWYANE WADE:  Whenever you win or lose in the playoffs, especially in a seven‑game series, you always have to make adjustments. You always have to come back, you have to look at the film, see what you can get better at. Then you can come back on the court, you go through it and you get prepared mentally. Right now the physical aspect of the game is about getting rest. But mentally you have to be prepared.
We knew this was going to be a tough series. Our job is to come up here and try to split. So they won Game 1 at their place, and our job is to try to come out here and get this next one.
Q. Do you think the fans overreact to a loss more than the players do?
DWYANE WADE: Yes.
Q. In a Pat Riley organization, how important is practice part of the culture?
DWYANE WADE: Very important. Obviously I've been here nine years. It's changed over the years, but practice has always been very important to me. This is why the coaches get paid big money, is in practice. This is where our coaching staff‑‑ right here today is the day that our coaching staff gets their checks. Not on the first. Today on the second.
We look forward to coming in and hear what our leader has to say and making adjustments. And us being a team, talking back with him what we feel that we can adjust and trying to come out and implement them in the game.
Q. Dwyane, they scored 58 points in the paint in Game 3. What's the guards' role defensively in cutting that down?
DWYANE WADE: I mean, I think we will look at the film and see how we can make that adjustment. I don't have all the answers right now to that. They made a point, like I said, of making sure they dumped the ball down a lot to KG, and they did a good job of driving, especially in transition. So I don't have all the answers right now, but we'll look at it and try to cut that down.
Q. How much will Chris' return give you breathing room whenever he comes back?
DWYANE WADE: When it happens, it's going to be‑‑ we're going to get an All‑Star player back. He's a big part of what we do. But right now we have to focus on what we have.
Q. Considering the load you and LeBron have had to carry offensively with him down, how tough is it to just keep that up, keep maintaining this whole run?
DWYANE WADE: You know what, you look at it and say you have 20 something odd days left in the whole season. You just got to try to come in, like I said, and continue to do what you can to help your team win. And some nights it's going to be logging a lot of minutes.
We both play both ends of the floor, so it's going to be tough on our bodies. But in between times, we have to get our rest and understand that we are very important parts of what we do. And we have to keep doing it.
There's less than a month to do it.
Q. If they're committed to doubling you, as good a player as you are, how much can a team take away from a great player?
DWYANE WADE: You have to find other ways. Obviously transition, offensive rebounds, cuts. I find different ways. They're not letting me just come off and get in the paint and go one‑on‑one. There's times where it happens, but like I said, there's times throughout the game where eventually it wears on guys.
And when the game starts, I feel like in the beginning of the game it's not going to happen. What my job is early on is to try to get two to commit to me. And knowing that if two commits to me, there's someone open on the floor. So we have to find the open guy. And there's going to be opportunities where I'll be aggressive and I have to make something out of nothing at times. But I don't want a heavy dose of that.
Q. Based on how you've been playing, people thought you played bad last night, just the numbers. How do you think you played?
DWYANE WADE: We didn't win. I'm not into‑‑ it's all about winning. So if we didn't win Game 3 when I had five points, we didn't win Game 3 when I had 18 points, it doesn't matter. It's all about winning and losing at this time of the year.
LeBron James had 34 points, but we didn't win. We're not patting him on the back and saying you played amazing. We're saying how can we get you 40 points. How can we do more to make sure we win the ballgame.
At this time of the year I don't care necessarily how well I shoot, how well I don't shoot. It's about us getting that W somehow, some way.
Q. Is this doubling as much, Dwyane, that you've seen since LeBron got here?
DWYANE WADE: Yes. This much?
Q. This much.
DWYANE WADE: Yes.
Q. Is it comparable to what teams would do to you before LeBron was here?
DWYANE WADE: When Chris is on the court you can't do that too much.
Q. I mean before you guys got together‑‑
DWYANE WADE: Yeah. It's kind of like that. My shot selection was a little different back then. I would shoot a one‑legged three, and no one saidnothing. Don't feel the same way. It's a little different.
Obviously, Chris isn't on the court, so they're able to do a lot more. They say we have to take one of them away. When Chris is out there, you can't do it necessarily as much as when Joel Anthony is on the floor because of Chris's ability to score the basketball. Not a bad tack.
Q. Would it be safe to say that you offensively you're affected the most by his departure?
DWYANE WADE: I don't know. As a team we're affected. I'm not coming here crying that I'm‑‑ I can score the basketball. I just have to find other ways to do that. Like I said, it might not be a 41‑point effort like it was in Indiana. You never know what each game take.
I'm going to go out here and play the game that I've played for so many years, and I'll find a way to be effective. For me being effective is not always just scoring, even though I know I need to. I have to do other things.
That's what I thought was good about our team. We fought back, we did other things in the game, even though no one had big numbers scoring‑wise, but LeBron.
Q. How good is KG at affecting the pick‑and‑roll? And if he is that effective, do you guys need to start running screen‑and‑rolls with other guys, not him being one of the defenders?
DWYANE WADE: He's effective. He does a great job of getting to the screen early. He does his work early. He's a great communicator with the guards. I think we have to mix it up. Obviously sometimes you want him in there‑‑ you want him doing a little extra work. You don't want him necessarily sitting off the ball all the time and getting as much rest.
We have to mix it up. Like I said, today is going to be big on how we adjust and see how we come out and what we can do a little different.
Q. Boston said last night they don't want to go down 3‑1. They want to get that second win here. What is your mentality going in to make sure you guys get out of here with that win?
DWYANE WADE:  We want to go up 3‑1. No question about it. Obviously, they don't want to go down 3‑1. It's going to be a very competitive game. They've been in these battles before. We've been in these battles before.
These are moments and these are the kinds of games, especially Games 4, that you love. Like I said, our only goal is to come up here with a split. We have one more shot at it, and hopefully we can pull it off.
Q. Who is most vocal, Dwyane, when you do shoot a one‑legged three these days?
DWYANE WADE: I don't do it. I didn't attempt a three last night. I don't do that no more.
Q. In general? LeBron?
DWYANE WADE: No. No one says it to me. I might get a look or two, but‑‑ I might hear the coaches scream from the bench. A couple of years ago it was fine.
I don't really do that no more. I try to play a smarter game, understanding my shots a little better. Like I said, I didn't attempt a free throw, but I didn't attempt a three neither. So I had a couple of double zeros last night in there.
Q. You sort of joked about it yesterday, about it being a Game 3 type situation. Is that starting to become something you think about?
DWYANE WADE: No. I don't think about that. Game 3 is the hardest game in the playoffs. Especially when a team comes back home for the first time. So much energy, so much effort is put forth in a game. It's the toughest game. Your job in that game is to try to keep it close.
Yesterday we did a bad job of keeping it close. We let them get too far ahead, even though we made a run. If we maintain it a little bit‑‑ when our offense is not going well, we maintain it defensively enough, then that run is a little different at the end of the ballgame, which we know we feel we're going to make.
So Game 3 is always the toughest, besides the close‑out game in a series.
Q. What does it mean if there is a game where you don't have free‑throws?
DWYANE WADE: Hopefully we have another game. I can have them the next game. It doesn't mean I haven't attacked the basket. It doesn't mean I wasn't aggressive. I did. I attacked the basket. I went in there. I just didn't get it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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