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NBA FINALS: SPURS v HEATJune 7, 2013Erik SpoelstraMIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day Q. As much as Chris has improved his three‑point shooting, is there a danger of becoming too dependent on it at times? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Look, we're not going to overreact to those misses. He was wide open. He has been making some. He's hit some big ones already. We do need to commit to getting to some second situations, getting the ball to the weak side. That's probably our bigger area of focus going into Sunday. If he makes one of those, everybody's perspective is different. We understand that. Q. Erik, I know the level of competition is much harder this time of year. But you guys are 4‑4 in your last eight. Have not had this sort of malaise or run since way back in January. Do you feel there's been any drop‑off or lack of consistency or is it purely the level of competition in that Pacers series? Or is it something you have to look at considering where you guys were on some of those amazing winning streaks? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: No, that's what you deal with in the playoffs. Look at the history of championships, very rarely is it 16 wins and one or two losses. You have to go through it. There's no easy way. The journey is tough. So you have to give credit to the competition. And ultimately you have to find a way. We were not able to find a way last night. We felt we were in control of the game the entire game. We did not finish possessions the way we needed to. Certainly did not finish quarters the way we needed to. And we didn't finish the game the way we needed to. And that's the way it goes in the playoffs. You just have to ultimately overcome all of it. Regardless of how you're playing. Both teams probably at some point felt that they were in control, even if you never feel like you're playing your best. That's because of the competition. Q. Coach, will your players watch film today? And when you watched film, what drove you the most nuts? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: The lack of finishing. But yeah, we already had a long film session. Whether they watch more, I don't know. That was probably enough. That was painful enough to go back and see all the opportunities when we're up to be able to finish possessions, close it out and close out the game both ends of the court in the last six minutes. You have to give them credit, and we scored 16 points in the fourth quarter. Even with some of those possessions defensively where we didn't finish it to a rebound or finish it to that last tenth of a second to get the stop. 16 points isn't enough, and we weren't efficient enough offensively. Q. Erik, everybody focuses on the shot that Tony made at the end of the game. He played 39 1/2 minutes without a turnover. Is there anything more you can do to put more pressure on him and force him to perhaps cough it up a little? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We would like to get our hands active. He's a clever player. He's seen every coverage you possibly can. We hope our pressure has a cumulative effect. Last night he was making all the reads and we were a count off on our normal activity. But our guys were working hard. It wasn't as if they were necessarily carving us up. They shot 41% and had 21 second chances. It was really our inability to finish possessions. They only had six offensive rebounds, and yet those team rebounds were the ones that destroyed us. Opportunities where we've got to stop‑‑ the ball touches one of our hands, and we weren't able to come down with it. And they get ten team rebounds that led to those 21 second chances off six offensive rebounds. That's probably got to be some type of record. Q. Chris Bosh is a completely different player than he was in Toronto obviously. That transformation has been gradual throughout the last few years. Did you expect this postseason for him to gravitate to the perimeter as much as he has? Is that your part and his part or just a matchup thing? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: His game is going to be different than it was Toronto. He's not going to get the touches that are even close than what he got there. But he's been our most important player. We still run much of our offense through him. We need to get him in areas he can be aggressive and get paint catches. That will be one of the bigger areas of focus I'll have in the next two days. Q. Erik, with LeBron on Tony late in the game, what's the realistic ceiling for him in terms of number of possessions or portion of the game that he can be asked to do that? And what's the risk‑reward from your standpoint of asking him to do that? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Whatever it takes. That's my deal with LeBron. He understands. It's one through five. Depending on the matchup, wherever we need it, we have 14 days left, whatever it takes. And at this point you weigh the risk‑reward. But whatever we feel is best at that appropriate time. Q. So if you feel that you need him to guard Tony Parker for the entire game, you're comfortable with that? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: That won't happen the entire game. Q. That's what I'm getting at. How much is realistic? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We'll figure that out as we go. He's playing a lot of different places for us. Q. Erik, I know three‑ and four‑point leads are not much in the NBA, especially at this point. But it's happened a couple of times in the last series and this series. What has emerged that's most disconcerting to you about that? Specifically, what's happening down the stretch? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Just probably those two areas that hurt us last night. The inefficiency offensively that we're normally accustomed to‑‑ that we're used to. And I'll make sure that I'm doing a better job getting us organized, and that will be an area of focus in the next two days. And then finishing possessions going down the stretch. Even though we only had 16 points in the fourth, there was still a handful of possessions, that even if we had to win that thing ugly last night with a 18, 20‑point fourth quarter, we had that opportunity. But we couldn't close out those possessions. Offensive rebounds, loose balls, that type of thing. Q. With the offensive efficiency, are you just not getting the shots you want? Running the plays you want? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: A little bit of both. Clearly, the four turnovers were a little uncharacteristic. They weren't necessarily forced. But also getting to a comfortable package of organized sets that everybody feels comfortable with. Which we all know. We have had enough close games. We know what those are. We know where the ball needs to go. We just need to do a better job with it, quite frankly. Q. Other than experience and just having been through a little bit of everything, like you guys have by now, what is it about the way this team responds after losses? Game 1 last year in The Finals, Game 1 this year against the Bulls, Bulls in '11. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: You have to have tough character. Our guys want to win and they are competitive type A personalties. It's not as if we need motivation and we didn't come in inspired. No, it wouldn't give the Spurs the credit they deserved last night. They made bigger plays and more plays in the fourth quarter going down the stretch. But to be able to bounce back from certain situations, you have to have a toughness, you have to have a collective character. We've also been through enough pain collectively that that can be motivating. Q. As a quick follow‑up, I know you've been asked about it, both LeBron and Dwyane suggested fatigue is part of the reason for the struggle down the stretch. Did that bother you at all that that was offered last night? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: No. There's no excuse at this point of the year. We're mentally preparing for a long series. This is the final push, and regardless of how we've gotten here, we just have to be ready for whatever it takes. And that didn't have a factor, the last series, on last night's game. Q. Erik, when a team throws so much at LeBron, so many bodies clogs the paint, his natural tendency sometimes is to share the ball, throw it to Chris Bosh as he did in the final minute. Is there anything more that anyone can expect of LeBron in terms of asserting himself against that kind of defense to take more of the burden on himself? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: He'll do whatever it takes. He's as a cerebral player as there is in this league. He'll read the game as necessary. I wouldn't bet against our open shooters. So we just need to make sure we're getting the shots that we want to. It was a very efficient game and a competitive game all the way up until the fourth quarter. Going back and forth against a good defense, we still had enough shots that were our shots. Our turnovers were down going into the fourth quarter. We only had five. So we just need to be better down the stretch. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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