|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 11, 2015David BlattCLEVELAND, OHIO: Game Four Golden State – 103 Q. Were you at all surprised with the fact that Golden State went small ball today? And, secondly, Gregg Popovich related or said that The Finals for him were torture. Can you relate to that? COACH BLATT: They had to make an adjustment, obviously, because the games, all three of them, were going our way. We had won two of them and they made a decision to go the way that they went. Obviously in the first few minutes we handled it. After that, less so. I don't think that was the main thing in the game, to be honest with you. You said that Coach Popovich said that The Finals are torture? Q. He was asked if he enjoyed The Finals, and he said, No, it's torture. Can you relate to that? COACH BLATT: Well, if you know Coach Popovich, he's got a great and clever sense of humor. So I'd have to ask him directly what he meant by that because that could go any way. I'm not really sure. I'll talk to him about it. Q. The non‑calls in the first quarter that you weren't getting, it seemed to affect your players. They seemed to be bickering a little bit at the officials. Can you talk a little bit about that? COACH BLATT: You know I can't (smiling). Q. Were you concerned that your players were affected by it in a negative way, and do you think it had an impact on the way they played in the first quarter? COACH BLATT: The game is such that the guys react to things. It's human nature. And I wouldn't point to that as any particular reason why we didn't play as well as we have. Q. Did you sense that your team was a little bit tired tonight? COACH BLATT: Yes. Tonight was the third game in five days, including the trip back from the West Coast, and it seemed to have an impact on us, yes. Q. Could you talk about what they did, what you saw that they might have done differently defending LeBron? Steve Kerr said he didn't think they really did much different, but it seemed like they kind of shaded a second guy over toward him more often, especially when he got into the lane? COACH BLATT: A little bit more, yes. But they didn't play him significantly different. I think we were a little bit slower into our sets, and I think we didn't always get him the ball in great spots, and that made it a little bit more arduous for him to get into position to score the ball. I think also the fact that we didn't make shots tonight from outside, that really had an impact on his ability to find seams and to score the ball. Because there is a dynamic to that. When you're constantly, constantly on the defensive end, it's just like in football with possession time. When your defense is on the field all the time, you know you're in trouble. And we couldn't get the ball down. You're 4‑for‑27 from three in a game where our big guys did score the ball. You could say, well, you shot poorly because they really protected the three‑point line and they kept you from scoring. Our big guys scored, I don't know what percentage, but probably 60, 70 percent in the paint. We didn't make shots. And that put a little bit more pressure on him, too, because he was passing the ball, and the normal shots that we make in that situation, we didn't. Q. How's his head? COACH BLATT: I hope he's okay. I don't think he had any kind of‑‑ he didn't have like a serious hit to the head. It was more of a cut, obviously. I'm sure he's fine, knowing him. Q. Coach, did you get what you expected out of Dellavedova tonight? COACH BLATT: He played his heart out, like he always does. He'll tell you differently. I don't think he was a hundred percent, but he gave us a hundred percent of what he had. Listen, it's not easy for anybody to be great every day. He wasn't the only one that wasn't great, including myself, but he wanted to play and he wanted to win. Some days just don't turn out the way you want them to. Q. The previous game LeBron went out in the start of the fourth quarter, and you lost the stretch. Tonight he went away in the start of the fourth quarter, and you lost the stretch. So obviously he has to sit sometimes, but how do you guys ‑‑ how are you going to sort this thing out? COACH BLATT: Well, that's a fact, and that's true what you said. It's also a fact that he's a human being, and I've got to give him a minute here or there. If I don't, I'm really going to put him under more duress than he already is. When he is out, everyone else has got to step up and give a little bit more. We're thinner now than we were, but that's not an excuse. We haven't used it as an excuse yet, and we won't start now. We've just all got to pick it up. Q. If you can point out what went wrong tonight and what can be fixed for the next game, and, if possible, what can you tell all the people that again woke up in the middle of the night in Israel? COACH BLATT: That's a hell of a thing to have on your conscience all the time. I don't know how you people feel. But when I've got 7 million people waking up and then feeling bad all day because we didn't win, that's a heck of a thing to carry around all day. And he's going to be the first one to remind me of that, which is a very typical thing of the Israeli media, if you haven't noticed. Well, I said before, we didn't shoot the ball well, and obviously Golden State made some adjustments. They did a good job tonight. Got to give credit where credit is due. We're in a three‑game series for the NBA Finals. Six months ago I would have bought that. We've got to go back to the drawing board, go back to work, continue to believe in ourselves, play the best basketball we can, and try to win this thing. 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
|