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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS v HEATJune 2, 2012Paul PierceBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. It seems like one of the things you did last night as a team was just attack from the beginning of the game, whether it was you, whether it was Rajon, whether it was Kevin. Is that basically a theme of the series for you guys, to keep going at the rim? PAUL PIERCE: Well, yeah. I think we have the size advantage with Kevin and Brandon. Especially they go small a lot. So the emphasis is to try to get the ball in the paint as much as possible. If they collapse, find our shooters. That's kind of been the thing for us most of the season. We want to play inside to out for the most part, as long as they're good shots. Q. How were you able to get more loose in Game 3 than you were earlier in the series? PAUL PIERCE: I thought we moved the ball better. The ball didn't stick‑‑ they're a great defensive team when the ball is sticking on one side of the floor and they are loading up. I thought the ball really moved. We set harder screens. We cut a little bit better, and it frees up everybody when we play that way. Q. What were the keys to success on Dwyane, defensive reads‑‑ PAUL PIERCE: We try to collapse on him when he passes the ball. He does a lot of isolation from the top. So we try to sink in. You know how brave he can be at driving to the hole in the half court. So when he comes off the pick‑and‑roll, we want to trap him as much as possible and to block him as much as possible. We don't really want to get him going. We know they are going to get him (Indiscernible) opportunities between him and LeBron. But he's one of the guys we feel like we can kind of corral with Kevin and myself and using the size advantage. Q. (Indiscernible)? PAUL PIERCE: You know, we have to see. We'll make our adjustments definitely if Bosh is out there playing. You can't trap him, because he's another perimeter threat and a scoring threat. We'll have to see. Q. How important are in‑game adjustments, especially in this series, looking at D‑Wade and LeBron? How important are those? PAUL PIERCE: Always in‑game decisions and adjustments are important. Especially when things don't work out. That's part of the game. When one thing isn't going right, you have to make that adjustment. We figure we have to get to their shooters. They made a lot of three‑point shots in Game 2. So that's something we have to make adjustments to get their shooters a little bit better. We did a better job with that. We did a better job of keeping them out the paint as much. We did a better job of keeping them off the free‑throw line. So every game is different. But when you realize your mistakes, that's where the adjustments come in. Q. You said you wanted to work inside‑out.  But you had never had a game this season the way you guys did last night. What changed last night? Why were you guys so effective last night versus other times this season? PAUL PIERCE: We got out‑‑ I think we just kind of force‑fed Kevin for the most part. We threw the ball in the post. We threw it over the top after the pick‑and‑roll. We just force fed him and played through him more so than not. During the season it's a little bit different. You spread it around. He probably plays a little bit less minutes. Now he's playing more minutes than he has been in the regular season. We're just taking advantage of his opportunities when he's out on the floor. Q. When was the last time you guys had a real practice? PAUL PIERCE: We practice every game, actually. This is just the way the season has been going. It's been a theme not only with us, but everybody across the league. Usually using game‑day shoot‑arounds to really put in a (Indiscernible) to go over game plans. When you're playing so many games for so many nights you don't have a chance to have a two or three‑hour practice with this type of schedule we have this year. We tend to use the shoot‑around game days for that type of practice. Tomorrow will be that day. Q. Doc knowing how to rest you guys, not practicing too much in the playoffs‑‑ in fact, he said we haven't had a real practice at all. What do you think has been working for you guys? It's not conventional, but it seems to be a success. PAUL PIERCE: Guys tend to stay sharp on their own. You come in here in the gym. Pretty much everybody is going to come in here and get some shots in, work out, probably get on the treadmill and stay fresh. That's been the key for us. Knowing with this schedule every other day, it's not like any other season we've had. And we're a veteran team. We've been together. Our core has been together for a few years now. So we kind of had the jump coming into training camp than a lot of teams that made a lot of moves. Q. How do you assess the situation ‑‑ last year after Game 3, there were a couple of tight games. Is it a matter of staying with what you're trying to do, get the inside‑out thing going? PAUL PIERCE: We just want to be consistent in how we play. Last year was last year. It's over with. We don't want a repeat of that. So we have to be consistent in everything we're trying to do. We have to continue to try to get him the ball, as many touches out of him as possible. We know that has been working for us. When Kevin gets it going from the inside, it really opens up things for a lot of us out on the perimeter. Q. What have you learned from last year? PAUL PIERCE: I don't even remember last year. I don't know. Q. Game 4 tomorrow‑‑ PAUL PIERCE: I know we didn't win the series. Q. Everybody has pretty much done what they were supposed to do. Just talk about the importance of you guys continuing to do that, taking care of home floor. PAUL PIERCE: It's a must. These games are must‑wins at home. You don't want to get too deep in the hole going down 3‑1 going to Miami for two games. So we have to take care of business at home. Hopefully we can try to get a win in Miami before we turn this into the home‑court advantage for us. Q. You talked in the past about the personal challenges of going up against a guy like Carmelo, going against a guy like LeBron. Does it fuel you even more when some people start to say, well maybe Paul can't hang with LeBron like he used to? PAUL PIERCE: People can say what they want to say. It's not about Paul Pierce versus LeBron. It's about the Celtics versus the Heat. Individual match‑ups, he's shared more responsibility on his team over the years than I have, since we brought our team together. Even in Cleveland he had the brunt of the offensive load, where he's going to take a lot more shots than me. He's going to have to carry a heavier load. When I was 26, when I had to carry the load then, who knows what I had(Indiscernible) That's fine with me. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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