NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 13, 2024

Daniel Gafford

Dallas Mavericks

Practice Day

Q. After watching film, how do you feel about Game 3 and what is the mindset now?

DANIEL GAFFORD: Mindset going into Game 4 is win. Feelings right now is to be better than the last.

Q. How difficult was it to go down the way you went down, up 13 in the first quarter?

DANIEL GAFFORD: It was tough because we fought our way back, so we fought so hard to get all the way back. The guys that were out there on the floor, they gave it all they got. A lot of guys that came back to the locker room after the game was exhausted. Just seeing how hard they fought, it was just tough to see how the outcome was for it.

But it's motivation going into the next game, for sure.

Q. Having said that, is the mental challenge greater than the physical challenge when you’re playing in a possible elimination game?

DANIEL GAFFORD: Hmmm... I would say it's a little bit of both. But I would say we stay motivated and we just focus on the next game at hand, the most important game.

Q. What do you take away from the run that you guys did go on in that fourth quarter, the fact that you were almost able to overcome the 20-point deficit?

DANIEL GAFFORD: It just shows how desperate we were playing. It was something that I saw when it came to just like guys coming into the timeout. It was just a lot of motivation. Everybody was pulling each other in, trying to stay encouraged. Didn't matter what was going on, didn't matter how the fans were.

It didn't matter what was going on just like on the outside, everything on the inside is what was all falling into place together, in my opinion.

From everything that I seen, everybody was lifting each other up. D Live, he was one of the most vocal guys out there with Kyrie. Whenever Luka went down after his sixth foul, everybody pulled together, just tried to make one final push. The vibe around the team was just leave it all out there on the floor. Whatever happens in the end happens.

Q. The average fan sees that 20-2 run and probably thinks, why can’t you guys do that the whole game.

DANIEL GAFFORD: We just have to find ways to just implement that 20-2 run to just like our game plan in general from start to finish.

I can't really just pinpoint on why it doesn't happen at the beginning of the games. For sure it's an adjustment that we can make to be able to come out and do it in the next one.

Q. How much is the motivation also you don’t want to see them celebrate on your home court?

DANIEL GAFFORD: It's real encouraging. We want to be able to just survive and advance. It's the last series of the season. Don't nobody want to ever be in this position.

But we just have to really just take our time.

Q. Seeing Luka play the way he has, the numbers he's put up, Kyrie having the game he did last night, for the rest of you guys does it make you want to step up more offensively looking at what they're doing?

DANIEL GAFFORD: Oh, yeah, for sure. We always want to help the main two guys when it comes to just scoring. Defensively I feel like we're doing our job. It just comes all down to just defense wins games.

We just have to, like I said, just stay motivated when it comes to certain parts of the game. Not trying to force everything, just kind of like letting the game come to us in certain areas.