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NBA FINALS: SPURS v HEATJune 13, 2013Erik SpoelstraSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Four Miami Heat - 109 Q.  Coach, do you see a look in your guys after a loss for whatever reason that might be different when the times are good? Did you see it at shootaround? Did you see it before the game? And why the difference after a loss that you're a far better team? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I don't know. First of all, you have to give credit to who we're playing, the competition. This is elite‑level basketball. So they kicked our butts the other night. Yesterday was a miserable day. Probably one of the strengths of this team is instead of pointing fingers or deflecting, it's just getting to the heart of the matter. And we were all horrible. So there was a better response today. In terms of body language and facial expressions, I don't read those too well. Q. Are we making sometimes too much about adjustments? Isn't making shots and turnovers the keys? Like, LeBron was making the mid‑range jumper with consistency today for instance. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Look, he was the top perimeter jump shooter all year. You're talking about a leading scorer in the league. His aggressiveness set the tone; being able to get into the paint. But he's had the whole menu all year long in the post, on drives, jumpers, whatever is needed. Q. By virtue of going small, Chris had a lot more responsibility. And in terms of rim protection in the offense, defending the pick‑and‑roll, how do you feel he did? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: There's no question about it. When we play with those lineups, he's the last man there. I mean, we do have some hybrid wings. You saw Dwyane and LeBron back there as well. But we need Chris to be big and to do so many different things and wear a lot of different hats. We play him offensively everywhere on the floor. But defensively battling against a Hall of Famer, and then helping us clean up the glass really gave us a boost. Q. Do you sense he has a different approach when he's out there as the lone big? Does he conform his game to the new plan or is it just Chris being Chris? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's part of human nature. We also talked about it. There's nobody else. You look around, and that's it. So all of our guys need to be big. Not only CB, but Dwyane has to be sometimes a de facto power forward for us. Same thing with LJ. Particularly against a team like this, that gets you scrambling and running around on closeouts and that type of thing. There's different guys back there at the rim. Q. Erik, you made a lineup change, but were you surprised when they came out with Splitter guarding Wade? I know he took him out after a minute. COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It was only after a minute. They were playing so off of both those guys, it didn't shock me. Q. And the way that Dwyane got himself into the game, he had no rebounds in the last game; he had six in this game. Just his general activity level‑‑ COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: His floor game was there from the beginning. The six steals, the deflections, his activity around the rim when he was there. We obviously have so much more versatility when our wings cover that type of ground. But he was extremely aggressive tonight. Q. The Spurs had 19 offensive rebounds last game. They didn't get their first offensive rebound until the second half. Had only five. How important was that? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's big, those extra possessions. Oftentimes you have to defend 20 seconds in the clock, and they get you moving. They execute with great precision. They get you running around. They pass the ball extremely well. That can be extremely deflating. You play a 23‑second possession and cough up an offensive rebound, and it leads to a three, that can be extremely deflating. So our guys understand the challenge. It's not easy. We're not expecting for it to be easy at this level. But to cover the ground all the way to the three with their passing and then finish off with rebounding. If we don't do that, we won't win. Q. Erik, you guys get the win here in San Antonio to reestablish home‑court advantage. How much does that change the complexion of this series, knowing it's going to be determined on your court? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: That's way too far to think about. First of all, we understood this game was a survival game. But all we're going to think about is the next game. And that will be enough on our plate. Because this series is being decided by this (holding index finger and thumb together). It might not be that way in the games, but in terms of how competitive it actually is. So we'll have enough to deal with the next couple of days. Q. Coach, both of your wins, turnovers a huge factor. What are you guys doing right when you're creating turnovers? Is it simply effort, as you talked about after Game 3? And particularly on Tony Parker in the second half, holding him down after 15‑‑ COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I'm not sure. We try to play aggressively. It's a fine line with that team. You're talking about the best passing team in the league. Veteran, poised players that can both shoot, pass and dribble, put the ball on the floor. They get you moving around. But we have to be committed wholeheartedly to our identity. And that's to be aggressive. But if we're a count late, lack of focus, not connected five man, they embarrass you. Q. Were there any changes you guys made in the second half on Parker necessarily? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Not really. No. He was just carving us up. Q. Erik, Dwyane has never had a problem in this series in the first half. It always just seems in the second half he hasn't been able to sustain it. What allowed him to do that tonight and even really get better in the second half? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I mean, first of all, you have to give credit to them for holding us down in a couple of games. They're a good defensive team. So that's what this competition is all about. How do you figure it out? So he knew that we‑‑ he got in a great rhythm in the first half, and for us to win this game, he would have to continue to be aggressive. Even in the beginning of the fourth quarter we had to take LeBron out. We just left him over there. Dwyane and CB really took some of the load. Q. How was LeBron different in this game? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Just able to be aggressive. They don't make it easy. There's going to be people in the paint. He was making the right reads. We were able to get it in a better flow. Some off of misses. A couple of turnovers got us in the open court. Everybody knows our formula. Everybody knows their formula. The tough part is doing it against elite competition. So the aggressive start probably set the tone. Q. Did you ever have any sense during the last couple of days that he was pressing? Tried to find that aggressiveness again? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Not necessarily. It just takes time to figure out an opponent. Each round is different. The challenge is different. This is a much different challenge than what we came out of in the Eastern Conference. He was making the right plays, but you have to give credit to their defense. They kept us out of the paint two of the games. We'll see what happens the next game. Q. Erik, the so‑called Big Three, they were averaging 43 points this first three games. They had, I think if my math is right, 85 tonight. If they have games like that, is that the gear you've been waiting for them to get to in this series? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: It's a little bit of everything, though, that they've provided for us. All of them provided us great energy defensively. And that got us off to a decent start. And quite obviously they are big components to what we do offensively. We run almost every trigger through them. This happened to be a game where they were all able to be aggressive. The next game might present a different challenge. But we needed every bit of it tonight. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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