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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PACERS v HEATMay 26, 2013LeBron JamesDwyane WadeINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Game Three Miami Heat 114 Q.  LeBron, could you talk about your approach in the post today. Was it something you went over with the coaching staff? Erik said they wanted to get the ball deeper. Or was it something you watched film and you decided it's something you can do with Paul to give you guys an advantage? LeBRON JAMES: I think it was a little bit of everything. I made a conscious effort to sit down in the post tonight, try to put pressure on the defense. Spo and the coaching staff wanted me to be down there tonight, and my teammates allowed me to do that. It was a little bit of everything. Q. They cut it to seven and they seemed to build momentum, talk about how important it was to stem that. DWYANE WADE: Yeah, I think we understand this is a very good team. The game of basketball is a game full of runs. I think we went to a timeout, we said. They made their run and now it's time to regroup. Mario came out very aggressive and it helped us a lot. It gave us something different they had to worry about. UD had it going from the beginning of the game. That was a total team effort obviously, but that push was what we needed. Once they pushed it down to seven, we got a chance to push it right back to keep a comfortable lead. Q. Can you guys explain why you think you're so good coming off losses in the playoffs over the last few years? LeBRON JAMES: We wish we can not come off losses, but it happens. It happens in the playoffs. That's what playoff basketball is all about. But we're a team who just bounces back from diversity. We love the fact that you know they took the home court away from us, and now let's see what we are made of. I think we know what we're made of as well. This is a great group of guys that always loved, I think, the pressure moments of being, I guess, 1‑1, a team taking our home court away. And we have to go on the road to win. DWYANE WADE: To add to that, I also think once you come off a loss, when you win, a lot of things are massed. You don't really look at everything once you win. But once you lose, you get to break down everything. I think our attention to detail coming off a loss is a lot better. We're a mature team and once the coaches put the game plan in front of us, once they point the mistakes, et cetera in front of us, we take it for what it is, we try to correct it. I think our attention to detail is what's important in it. Q. LeBron, Hibbert was in here taking responsibility for not helping Paul George more when you would go into the post. What did you see in the ways that they did try to defend you? And what did that open up for the rest of your offense? LeBRON JAMES: Well, I mean, I seen I had a one‑on‑one match‑up. They didn't come down in the post all game, so I just tried to take advantage of it. My teammates gave me space. I just tried to sit in the post, not get the ball in the wing as much tonight. Tried to anchor myself down on the block and go to work. I was able to do that. Q. Question for both of you guys: Hibbert said the game plan for them was make the big three do all the work and limit the other guys. And clearly when he said "other guys," he was thinking three‑point shooters. How did Udonis become the key for you guys in this game? LeBRON JAMES: He's always the key. He's the heartbeat of our team, first of all. He's the captain, one of the captains of our team. There's no one in our roster that plays that goes out there and we don't have the utmost confidence in their ability. For him to come through tonight and do what he was able to do offensively from the start, Rio stepping it up in the third, also Shane and Ray contributing, Bird giving his usual. We needed everyone's effort tonight, and it allowed us to get a big win on the road. Q. Dwyane, you've been around Udonis the longest on this team. He said he mentioned a few things to the team before the game. You guys all have strong opinions and strong voices. How is his voice different when he speaks up and really sends a message? DWYANE WADE: He doesn't talk too much. When UD talks, he's not just talking to hear his voice. We understand that this guy is all heart. This guy is one of the total team guys. When he steps up and says something, everyone listens from all the players to all the coaches. Everyone in the locker room. So I think the one thing UD seen from Game 1 is that he had a lot of opportunities. And more so than anybody, he was peed off he wasn't knocking down those shots. We knew he was going to have one of those games. We didn't know when it was going to come. When he started off tonight, he was locked in from the beginning. I think he knew where he was going to get his shots at. Like LeBron said, UD is one of those guys, he's the heartbeat of our team. When he talks, everyone listens. Q. LeBron, in the second quarter, that's when you guys put the distance between yourselves and the Pacers. Talk about the keys to making that happen. And then Dwyane, talk about the ability to make that thing stand up for the rest of the second half. LeBRON JAMES: Well, we have to get stops, first of all. The 34‑30 first quarter was something both teams are not accustomed to doing, being defensive‑minded teams. But we had to get stops, we had to rebound and then we had to execute. We went from a 34‑point quarter to a 36‑point quarter. It just showed the ball movement that we had. And also not turning the ball over; we had five turnovers for the whole game, and that's big time. Especially on the road. We're a team who doesn't turn the ball over a lot, but when you have under 10, you're going to give yourself an unbelievable chance to win. To have five turnovers on the road in a tough building was big‑time for our team tonight. DWYANE WADE: I think that as LeBron just alluded to, what we did by not turning the ball over was we let them see our half‑court defense. That's key. They didn't get a lot of transition buckets, because we didn't turn the ball over. We was able to set our defense. When we set our defense, we're a pretty good defensive team. Also we were very efficient on the offensive end. We got the shots that we wanted, we needed. We moved the ball around. We got to a lot of post‑ups, a lot of different things. So I think even when they made their run, we continued to work the game that worked for us in the beginning. But most importantly it was all about the defensive end, not turning the ball over, so they can see all five of us on the other end of the floor. Q. The latter part of that third quarter, the Pacers, you could see the body language of the Pacers just start to fall apart. Did you guys see that and then take advantage of it? LeBRON JAMES: We just wanted to keep putting the pressure on them. We scored 70 points in the first half, and we knew they were going to make a run. That's a really good team. We knew they were going to make a run. They did. They cut the lead to seven in the third. Right after that I think Rio got an and‑one to put us back up 10. We wanted to try to continue to put the pressure on them, continue to execute offensively, not turn the ball over, get stops defensively. And we could see their body language start to change a little bit. That's when we just keep going. Just keep going and not play the score, not play the lead. Just play the game. Understand every possession matters, every possession counts. At the end of the game we see what happens. We were able to continue to do that and come out with a well‑needed win. Q. LeBron, I think three, maybe four of the hooks you shot down low with your left hand you were able to score. What was the process of developing your left hand over the last couple of years. How were you able to do that? DWYANE WADE: He writes with his left. Does everything with his left. LeBRON JAMES: I do everything with my left. I just shoot the ball with my right. I'm weird. I don't know, man. My game‑winner was with my left. I shot three left‑hand bank shots tonight. I don't know. I think they might try to take away my left in Game 4 now. So I will shoot it with my right. Q. Dwyane, how was the knee today? Did it feel better? Can you talk to us how it's affected you this series? LeBRON JAMES: His knee is fine. We don't need to talk about the knee. In the lineup, he good. DWYANE WADE: Good to go. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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