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NBA FINALS: HEAT v SPURSJune 12, 2014LeBron JamesDwyane WadeMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Four San Antonio Spurs - 107 Q.  LeBron, you left just before the start of the game, came back, and then left in the first quarter. Was there any illness or injury or something that might have held you back tonight? LeBRON JAMES: No, first time I left I went to go get retaped, retape my ankle. It's been kind of bothering me for the last couple days, but I felt okay. Second time I went back, I just had to use the restroom. Q. Dwyane, you struggled, it seemed, a little at the rim early. Was there anything that was causing you not to have the same explosion? Did you feel sort of as fit as previous games? Could you take us through the times at the rim when you just didn't get the ball up there? DWYANE WADE: Yeah, I just missed them. You know, I'm a very accurate shooter, so I don't like missing. I'm not used to missing around the basket. But law of averages, man. The ball just didn't go in. But I'll take those same opportunities next game for sure. Q. Obviously, it's not over, but you know the numbers as well as anybody in the league. You know that nobody in the Finals has ever come back from 3‑1 down. What is the attitude right now? Is it just about Sunday? Is it about making history? Is it something else? What is it right now? LeBRON JAMES: Well, I mean, man, we put ourselves in a position where it is about making history. But all we can do is worry about Game 5. We've got to worry about Sunday first. Try to go up there in a hostile environment, where we were able to steal one in Game 2, and try to get another one and go on from there. Obviously, I do know the numbers. It's never been done before, but we're still a confident bunch, even though our heads are lowered down right now. Of course, being down 3‑1, and losing two straight games at home, that's just human nature. But we've still got to go out and play on Sunday. Q. LeBron, you got going with the big third quarter scoring‑wise, what was it like at the end of that to look up and see that you had actually lost ground on the scoreboard during that? LeBRON JAMES: That didn't mean nothing, you know. If it's not helping us get into the game, it didn't mean nothing. I tried to will us back into the game, but they continued to execute. I continued to make shots. I had a huge third quarter, but it meant nothing. Q. Erik said this was surprising tonight, and Chris said overall it was kind of blindsiding what happened in these two games. What was your reaction at the end when you were watching the last few minutes on the bench? LeBRON JAMES: I mean, they smashed us. Two straight home games, got off to awful starts. They came in and were much better than us in these two games. It's just that simple. Q. Have you ever in two games had a team be more successful moving you strong to weak, getting the ball to the weak side and finishing plays as San Antonio has the last two games? LeBRON JAMES: I mean, coming into the series we knew that that's what it was going to be about. They're a high‑oil machine and they move the ball extremely well. They put you in so many difficult positions. If you're not right on time, right on target, they're going to make you pay for it. Q. You guys know what it's like to deal with adversity outside of the game, but this is the first time in a while you guys have had to deal with this kind of deficit in a series or adversity against an opponent. How do you spend the next couple days and sort of soul‑search to find a way out of this? DWYANE WADE: I think, obviously, having two days in between, you take a day like tomorrow and you get away from the game physically. Mentally you still think about it, and obviously you're going to do that. Saturday you come back and try to figure out a way to get yourselves and your team ready for the next one. And that's all you can do, man. Like we continue to say, obviously, it's a game‑to‑game type of thing. Games change, individual performances change. Did we expect to come here and lose two the way that we did at home? No way. But we also expect to go to San Antonio and put up a better effort and try to come out with another win. So we'll get away from it tomorrow, but we'll still think about what we need to do to try to get another win to keep the series alive. Q. LeBron, as a follow‑up, is there any real doubt creeping in at this point that they just may be better or is it something you still feel like you have to figure out? LeBRON JAMES: Well, I mean, the series is not over. We've got guys with too much pride to even start thinking about that. At the end of the day, our focus will be, how do we get better than we did in Game 3 and Game 4 here at home? We're going with that bunker mentality in Game 5. Like D Wade said, we'll get away from it tomorrow physically. Mentally it will still be lingering around. Saturday you start to get back into the flow of things, and then Sunday you go out and play and see what happens. Q. LeBron, you talked about their ball movement a little bit, is it just about doing things harder or are there tactical adjustments that need to be made in your guys' view? LeBRON JAMES: That sounds like a set‑up question. Q. No, not really. LeBRON JAMES: Not really? Man, they move the ball extremely well. They put you in positions that no other team in this league does, and it's tough because you have to cover the ball first, but also those guys on the weak side can do multiple things. They can shoot the ball from outside, they can also penetrate. So our defense is geared towards running guys off the three‑point line, but at the same time those guys are getting full steam ahead and getting to the rim, too. The challenge is as well, with them, implementing Diaw into the lineup has given them another point guard on the floor. So Manu, Tony, and Diaw and Patty Mills on the floor at once, they've got four point guards basically on the floor at once. So all of them are live and they all can make plays.  So it's a challenge for us all. Q. You guys have not faced a deficit like this since you came together as a group, but also you personally you haven't been down 3‑1 in a series since '09 in Orlando. Is there anything in the memory banks you can call on from that experience? How does your approach have to change facing this kind of desperation? LeBRON JAMES: No, because I didn't even remember that until you just told me. Obviously, I'm a guy who always just kind of lives in the moment, man. One thing you can't do is control what happened in the past. You can only focus on the present and hopefully you can do better in the future from your present time. For me, I'm here at this point. I'm here with the 3‑1 deficit, and me as one of the leaders of the team, I have to figure out a way to get us to a 3‑2 deficit. And you worry about that, and everything else that's happened before you, you can't control it at this point. Q. LeBron and Dwyane, do you really feel this is about you guys not playing up to the team you are or do you think it's as simple as they're just better than you right now? DWYANE WADE: Well, I think they're getting to their game a lot better than we are. They're doing what they want to do better than we are. So right now they're playing better than us, no question about it. We'll see at the end of the series. Whoever wins is the better team. But the Spurs are playing better than us. They whipped our butt here at home, and you've got to give them credit for coming out, getting to their game plan, their game for 48 minutes, and we haven't been able to do that. So if we want to get back into the series, we have to be better than them on Sunday. If not, then it will be over. Q. LeBron, how difficult is it to defend a team like the Spurs when they can get five or six guys to score in double figures every night? LeBRON JAMES: Well, I mean, they're a difficult challenge. Like I said, I stated it before because they have so many guys that can do multiple things. Any little mistake you make, they make you pay for it. So we have to go back to the drawing board once again, figure out ways we can slow down on the mistakes that we had and get better from it on Sunday. Q. When you go back home in the next couple of days, having two days off, it's a long time between games, and a lot of time to think. How will you guys roll this around in your mind? What kind of soul‑searching has to take place, and how much will that help you come back for Sunday strong? LeBRON JAMES: Soul‑searching, there won't be much of that. There won't be much of that at all for me. Crazy thing is my two boys are running around in the locker room after the game was over, so I had no time to even think about the game anymore. They want to know what's going on right when we get home. So having my boys around will allow me to get away from the game. But I will still be in tune with what I need to do to help our team win, and that's my mindset. But as far as soul‑searching, we're a veteran ballclub that's won a championship, that's won a couple championships, that's been to four straight Finals. We know what it takes to win. We've just got to go out and do it. DWYANE WADE: I think the biggest thing you can do is first individually. There's no "I" in team. There is an "I" in individual. You have to look at yourself and see what you can bring better to the game to be able to help this team. Then as a team we've got to continue to trust and believe in each other, like we've done for four years here, like we've done all season. I'm confident that we will do that. I mean, you've just got to look at yourself first, and then after that, we look at each other and see how we can all help each other get better. Q. LeBron, at times it seems as if the offense is struggling and stagnant, asking you to go one‑on‑one, shoot deep threes, be amazing. Can you talk about that pressure and how it might be mentally taxing on you after four years now? LeBRON JAMES: I don't really get caught up in what pressure is all about. I mean, just go out and play basketball, play as hard as you can and live with the results. For me, I do whatever it takes to help our team win. If it's me going one‑on‑one to try to help us win, if it's me getting guys involved and taking threes in rhythm, then I'll do it. But I don't really get caught up in the pressure. Q. Is it mentally exhausting? I don't think in any of the games you guys have had a lead in the first quarter, to have to come back from so many deficits and all of that on your shoulder? LeBRON JAMES: You definitely don't want to‑‑ it's not on my shoulder. It's not. I understand I get a lot of the limelight in the press and all that, but it's not all on my shoulder. I take a lot of it, but I do it for my teammates and I want them to put a lot of pressure on me in that sense. But going into the first quarter is how you start games off, and you don't ever want to go into the second quarter being down. But it is what it is. That is the way the series has played out thus far. You know, we have another game on Sunday to kind of right the ship and get better from it, and not be down like we've done in these first four games, because it's not been a successful ingredient for us. Q. Coach Spoelstra said that it's time to just look under the hood and no stone should be unturned. At this point are all of the stones already unturned going into tonight's game? LeBRON JAMES: I don't even know what that means (laughter). I got an engine underneath my hood. I have no idea what that means. Q. Trying to find any option to win the game. LeBRON JAMES: I mean, that should be the goal from the start, you know. Whoever can make plays and put your teammates in position to win, all the stones should be unturned. That shouldn't happen in The Finals. That should happen from day one. You come into training camp and you find guys, you put guys on the floor to complement each other, and you put guys on the floor, and we all help each other on the floor from the coaches to the players. So shouldn't wait until you get to The Finals for that. Thanks for clarifying that, too, because I had no idea what you were talking about (laughing). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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