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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CAVALIERS vs CELTICS

May 25, 2018

Tyronn Lue

Cleveland, Ohio: Game Six

Q. Obviously being down 3-2 in the series is tough, but is there anything you like about a moment like this, facing elimination? Maybe just what you're looking for from various players or anything like that?
TYRONN LUE: I like that we've been playing good defensively. I know we can shoot the ball better. We haven't shot it extremely well on the road. But in this series, Games 3 and 4, we really shot the ball well, moved bodies, played with a pace and a speed. I like our chances at home shooting the ball better, and I like that we've been playing defense. We've been guarding those guys pretty good. Now we've got to score.

Q. Now that you're separated a little bit from Game 5, how much did them starting [Aron] Baynes interfere with your primary objective of stopping [Al] Horford?
TYRONN LUE: We still kept Tristan [Thompson] on Horford. But I thought Baynes gave them a physicality, rebounding the basketball, protecting the lane, protecting the paint. He did a good job keeping Tristan off the glass. I think [Marcus] Morris guarding him, Tristan was able to kind of control the paint. It was a good job by coach [Brad] Stevens to insert him.

Q. When you're facing elimination, it might be like a natural tendency to pour over every frame of film, drill every play, every scheme. But you cut everyone loose fairly quickly this morning. Was that kind of reverse psychology to try to keep everyone -- I guess what was the thought behind going really fast this morning?
TYRONN LUE: Get off our legs, save our legs. We know what we're doing. It's the sixth game. We've been doing it for two weeks now, so guys know what we have to do. Just went through the walk-through. No extra running today, no extra shooting. They got their shots up on their own and got out.

Q. Do you have any sort of sense of where this team's mindset is, not only just for Game 6 but also just kind of coming back home here?
TYRONN LUE: The guys feel good. I think we're very confident. We lost a tough game. We let it get away from us in Game 5. But coming home, we've played well. The crowd has been great. The fans have been great. The guys feel pretty good coming back home for Game 6.

Q. We had Richard Jefferson on today and I was asking him what's the difference when J.R. [Smith] is playing well offensively versus when he's not. He said if we knew that in that locker room, I would tell Ty Lue before we took off for TV. Do you have an answer for that?
TYRONN LUE: When J.R. comes out with the mindset that he's going to shoot the basketball and be aggressive, he plays well. When he's shooting the ball well, we tend to win. We're going to need his three-point shooting. We need his aggressive -- being able to take his shots, and we'll live with that. He'll be good tonight.

Q. You've coached him for such a long time now. What do you do on a game day to try to get out the J.R. version that you want?
TYRONN LUE: I've been around so long that you have a bad shootaround, you say, Oh, we're going to get blown out -- and we win by 30. Or we have the best walk-through we ever had -- and then we lose by 30. You can never tell with this league and these guys. They are who they are, and they perform at a high level. I'm not worried about J.R. for tonight.

Q. How much more have you attended to defense and defensive matchups in this series maybe than you did in the two previous series? It seems like that's gotten more of your attention, that you put the priority there, even though you guys have often outscored other teams.
TYRONN LUE: I think with this team, they have five guys that are live. Baynes played the first five minutes, but you have Morris, you have [Jayson] Tatum, you have [Jaylen] Brown, you have [Terry] Rozier and you have [Al Horford]. So all those guys are live off the dribble. They put you in different positions. I think when you're playing against All-Stars and superstars, you can trap and double-team one or two of their players and kind of take the other guys out of the game. But with this team, they have five guys that can pass, shoot and dribble. So it makes it kind of tough.

Q. How do you compare how this series played out thus far versus your expectations coming into the series?
TYRONN LUE: I knew it would be a tough series. Like I said, they're well-coached. Brad does a good job of getting the most out of his players. They have a lot of guys who are playing with something to prove, and they're talented. When you have something to prove and you play hard and you're talented, that's a great combination. His team is young. They play hard. They're very talented. We expect to go seven games, and so now we're at home with a chance to tie it up 3-3 and go to Boston on Sunday.

Q. I know you have your hands full with what's going on here, but you said the other night you didn't watch the one Houston-Golden State game. I wonder if you've kept your eye on that series and if you're surprised where it sits.
TYRONN LUE: Not surprised. I think Golden State has had a great team for the last four years. Even with Houston having the best record, I don't think a lot of people expected them to be up. But [Mike] D'Antoni has done a great job with that team. Adding CP [Chris Paul]. Adding toughness with P.J. Tucker and [Luc] Mbah a Moute. [James] Harden playing at an all-time high. A lot of people are surprised, but I'm pretty sure if you asked the Houston fans and the Houston team and the organization, they're not surprised. They did a good job putting that team together, and they're playing well.

Q. You're down 3-2 and Golden State is down 3-2, and both have been to three straight Finals. Is there a drag or an exhaustion of just doing this every single year that eventually catches up with you?
TYRONN LUE: It can be tough, but you've got to be mentally tough. If you want to win, that's what it takes. Nothing is easy, and we understand that. I'm pretty sure Golden State understands that. But Rudy Tomjanovich said, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion." Until we're dead in our grave, until Golden State is dead in their grave, it's not over. I'm pretty sure both teams are thinking that way.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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