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NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 17, 2012Erik SpoelstraMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Three Oklahoma City Thunder - 85 COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: This is competition at its highest. We kept on mentioning that in the fourth quarter. That's what this is about. We're facing great competition. We showed some resolve there in the second half. I think we only shot 30 percent, but we built up some toughness now that we can find different ways, resourcefulness, to find different ways to win, and we had to, because we didn't have a lot of great, great offensive possessions in the second half, but we had enough stops, enough timely scores, still able to get some free throws down the stretch to find a way to grind a win. Q. Looking at these numbers, 37 percent from the floor, 30 percent from three‑point, can you win many games like this? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I think what we focus on is every game is a different challenge, and you have to find ways to put yourself in position to win, and you have to have a resourcefulness, and it's not always going to go according to play. This playoff run that we've been on, we've been knocked down to the canvas several times. We got down by 10 tonight, but our guys furrowed their brows, and let's get back to grinding and get this thing closer. It's a long game, and we were able to make enough plays, like I said. It wasn't pretty all the way through, but here in Miami we like these wins, because these are gritty wins that speak a lot to the team's character. Q. You guys were down 60‑54 when Durant got his fourth, and after that you seemed to make a nice run and captured some momentum, as well. Talk about what happened after that. And what was the key? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Just staying the course. I think we got fouled on a couple threes. We were able to get enough defensive stops to give us some confidence. We weren't just playing out of the net. But we've been there before. We've been in these situations where we've been down. Like I said, when you're playing great competition, there's going to be ups and downs during the course of a long 48‑minute game. You have to be able to manage all of your emotions, stay the course, focus on what really matters, and each huddle is about just trying to stay to our identity. Even though we didn't have great possessions offensively, we had some turnovers down the stretch, at least we had an attack mentality, and then finally we were able to get some free throws down the stretch. Q. Dwyane, LeBron and even Chris with his rebounding and double‑double stepped up. Can you talk about those three guys, and how they know it's sort of on them, and how each of them made their impact felt when needed most? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, play‑making, and that can be in a lot of different areas. Everybody always obviously looks at the scoring, but we're at a point right now, whatever it takes. And if that means 30 percent in the second half but rebounding the basketball, getting some timely scores, we'll take it. We know this is going to be a grind. This is a microcosm of how the series will be. Q. You spoke of it a couple minutes ago, you've spoken of it really the whole postseason, the fact that this team has been through certain tests. When it's 60‑54 do you have to remind guys of that, or do you know that they know by now? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We know. We bring it up, but we're not imploring them the way we used to have to in the past. Our guys understand it's a long game, and resolved to win in different ways and be able to hang around and get enough stops. We knew. We weren't in a great flow there. They stepped up their defense. They have great shot‑makers, got into a rhythm, but we were able to hang around, make enough plays, and it became a real ballgame there in the fourth. Q. Can you talk about Kevin Durant obviously had a lot of success against you in the fourth quarters previous games. What did you do to hold him down tonight in the fourth? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We just tried to put bodies in front of him and make it as tough as possible. But at the end of the day, sometimes it's make or miss. He had some looks that he can make. He's a tremendous scorer. You just have to try to make him really sweat and work for those looks. But they have shot‑makers, and this is competition at its best. Q. The decision at the end of the game to put the ball in LeBron's hands, I know Dwyane had been handling a lot, had some turnovers there. Was it just the nature of the sets? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Three or four possessions before that he was able to shake free, and we felt that we could go to the same action and either break him free or Chris free, so we went to that. Q. What was the visceral reaction on the bench from that LeBron driving dunk? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention. Q. In your area? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Why, was there an explosion behind me? Honestly I didn't really notice. What I liked was the resolve that he showed in the second half. He started off the quarter, missed a couple, all of a sudden we look up, we're down 10. But took him out at the end of the third just to give him a quick breath, and when he came back in, he had a look that he was just going to make plays, whatever he could do to help, and a lot of that was defensively, rebounding, a big challenge with their main scorer, and then he made some big plays down the stretch. Q. (No microphone). COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: No, no, I didn't want to wait until the fourth. I figured that was the only time. Q. Can you explain how your team, which essentially doesn't even play a true center, continually makes up for the lack of height and doesn't let that bother them? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't know. We don't necessarily look at it that we're small. I know everybody calls it "small ball". We have two forwards, neither one of them is a power forward. One of them is as big as anybody, okay. Chris is as long as any other center. And we look at the benefits of the flip side of that. You've got to make decisions against us, as well. And our versatility, while it may seem unconventional to some, we think it's one of our greatest strengths. Q. Your great free‑throw shooting I think decided the game. Was that just a byproduct of you guys going to the paint so hard and playing offense in the paint? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, again, we look at really just how many are we getting, and we've been in‑‑ I've said this it seems like every game, our whole run has been games like this. Down the stretch, last three minutes, got to make plays, get free throws. We've been in these situations. And I think right now everybody is of the mindset that whatever it takes, and if we get those opportunities, then to step up with confidence. I just like to look at whether we're getting them. That shows that it's an aggressive mentality. Q. Mario Chalmers and Chris Bosh didn't have great games offensively, but you guys managed to win. What other things do you think they do that they deserve to be so many minutes on the court, because they support other aspects of the game not only the offensive one? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Well, Mario gets us into offense now. He's really come a long way. He gets us organized. We're able to play our guys off the ball, which helps, and I thought Chris played a very good floor game tonight, and he created some opportunities with his rolls, his catches at the rim, but he was very good on the glass again, and he was doing a lot of things defensively to help us out. Q. At the end of games, if it comes down to free‑throw shooting, who do you want shooting the ball? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Whoever is open. Typically that's going to be Dwyane or LeBron breaking to the ball. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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