NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 13, 2024

Jason Kidd

Dallas Mavericks

Practice Day

Q. Jason, you had talked after Game 2 about Dante Exum and what you thought he brought to that game. I was curious from his short stint in Game 3 what you saw that caused you to go away from him in the rotation?

JASON KIDD: I thought Exum did great. We probably looked back at it, we could have probably got him in there a little bit more, but we went with the other guys. We were looking for someone to be able to knock down an open shot. We had good looks that just didn't go down for us.

I thought Exum's pace, his ability to get the ball into the paint for those three minutes was good. So hopefully we can get him in the game in Game 4.

Q. Expanding on that, down as you are, do you have to consider lineup changes, and is there something personnel-wise you think you can do to change the momentum in the series?

JASON KIDD: Well, I think we played 11 yesterday. Everybody is on deck. Everybody has to be ready to play. No lineup changes here today. But we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Q. You and I have talked about how competitive Luka Doncic is and how he wants to be great. A lot of times players get to the Finals, their first one, and the other team finds a weakness and tries to expose it. How much do you tell Luka about that kind of journey for a great player and the challenge he's facing ahead?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, I think the history is there for us to learn from, when you look at great players and the struggles. You look at MJ and the struggles that he had against Detroit. You look at some Magic Johnson struggles. You look at LeBron's first time around.

It's there to learn from. But as the great ones, they use that going into the next season or the next couple seasons to try to get back there because now they understand experience is a big thing.

When you look at the Celtics, they lose to the Warriors two years ago. They lose to Miami in Game 7 (last season). So just experience of understanding that you're not promised to get back, that you've got to work. You see the group that is out there today, they know how to play. They're a really good team. They put a lot of pressure on your defense, transition, rotations.

For great players, you have to fail to understand how to be successful at the highest stage. This is the highest level, being in the Finals.

Q. Everyone knows what the numbers, the stats say, that your odds are nil to do this. How do you block all that out? How do you tell your guys, just play tomorrow? Just win a game tomorrow and see what happens? How do you keep them in that mindset and not look at how daunting a 3-0 deficit looks on paper?

JASON KIDD: I think you talk about playing Game 4. That's it.

I thought yesterday we got off to a really good start, and hopefully we can do that again tomorrow. You look at the end of quarters, the end of the first in Game 2 and also here in Game 3, we have to be better.

Again, just taking one possession at a time, controlling what you can control, your effort and energy, and just winning the minutes when you're out there. That's all we've talked about today, and that's what we'll talk about tomorrow.

Q. You've talked a lot since you've been here about just wanting Luka kind of engaged and active on defense. Did you see any slippage in that last night with the chance to look at it more, or are the Celtics really good at attacking him and what needs to change on that front for him?

JASON KIDD: I think Luka is doing -- in this playoff series, when you talk about from the Clippers to today, his defense has improved. But when you look at being involved in every pick-and-roll, there's going to be mistakes that take place. That's just the game of basketball. We've just got to limit those mistakes.

But he is involved in every possession. That's what the Celtics are very good at doing, is making sure when they go hunting, they get the guy that they want. And so for us, we've got to do a better job of protecting Luka.

Q. Did you guys do anything on the court today, and what was the emphasis of whatever work you did do?

JASON KIDD: It was just film.

Q. (No microphone.)

JASON KIDD: Both offense and defense. The good things that we did, and then also the things that we've got to improve on.