“How do you judge this convincing victory in match 1?
We wanted to be the team that puts pressure on their opponents, especially since they had won all their matches 1 (during the first three laps), when we had lost two. We started very slowly for five or six minutes. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope saved us a bit in this first quarter with his two three-point baskets and it woke us up in both attack and defense. You can’t afford to start like that against a team that can take three-point fire, go to the free throw line and attack the paint. It feels good to win this first game, but we are not satisfied. We didn’t like the way the match ended. It was not the mindset of a champion. We must progress from this point of view.
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You said you were nervous before the game.
Just because it’s the finale. It’s the first time I’ve experienced it and we definitely want to get on the pitch, play well and win. I always put a lot of pressure on myself and had felt the same way before Game 1 of the conference final. Afterwards, once the ball is thrown, it vanishes and it’s just basketball. There is excitement and the adrenaline goes up right away. It was a great experience.
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Two-thirds of your shots (14 of 21) were caught in the paint. Is it wanted?
I especially wanted to bring a lot of energy, to be aggressive especially in painting, to play in an area to dunk, with ” Bron ” (LeBron James), ”Do” (Rondo Region) and ‘AC’ (Alex Carusso) who attack the circle and can slide balloons easy. I didn’t want to settle for half-distance shots, the goal was to go into the paint and dominate. It was my state of mind before the game. “
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