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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT v PACERSMay 24, 2014Erik SpoelstraMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Three Q.  Do you know if you're going to have G.O. available? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, the harder part would be figuring out who I'm going to make not active. So I'll turn in my card soon. He's had a very good week of work. I'd like to have everyone available. Again, I mentioned it this morning. I just hate that rule. Q. Coach is everybody healthy and available on your side? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah, all 15. So I have to make some tough decisions. It's a good place to be, though. Q. Can you tell us if LeBron is starting? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Come on, John. Comedy show now? Q. Erik, it's kind of unusual in a series to have a three‑day layoff like this. Do you feel your team benefited by the time? Did it change the rhythm at all? What was it like in the middle of the playoffs to have a three‑day break? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I'm not sure. We won't find out until we get out there. The only thing about it is both teams had to deal with it. For some of our guys, the extra day of rest is good. We were able to work. But until we actually get out there, I won't be able to‑‑ or none of us will be able to know‑‑ you know, I don't think it was a bad thing. Q. Would you like to see more from Chris Bosh going forward in the series? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: He'll figure it out. He has a way of finding a way to impact a series, and it can be in a lot of different ways. I know everybody is critical about threes that he shoots. When they go down, everybody thinks differently. Then if he's able to get some easy ones and we can help him get some easy ones, the perspective can change. He has a lot on his plate with us, a lot of responsibilities on both sides of the floor, and he has a way to impact the game in a positive way and then help you win so many different ways. A lot of those ways don't necessarily show up in a boxscore. He'll be aggressive, but it's not necessarily absolutely important for him to score 40. Q. You say Greg had a good week. What exactly did he do that you are impressed with? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: He really stepped up his workouts. So that was maybe one of the ancillary benefits of having a couple of extra days. We planned it. We knew the week coming in that we'd really work him. But just like everybody else, if he is active tonight, he'll just be available to play. That doesn't mean he necessarily will, and he understands that. He's mentally prepared just to contribute if his number's called. Q. Coach, in Game 2, the first half they were controlling the boards, especially their offensive board, and that sort of flipped in the second half when your team rebounded a lot better. What did you do better in the second half, and how does that continue tonight for you to rebound well? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Little bit better job of containing the ball in the second half, but it's always going to be that battle, two contrasting styles. Not only do we have to be in good position and be there early, we also have to make multiple efforts against that size. So if they're there, sometimes it's not just enough to do your normal block‑out or finish your rotation. You have to go above and beyond, but that's what this series will require. Sometimes it will be group‑effort rebounds, tip‑outs to somebody else, maybe a block‑out that you know you have no chance of rebounding it, but at least that guy won't get it. Our guys understand. We're a gang‑rebound team, and that's what this series requires. They don't make it easy, nor should they, at this level. Q. With Oden, is it something that has to happen? Is there a situation going on the floor where you think, this is where we could really use him? Is it Hibbert? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: No, it's not. We never had him to be a quote, unquote, Hibbert stopper. I think probably too much was made of that. We liked him because of his skill set. We think he can complement our game. But at this point right now, it's to fill a role just like everybody else, if his number is called. He was going through some minor setbacks with his back, but he's available, and I can make a case for it, that if there's a two‑minute stretch, we're in foul trouble, so forth, I have no hesitation throwing him in there. That's the challenging thing right now. All those guys there on the bench, I can make a case for in short bursts. They're mentally prepared for that. I just wish I could suit up everybody. Q. Erik, this hasn't happened, but when a player comes off a situation like Paul George, are there any way in which you guys will put him to the test, like physically or just with extra aggression or things like that? COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: No. It's still about basketball. It's about competing between the four lines. For us, we said time and again, it has to be about trying to impose our identity. We've played two games where we weren't able to do that and one of them we were able to find a way and gut out a win at the end. We would like to somehow dictate the game where it's played on our terms. They don't make it easy. But that will be the most important thing. Us going out of our way to try to make it uncomfortable for him physically, that's not part of our game plan. It's more important about trying to get to our game, and that's the challenge right now with this series. We have yet to get to our game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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