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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: PACERS v HEATJune 3, 2013Erik SpoelstraMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Seven Indiana Pacers - 76 COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Well, we tip our competitive hats to Indiana. They certainly pushed us to get better, and ultimately the competition brought out our best game of the series tonight. But that was a large part to do to the series and how competitive it was with Indiana. So we'll enjoy this for a short period of time. Q. Erik, can you talk about Dwyane Wade's breakout. Was that something systematic you did to get him more involved? Was that something Dwyane stepping forward and doing or was that something simply a more healthy Dwyane Wade doing? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: That's just Dwyane being who he is. He has an uncanny way. All of us have seen him over the years. When you count him out and you need him most, the competition is at its fiercest moment, he's going to be there for you. And he's going to somehow find a way to impact the game. He just has a way of‑‑ he's 6'3", 6'4" and he has a way in big games of getting bigger and it seems like he's 6'10". It was great to see him have an impact like he did tonight. Q. You had talked about your focus being on getting Dwyane and Chris Bosh on track. What did you kind of do in that department? I know Chris wasn't great offensively, but he gave you eight first‑half rebounds. What did you do‑‑ COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Not a whole lot. They really took it upon themselves to get engaged and aggressive in the game. Chris got good looks. I liked how aggressive he was to start the game. Putting the ball on the floor, challenging Hibbert. He had some open jumpers. They just couldn't get them to fall. But his demeanor and disposition was good. Defensively, wow! He was playing with a great motor tonight, and that energy was contagious for everybody. And the same thing for Dwyane. Dwyane just‑‑ you know, he just found a way to dig deep. We all know what he's dealing with right now. He knew this was a moment that we had to have, and somehow he was able just to will that game, despite what he's going through. Q. Erik, Paul George had 7 points tonight after having 29 in Game 6. What did you see out of that match‑up between LeBron‑‑ COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It wasn't necessarily the match‑up, it was more the style of play we wanted to get to. We wanted to really impose our energy defensively and really get to our identity of pressuring them, hopefully making them make mistakes, getting us some easy ones in the open court.  And he happened to miss some that sometimes he normally makes. Q. Erik, as you're standing out there and Micky hands Bird (Andersen) the trophy and all that, knowing how your brain works, how long does it take for you to start spinning to the next thing? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Do you know what's interesting about that, is when you're in such a competitive series like this, you are so fully immersed, that it's such a beautiful place to be, a Game 7. Because literally the staff, the players, you're not thinking about anything else. And it's one of those few times in competitive team sports you're not thinking about tomorrow, you're not thinking about the previous games, you're not thinking about what possibly may happen, you're not thinking about the reward. All you're thinking about is the desperation of that moment. That's a great place to live. It probably hit me right about then, and it was the "oh" type moment. We have to get our act together in the next 48 hours of doing our diligence. I haven't obviously seen one second. They are a great organization. I think the two organizations from afar have always respected each other for similar foundations and culture. Q. Erik, this is the third time in four Game 7s that LeBron has had more than 30 points. When a player is building his legacy, writing the story of who he is as a basketball player, how important a part of all that are performances in crunchtime Game 7 games like this? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: He's going to be there. It's humorous looking back on it that that was once questioned. He was there in moments, big moments, Game 7s before he even got here. That's who he is. The bright lights‑‑ we have a lot of guys that emerge from those bright lights more, rather than shrink from them. That's something you can't teach. Ultimately it's the advancement, that's his legacy. Three years in a row, it is not easy. We don't take this for granted, having this opportunity. It took a Game 7 to get it done, to go to this next round. But ultimately that will be his big legacy. Q. People say the great players prove it. Has he been doing that‑‑ COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: He's been doing that his whole career. In the playoffs, on the biggest stages he does it. He did it tonight. You have a great confidence going into a game when there's a lot of pressure and expectations. Look, this is the world we live in, for three years. And there's also no better place to live when it's all in, all your chips on the table. And there is no good loss. So that's where we are. And that's the world he's lived in even before us. He's just found a way to lead us. Our confidence level coming after Game 6 in large part was from him. He was picking everybody up after the game. We knew he was going to bring it in Game 7. It's pretty easy to follow. Q. So now that the series is over, you can be a little more candid with this, how tough was it facing Roy Hibbert in this series? And have you ever faced a guy like that in the LeBron era here? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Well, we never faced an Orlando Dwight Howard team during the playoffs. That would probably be very similar, when he was at their top in Orlando. But that was a great challenge. Not only for the players, the team, the staff, to try to find a way to get to our game against a very good defensive team. He's really improved dramatically. Each year you see it. Where he used to be a target on pick‑and‑rolls and you could go after him easily and get him into foul trouble. But now he's found a way to impact the rim without fouling, impact their defense, and steadily he's improved offensively each year. Q. Erik, how were you able to do things differently, not only win the rebounding battle 43 to 56, 15 offensive boards leading to 22 second‑chance points? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Those are the biggest areas we talked about. If we wanted to advance, we would have to take care of the energy, effort, 50‑50 areas. And if we didn't take care of those, we were BSing ourselves about this opportunity. They had kicked our butt in a couple of the games on the glass, and that really was the difference. They don't make it easy. They're big, they're physical, they break you down off the dribble in different ways, and they're right there at the rim. So we had to really get our pressure going. Q. Erik, for the first six games of this series, it seemed like Dwyane was virtually the primary defender on Paul George for a good part of that time. Tonight from the outset LeBron spent more time on him. How did that affect Dwyane? And how do you think that affected the win? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Dwyane taking that challenge for six games against their best wing defender really helped LeBron as well. And then so this last game LeBron said, "I got you this time. Let me take him." Sometimes you get deep into a series and just a subtle change like that sometimes can make difference. I don't know if it did. Those guys worked together well. And they're both legit two‑way players. They pride themselves on their defense, particularly in the playoffs. And you have to have guys that are willing and capable to do it on both ends. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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