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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PACERS v HEATMay 30, 2013Paul GeorgeRoy HibbertMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Five Indiana Pacers - 79 Q.  For Roy, I guess: Some of the players in the locker room were talking like some of the guys didn't give maximum effort. Guys were blaming themselves for not really being ready or playing hard enough. How would that happen in a game of this magnitude? ROY HIBBERT: I think we all came out a little flat. We didn't execute offensively and defensively. Sometimes that sticks around with some people, and they get down on themselves. At this point in the game we have to let it go and just keep playing. Paul did a good job of being aggressive at all times. We really followed his lead throughout the game. But Miami had a great effort, and they hit some big shots. Q. You both have answered each time they made a run. You guys have adjusted each time every game so far. Now that your backs are against the wall down 3‑2, how has this team grown from last year when you were in the same situation? PAUL GEORGE: Well, this Game 6 will really determine how much we've grown, because we've been in the sameditch I guess, being in the same predicament. Going 2‑2, losing in Miami, coming home and losing at home. We'll see where we're at. We've done well all year, especially in the postseason, dealing with adversity, and overcoming games where we didn't play as well as we wanted to and coming out with energy and the effort to get the job done. Again, we'll see when it comes to Game 6. Q. Roy, Haslem started out defending you and fronted you most of the night and you got double‑teamed a lot tonight. Did you notice anything different about the way the Heat defended you in this game? ROY HIBBERT: To tell you the truth, they doubled from time to time when the opportunity presented itself, but what I really saw, they made a concerted effort to send two or three bodies to me when I went to the offensive glass. I couldn't get the‑‑ I couldn't create as many offensive put‑backs as I wanted to. It's a testament to them adjusting on the fly. I have to toughen up and go even harder for those offensive rebounds. But I feel like I got my space in the post. But we tried to get everybody else going, but when it was crunch time, I told Paul in the huddle, it's going to have to be me and him right now to make plays. Unfortunately we did it on the offensive end, but we couldn't do it on the defensive end. Q. Roy, after Game 2, you talked about the technicals, the physicality and you really enjoy that. You like that on your team. What did you think about tonight? A lot of technicals. ROY HIBBERT: I think it's great. It shows we care. Both teams care. I think it's fun, to tell you the truth, it brings out a different side of us. Unfortunately we didn't win the game. But that type of stuff puts a fire in my belly. And I hope that it's contagious. We have to play through the fouls. We have to play through everything like that. We have to force a Game 7. So we have to toughen up. We have to sack up. Q. Paul, Udonis Haslem said he saw the same kind of look in LeBron James' eye that we all saw last year when they were down 3‑2 in Boston, and there was that famous look in his eye. What did you see from him in that third quarter when he came out and outscored the Pacers? PAUL GEORGE: I mean, I just saw somebody competing. It wasn't no look of determination or anything from what I saw. He just came out and made some shots. You take away that third, we're in the ballgame. We can't have flat quarters like that. Again, credit him for making shots, but most of it was us. We just didn't defend at a high enough level to get the job done. Q. What do you feel the next adjustment is for you guys to make? It's been a chess match all series. What do you feel like your next adjustment has to be? ROY HIBBERT: To tell you the truth, we were toe to toe with them the whole night. And if we can come out and start playing great, we have to play perfect to beat this team, if we can get the five starters going and playing at the same level, I think we're really hard to guard. I think that's probably the next adjustment. It's like small things right now. It's about effort. It's about who wants it more. Who wants to get that offensive rebound. Who wants to get that blocked shot. Who wants to get the loose ball. We just have to come out with more determination. It's not anything the coaches can tell us, it's about what's in here. It's loser go home right now. I know he doesn't want to start his summer right now. So we're going to have to adjust and our backs are against the wall right now. Q. For either or both of you, were you surprised that Andersen was not ejected after he shoved Tyler Hansbrough? ROY HIBBERT: I really couldn't see the play. I have to go back and watch the film. I know there was a little tussle or something like that. I just restrained Tyler. But I really didn't see exactly what happened. PAUL GEORGE: Same. I don't know what really went on. I just turned around, and it was confrontation. So I didn't know what really happened during that play. Q. Paul, these guys haven't lost consecutive games since like the second week of January. Now you guys have to do it twice to get to The Finals. How do you just not think of it in those terms and just worry about Saturday night for now, and not get caught up with trying to win two games? PAUL GEORGE: Easy: It's one game at a time. One game at a time. We have to come home and play a good game, bring it. Everybody is going to have to step up and play a huge role. I know in the back of their mind they want to get the job done and be finished. So we're going to have to come out and bring it. But it's one game at a time. We have to force a Game 7. Q. Paul, it seemed like things really turned for both teams after the flare‑up between Haslem and David West. Was there something you saw in them from that point on? Anything from you guys from that point in terms of the way the momentum shifted right after that incident? PAUL GEORGE: They're at home. They're at home. Anytime a play like that happens, the crowd is going to go for their team. They just fed off that energy. They really just brought it. They were trying to make the big plays, to continue the momentum. And they did. So that was really what happened there, is they just started playing to the crowd. All the emotion, everything, the momentum just swung their way. Q. It seemed like they really wanted to get on Lance tonight. They targeted him and tried to draw his emotions out of him. How do you think that worked and how did he handle it? PAUL GEORGE: This is all a learning process for Lance. It's just a learning process for Lance. It's something he's going to have to go through. We know he's going to have to go through. He's going to have to learn how to play through that. ROY HIBBERT: He's going to have to accept that challenge right there. Paul is doing a great job day in and day out. It goes for everybody. I'm going to have to accept that challenge of guarding the paint and getting out to Haslem, and Lance is going to have to accept that challenge to go out there and play defense on the top player, the best player of the NBA, the MVP. So if he has that opportunity again, he's going to have to step up and do it and we have to have his back. Each one of us has to hold ourselves accountable. He is going to have to accept that challenge and embrace it and know that he can do it. It's just all a mental thing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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