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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT v BULLS


May 16, 2011


Carlos Boozer


CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day

CARLOS BOOZER: We can play better. They'll come out looking to score more points. Better defense. They'll play better. We expect them to play better. But we feel like we can play better too.

Q. Do you think -- Ilgauskas and Dampier being inactive, they obviously chose to go small. Do you expect maybe they are going to switch that for Game 2 to offset the rebounding?
CARLOS BOOZER: I have no idea. I think -- like I said, we expect them to play very much better. We expect to play better as well.

Q. What did you think of Taj's game last night?
CARLOS BOOZER: Phenomenal. He was a monster last night. He's been a monster all season long for us. The two dunks he had were inspiring. His defense was great last night as well. But his two dunks were something special.

Q. Can you tell a little more about the bench, the so-called bench mob and the impact they have had on this team?
CARLOS BOOZER: They're one of the reasons we're here. All season long they've been great, from the beginning of training camp all the way to now. Our second unit comes in. Most of the time they usually extend the lead or at least keep it even. So for us it's less pressure we have. Our best mob is phenomenal.

Q. Playing that kind of defense, maybe you have had trouble with that the first two series. How can you come back now and play at that level again?
CARLOS BOOZER: It's the way we've been playing all season. We played great defense all year. We've been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in defense all year. We do what we always do.

Q. Do you think LeBron's tough shooting night was your defense?
CARLOS BOOZER: I thought Luol did a great job on him. Made him take tough shots. Tried to take away the paint as much as possible. He's a good player. He makes tough shots. Don't get me wrong. He's one of them guys that can make tough shots in this league. We were fortunate last night.

Q. Not being on the all-defensive team, you guys not being favored to win this series, feels like you guys are not getting a lot of respect.
CARLOS BOOZER: I think it's normal for us. We've been the underdog all season. We didn't have this many cameras during the training camp or during the season. We're used to that role.

Q. How much fun is this for you personally --
CARLOS BOOZER: It's fun. Fun. This is what we've all came for. We came to win. We did a great job last night and we look forward to the next game.

Q. How do you avoid an emotional letdown?
CARLOS BOOZER: We won't have an emotional letdown. We're ready. We've been ready all season. We're pumped up. We're excited. If you can't get excited for this, what are you playing for? We're not going to have that.

Q. You're not playing until Wednesday. Do you wish you were playing tomorrow to keep it going?
CARLOS BOOZER: We would like to play every day. It's good to be able to look at the tape, look at the films, look at the mistakes we made, try to improve on that. And we'll be ready for Game 2. They will too. It will be a great game.

Q. Carlos, you know LeBron. You know how good he is. Do you think he'll come out with even more of a vengeance?
CARLOS BOOZER: He's a great player. We look forward to playing against him again. It's a great matchup for our team and a great challenge.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
CARLOS BOOZER: He's awesome. He's been great. He's so emotional, phenomenal. That's what makes him who he is. With a guy with an injury like that, you don't settle for a guy like that with his injury. (Indiscernible).

Q. (Indiscernible)?
CARLOS BOOZER: Just works. It's help defense at that time where everybody helps. The person who has the ball plays as tough as they can. There's a lot of good one-on-one players on the team. Every position is a challenge. Our job is to help on the weak side and do a good job of guarding the man we're guarding. We help. We help each other.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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