Hey, Cavs fans! It’s Tristan Thompson, checking in with my first Playoff blog – at least for this season.
First, I should say that my first season back in Cleveland has been everything that I expected. I’m so happy to be back. Cleveland always feels like home. It feels good to be back in the gym with people that I've been around, some since I was drafted back in 2011 – especially guys like George (Sibel), Steve (Spiro), DV (Dan Vincent), D. Mill (Derek Millender) and Big Dan (Geriot). All those guys have been around since day one. They’re like family.
I also appreciated the fans calling for me to see action in Game 2 when the Cavs were pulling away late. I always appreciate the love and support, but I want to get in the game when it matters, not when we’re up 20. I’m not Tacko Fall.
Heading to Orlando for Games 3 and 4, we need to go down there and be greedy and do what we’re supposed to do – win both games on the road. We’ve all heard that the Playoffs don’t start until team wins on the road. So, that has to be our mindset going in. We have to be ready to play.
The series has been chippy right from Game 1, and even some of our young guys are getting into it. I think that's a byproduct of guys like myself, Marcus, Max, and Georges just being guys that are chippy players. We’re probably the only four players on the team that got technical fouls this year. So, it's good.
It’s good having Georges around. He’s even more vocal than I am out here. It’s good, though. You don't want me to be the only one talking, because it could fall on deaf ears. It's good when we can play off each other.
But that’s the way it’s going to be against a physical team like Orlando. That's their identity. They're a byproduct of Jamal Mosey, who was an assistant coach my first year here with Byron Scott. So, I know his mentality is being tough dudes and hitting people in the mouth. Because at the end of the day, I know what he believes in. He believes if you play hard, playing hard always beats talent.
So, we’ve got to match that, because I believe we’re more talented, we just got to play more rough and tough.
This isn’t that different from my first Playoff experience. That first time, we played against a Celtics team that finished 7th in the East. They had Brandon Bass, who was a physical player, Evan Turner, Avery Bradley, Jay Crowder, Isaiah Thomas. So, we knew that they were a hardnosed team. And they were young as well, some up-and-coming talent. But we knew they played hard, right? So, we knew we had to do the exact same thing: match their intensity.
By the time you reach the postseason, everyone is banged up a little bit. But you’ve got to play through it. We're all sore, we're all nicked up.
But like I tell guys: if you play enough years in the NBA, you'll never be a hundred percent the rest of your life. That's it. As you go in your career, you'll start at 90 percent and by the time you retire, you'll be at 50. So, you just play through it and give the best you got.
Orlando has good size, but our big guys are doing the work right now, especially Jarrett.
Jarrett has answered the bell this series Especially after last year. He was criticized a lot. People might have questioned him, but he's definitely answered the call. He's been the best big in the series so far, but he needs to be the best big in the series.
I tell him before every game: You're the best big on the floor tonight. Now go show everyone why you're the best big on the floor tonight. That's what he's been doing. And we're going to need that more now than ever on the road.