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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PACERS v HEATMay 22, 2013Erik SpoelstraMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game One Indiana Pacers  102 COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Okay. Welcome to the Eastern Conference Finals. This game is not defined by this sheet at all. Back and forth the whole way. Trying to manage, you know, playing well, playing inefficient, playing poorly, managing frustration. But in the end it just came down to finding a way, even if it wasn't pretty. And it took an overtime to get it done. We're glad to get that one. Q. Erik, obviously 2.2 seconds, not a lot of time. Was there a play on that or was it get it to LeBron and get out of the way? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: There was a couple of other triggers. Obviously Ray, Chris, but he would be the bailout. He was able to get into some room, into some space, and he made a great play from there. He just read the defense and was able to get all the way to the rim. Q. Erik, just the mindset in the room right afterward, what was the scene like in there? Is it jubilation after something like this or is it simply relief after something like this? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, our group is mature enough to know, okay, that's one game. The guys earned the ice bags and the ice baths. They earned it tonight. But we also hopefully we're owning it, and that was kind of the dialogue in the locker room. We didn't really feel we played to our capabilities. A large part of that is what Indiana was doing. But we feel hopefully we can play better. Q. Erik, did you change the play at all after Indiana called that second timeout right before the LeBron shot? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: No. Just made it look slightly different, but it was the same play. Q. Was there an emphasis on getting to the rim more? First‑quarter offense was a lot of mid‑range shots, obviously you got a bunch of huge baskets at the rim late. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Well, that's our emphasis always, to try to get to our identity. We're an attacking team. Everybody knows it. It's not a secret. It takes a great commitment and effort to be able to do it together, to get our attack. So you play a very good defensive team like this, you might not necessarily get it on the first option of your attack. And you have to have the poise and patience to work your offense, get to the proper spacing, move bodies, and have those opportunities in the paint. From there we settled less. The first quarter it was more of taking the first available look and a lot of times it was that pull‑up or long jumper. Q. Erik, it might be argued that on the two Paul George plays you probably played as good a defense in the sequence as you could. Can you talk about him getting open for the three there, and Norris almost getting the steal and Dwyane on the foul? How tough was that? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I need to probably sit back and cool down. That could have been defended a little bit more. That's what happens at the end of games. More. But he made a heck of a shot. He shot it from about 30. And once it left his hands, it looked like he shot it from the free‑throw line. That was a big‑time shot. Q. And can you talk about the play at the end of overtime when Dwyane fouled out on the three‑point shot? Was it a case just because of the scramble you lost your guys there? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Unbelievable scramble for the ball. Tied up. Norris was looking to make a shovel pass to Dwyane, and there was obviously some things that we hopefully could have done better, including myself. I could have ran out there to stop the play. Q. Erik, could you talk about LeBron's triple‑double with emphasis on the fact obviously the Pacers are a bigger team. He had ten rebounds, also three blocked shots tonight. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yes, he has an all‑everything role for us, and this is the norm. This may be what it takes to beat this team. Q. Erik, were you surprised not to see Roy Hibbert out on that final possession there defensively? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I just took it for what it was. Regardless, we still would have run the same play. Q. Erik, two questions: One, was the lay‑up what you envisioned from LeBron in that play? And secondly, was 2.2 seconds just about the perfect amount of time to run a play like that and not have Indiana have any time to help? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Well, sometimes‑‑ I mean, that wasn't necessarily the play to get him the lay‑up. It was to get a couple of triggers, some movement. Those guys were live, too. Those guys could have been open and get him to a space and let a great player make a great play, whatever it may be. And sometimes when you only have that much time, there's no time to think. He just saw daylight and was just aggressive without any thought about anything else. I don't think he was timing the lay‑up to make sure that there was no time on the clock. It was really just to get it off in time. So we were fortunate. THE MODERATOR: All right, Coach. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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