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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS vs CELTICSMay 20, 2018Larry Nance Jr.Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day Q. Did you see that play developing? LARRY NANCE: Not really. I mean, if you were watching -- if you go back and watch the clip, I didn't think there was an angle to pass it low, so I kind of called for a lob for a brief second, kind of put my hand up in the air, like there's air up there. But he stuck it through, sure enough, and my job was easy. Q. Now that we're really deep into the Playoffs, what has this been like for you, from how much you were playing early on to kind of falling out of the rotation to now you're back? What's it all been like for you? LARRY NANCE: It's been a lot. It's definitely been a roller coaster, like you said, came in playing a lot, kind of faded into the background a little bit, now I'm getting to play some more. Everybody around here just keeps telling me -- obviously everybody is in my corner, stay professional, stay ready, stay in shape, all stuff I already know, but it's good to hear it, and it's nice to see it pay off with a win. Q. Do you have to adjust or kind of ease into the pressure of playing in the Playoffs, especially with LeBron and the team that's been to three Finals? LARRY NANCE: It's definitely new, yeah. Obviously being in LA, we had a lot of media around us with the different circuses we had there. But yeah, here, this is brand new. This is something completely different. You can't turn on SportsCenter, ESPN, nothing, without hearing Cavs this, Cavs that. It's definitely taken some adjusting. But yeah, I think I'm there now, and I'm ready. Q. What's the most important thing you've learned? LARRY NANCE: The most important thing that I've learned? Just in terms of postseason play? Q. Yes. LARRY NANCE: Every possession matters. Every defensive coverage matters. During the regular season, not to say it doesn't matter, but you can get away with one or two mistakes because it's not that crucial. We let [Al] Horford slip into a three, or we let [Aron] Baynes get a dunk, and it could change the series. That's probably been the biggest thing for me is just really focusing on game plan and what we're doing. Q. This team has been kind of put together in segments this season. How would you describe the chemistry right now? LARRY NANCE: I think it's really good. You know, we're -- like you said, we've had so many different lineups and so many different -- us four guys coming in late and then adding -- trying to figure all that out. I think we're in a good place right now. Obviously we've got our two lead dogs leading the way, and the rest of us just are doing our role. Q. What was it like last night when the big dogs didn't have to do everything, that you had contributions 1 through 12? LARRY NANCE: I think that shows how dangerous we are, that we're starting to figure out that whether -- LeBron doesn't have to take 20-something shots for us to beat a great team by 30. The rest of us are very good basketball players in our own right, and it was nice for us to show that. Q. I asked you earlier about pressure, but they traded for all you guys at a time when things were bad, to try to fix this. As you're processing everything, did that weigh on you, too, that they went and traded for you to kind of bring you here -- LARRY NANCE: I don't necessarily think of it as that. It's more than that to me. For myself, just the way I think of it is I got brought here as -- obviously to help win this year, but I'm looking forward to obviously the rest of this Playoffs, but next year, the year after that, they've gotten younger. Any time you get younger, it'll help your team for years to come. Q. Jordan [Clarkson] just said he thought your time was coming in this series. Do you think that's true at all? LARRY NANCE: Whose time? Q. He said that of you, he said you were kind of maybe earning your time. LARRY NANCE: I certainly hope so. A series like this, when they play a lot of bigs, they'll go Horford, [Marcus] Morris, Baynes, [Greg] Monroe, they have a lot of big guys and they're super athletic, so if there's two things I fit well against it's athleticism and playing big. Hopefully the coaching staff sees, and it means that I get more minutes. Q. When you hook up with LeBron like that left-handed move or even an alley-oop, do you kind of still cherish that? LARRY NANCE: I mean, it's hard not to. It's hard not to be, but in the moment, no, it's just like, catch, finish, that's all that's going through my mind. But yeah, I'm sure at one point I'll look back at that like being able to catch a lob from Kobe [Bryant] or something like that. It's definitely something that I'll definitely keep in my memory banks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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