|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT v PACERSMay 20, 2014LeBron JamesDwyane WadeINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Game Two Miami Heat - 87 Q.  LeBron, you had a pretty quiet night for three quarters, then the fourth quarter you exploded for 12. Do you already have the mindset that you can get buckets whenever you want? LeBRON JAMES: I mean, I just play the game. However the game presents itself, I just try to take advantage of it. I needed to do something in the fourth. I did a great job in the third quarter of attacking and getting my guys some open looks. I hit Cole for two threes, hit C.B. for a three, but I needed to make a few buckets as well to help us in the fourth quarter, and I was able to come through for us. Q. Dwyane, Lance was really the only guy on their side that really shot the ball well tonight. What makes him so difficult to guard? Then also, what do you do to contain him going forward? DWYANE WADE: He shot well. He made some tough shots. He's a good player. Only thing we do is throw different guys at him, and we're a good team to do that. It's a long series. We'll continue to force our will on him as much as possible, and he'll make some shots. This is not a one‑on‑one matchup at all. It's a team thing. Our team came out on top, and that's all that matters. Q. LeBron, were you happy with the way you all banged with David West tonight? He went 5 of 16 from the field. Can you talk about what you did defensively on him this time. LeBRON JAMES: Just tried to keep a body on him. Very good player. Our bigs took a challenge on him all night. Just try to run him off the shot. When he drove, just tried to keep a chest in front of him. Made him take contested shots over the top. Offensively, we just tried to attack him as well. Put him in some pick‑and‑rolls. He got a couple of early quick fouls. So that maybe got him out of rhythm, too. But our bigs did a great job on him. Q. What did you think of the game that Norris Cole had for you guys tonight? And specifically, how he defended Lance at the end. DWYANE WADE: Norris had a very good game for us. He came in end of the first quarter and did a great job for our group, and he continued it. Norris is one of those guys that he loves to play defense, and he did a great job on Lance, making it tough for him in the second half. That allowed me to shift to Paul George and let LeBron guard the point guard. So we're very versatile when Norris is out there with the way he guards pick‑and‑rolls and how low he is to the ground as well. So he did a phenomenal job. Q. Dwyane, these last few weeks the maintenance plan looks like it's worked out. DWYANE WADE: Yeah, that was the plan. Just want to continue it. Just want to continue to keep going, continue to keep getting better. There's a lot of basketball left, but I feel good. Q. For both of you guys, what was the biggest difference defensively between Game 1 and Game 2? LeBRON JAMES: We got back to play Miami Heat basketball. We flew around, covered for one another.  Even when we made mistakes, we still covered for one another. We allowed them in Game 1 to dictate what our defense did, and that's not us. They had us on our heels the whole game, and that's not how we play basketball. Every time we lose, we always‑‑ that's the first thing that we can see. Defensively today, we came out with an aggressive mindset. Even if we made mistakes, guys had to cover for one another, and I think we did that for 48 minutes. Q. Dwyane, I saw you give a pregame speech in the huddle. What was the conversation like? DWYANE WADE: It was simple, man. Today was just about how bad we want it. This wasn't about X's and O's. It just was about how bad do we want to win this game? We proved it. We showed it. It wasn't a perfect game by no stretch of the imagination, but we kept fighting. We kept digging down deep, and eventually the game turned to our favor and to Miami Heat basketball. We love those games. Q. LeBron, Norris said in the locker room that you actually were the one that kind of tabbed him and said, "Why don't you pick up Stephenson?" Is that right? And he said you continued to do it as the game went on. LeBRON JAMES: Yeah, absolutely. Norris is‑‑ I mean, he's all about defense. He's all about team.  Whatever it takes to win. I believe that he'll be a good matchup on Stephenson, even though Stephenson is a bigger guy. He's going to get some shots over him. He's going to make some plays, but I think Norris can lock in on him. And it allowed D‑Wade to shift to Paul George and allowed me to shift to George Hill. So that versatility that we have on our wings at that point, it helps a lot. But for me as a leader, I just try to give confidence to guys, and I was confident enough for Norris to take on that challenge. Lance had it going, and at the same time, Norris got it going on the other end offensively too, making two threes in a clutch situation. Q. You all can speak about Miami Heat basketball, and it seems that you all never panic. How much of a role does the demeanor of the team play in games like this? And does it kick in that you all have been through this so many times to make sure that you all just don't panic in situations like this? DWYANE WADE: Yeah, I think we always give credit to our first year together when we did panic in situations like this. Even though we did get to The Finals, throughout that year, we were able to grow up a lot. Even in The Finals, we had moments where five minutes left in the ballgame, we had a lead in every game, but we panicked. That year brought a lot of growth in our team, in our leadership as a group, especially this guy to my left. His leadership really went to another level. So we're very confident coming down the stretch, one, because we believe in our defense. When our defense is the way it should be, us moving around, running around, doing the things we should do offensively, we got two guys that we can put the ball in their hands, and they're going to make the best play for the team. So you have confidence in that. That's why we don't break a sweat too much in those moments. We just look at each other and say, all right, we got to do it better, or we got to do it our way. Q. LeBron, how does going back to Miami with a split 1‑1 affect the way you work through these next three days in between games 2 and 3? LeBRON JAMES: I think the three days are going to allow us to prepare for Game 3. Even though we won, we're going to break down the film as if we lost and see ways we can get better even with some of the mistakes that we made. I think the best thing about tonight, even though we made mistakes, we were flying around, and we were playing the type of basketball that we wanted to play. When we do that, we give ourself a great chance to win, and we can live with the results. So with these three days, we're not comfortable, and we're not satisfied at all. We came here. We got Game 2, but Game 3 is a new game, and we're going to start preparing for that tomorrow and get ready for it on Saturday. Q. For both you guys, at the end of the game you guys at one point scored 20 consecutive points, and a lot of it was playing off each other. Can you talk about the kind of mental telepathy that you guys kind of have in that situation where you both read and react to each other? LeBRON JAMES: We have no idea we're doing that until we hear it after the game, which is our plan. We believe it doesn't matter whoever has the ball in each other's hand, we're going to make the right play not only for ourselves but for our team. Tonight was one of those nights once again, where we were making plays, finding guys, and finding each other, finding a good rhythm with the ball in our hands. We don't know we're doing those things, but we just try to make plays and do whatever it takes to help our team win. Q. What's that like, Dwyane? DWYANE WADE: Like you said, the ball is in our hands, and the way‑‑ that's what we want when we came here, and that's what we envisioned, having two guys that is able to be dynamic at the same time. It doesn't happen all time, but fourth quarters and those moments, that's where we envisioned it happening. Like I said, we're just making what plays we feel is right. Obviously, I always know where No.6 is on the floor, and he always knows where I am on the floor as well. But at the same time, we're being aggressive. And whatever play comes out of it is probably the best play for our team. A lot of times me touching the ball and him touching the ball in those moments is probably the best thing for our teams. Q. LeBron, you talk about covering for each other. You had a play where you blocked the ball and went for the layup and missed and Dwyane followed it up and put it in. How important is that play in keeping the run going? Dwyane, if you could explain what you saw in that play. LeBRON JAMES: It was a huge momentum play. We did a great job on that possession. Hibbert got the ball, and our big did a great job of pressuring him, and he took a couple dribbles and then stopped, and everybody just locked in on their individual man. D‑Wade kept the Paul from Paul George getting it. Norris kept it from Lance. C.B. kept it from David West, and I was trying to do the same thing to George Hill. When George Hill got the ball, I just tried to lock in on him. I was able to get a steal. Usually, D‑Wade don't even chase me down. He knows if it's a one‑on‑one matchup with me, most of the time I'm going to score. I was glad that he did. I missed the layup, and he was able to tip‑dunk it. Huge momentum play in the fourth quarter when we needed it the most. DWYANE WADE: Yeah, like he said, 99.9 percent of the time, when he's one‑on‑one with someone, we take our chances. Just at that moment, I actually noticed he didn't really get the acceleration like he needed. He took a step and didn't get up. So that allowed me to keep following him. Normally, he explodes, and there's not many people that can meet him at the top. He didn't get the explosion on the layup that he needed. I just followed him, and that time I was just trying to make a play. He missed it, and luckily I was there to put it back in. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|