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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS


May 25, 2016


Tyronn Lue


Cleveland, Ohio: Game Five

Pregame Interview

Q. Obviously it's probably great to be back in this building considering the home-court swings here, but how much does pressure swing back to the Cavaliers in this series?
TYRONN LUE: No pressure. Just have to go out and play. We don't feel the pressure. We won two games on our floor, and they came out and won two games on their floor. Now we have to perform. I wouldn't say pressure.

Q. Is there any update on Kevin [Love]?
TYRONN LUE: Kevin is fine. He's going to play tonight.

Q. I guess first of all, what do you need to get out of Tristan [Thompson] in that matchup with [Bismack] Biyombo. And secondly, going to Channing [Frye] as early as you did the other night, was that sort of an indictment on the way Tristan was trying to handle Biyombo and obviously trying to get Bismack out of the lane?
TYRONN LUE: Well, Tristan has to be who he's been for us all year. He's been active on the offensive glass. Defensively he's been great. Biyombo was clogging up the paint, trying to block shots and get back to Tristan and doing a good job of getting a body into Tristan when he tries to go to the offensive glass. But Tristan has been great. Just continue to do what he always does. My thought process of putting Channing in was to space the floor, get Biyombo out of the paint and that way we can drive the ball to the paint, and if he helps then we get open threes.

Q. LeBron is averaging like 25 points on 65 percent shooting, eight-and-a-half rebounds, six-and-a-half assists this series. Can he do more? Does he need to do more, and what would more look like if that was the case?
TYRONN LUE: Well, more would just be taking his open shots. I think they're going under a little bit, and he can take those open shots. But when we try to post him, they're double teaming every time. And now when he drives to the basket, now they're collapsing, making him find shooters, which he's been doing a great job of, and we have to knock down shots. But LeBron, just stay aggressive. But the biggest thing for us is if we can get stops we can get on a run, and then they can't load up as much.

Q. Have you considered a lineup change?
TYRONN LUE: No.

Q. Mo Williams, there's been a little talk about him possibly getting a little action. Is that something you're looking into, and if so, why?
TYRONN LUE: (Laughing) I like Mo's pace. I like the way he pushes the basketball. Of course, he's a great pick-and-roll player, and he can knock down open shots. Just Mo's pace alone is big for us, especially if we want to play at a higher pace, especially being at home.

Q. Going back to Kevin, his struggles in Game 3 and 4, you mentioned that he was missing shots. He talked about missing shots. But did you see a lack of aggressiveness or him not being the guy that you've asked him to be here in the Playoffs?
TYRONN LUE: I wouldn't say a lack of aggressiveness. We talked yesterday, me and Kev, about just staying aggressive, taking your shots. If you miss 10, 11 shots, so what. Those are your shots, you're open, and you've got to take them with confidence. Like I said, Kevin is human. He's had a great postseason. He's missed some shots the last two [games], but there are other things that he can do -- rebounding, playing defense and things like that. I'm not really too discouraged about Kevin missing shots. He has to just keep taking them.

Q. Coach, early in the game you talked about hitting them early, hitting them first and not being the guy who gets hit second. In the third quarter you guys played them really aggressively on the pick-and-roll, and that kind of seemed to help your physicality and your aggression in the game. Is that something you look at, maybe being a little bit more aggressive, going under less and trying to force the action a little bit more?
TYRONN LUE: Yes. Yes.

Q. Before the series J.R. [Smith] you said was playing the best defense of anyone on the team. Is there a particular problem he's having? Is it just he needs to be more energetic or is it a certain bad match-up?
TYRONN LUE: No, I just think when you tell teams and players you're going to go under, I think your aggressiveness lacks. I think we've been off the body a little too much at times, and that kind of hurt J.R. in this series because we said we wanted to go under on [DeMar] DeRozan. With that being said, that's on us because that's the way we wanted to play, but J.R. is more of a physical guy, fighting through screens, staying on the body. So we've changed that up a little bit, and hopefully he can be more effective.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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