On the Game: “We (Cleveland Cavaliers) played good solid defense. We stayed in the game for 48 minutes. The only thing I am disappointed in is the fact that we had 22 turnovers. That’s killing our young team because it’s hard to overcome those kinds of mistakes when you’re playing against great basketball teams. I thought in this game they (Miami HEAT) were just too athletic.”
On the turnovers: “Some of them (turnovers) were bad decisions. We (Cleveland Cavaliers) just got to get better at taking care of the basketball. I think right now it’s a matter of a young team that is still not extremely comfortable with one another, and not knowing where everyone should exactly be at all times. Some of the turnovers is because we’re not on the right place on the floor. Those are things that we can definitely take care of. We need to be mindful of what we’re doing; don’t’ make the homerun pass, just make the simple pass. Guys in front of you are wide open. You got to make the simple passes to guys on the perimeter and hope they can make the shots.”
On Alonzo Gee guarding LeBron James: “He (Alonzo Gee) competed. That’s a match-up nightmare for a lot of guys. I thought our guys came out aggressive from the get-go. I thought Alonzo’s athleticism and quickness was something he (LeBron James) had to deal with as well. I thought both those guys competed and played extremely well. We still had a couple of breakdowns, but that’s going to happen during a 48-minute game. I thought we were doing a decent job. You know he’s going to hit some tough shots. He makes some tough shots look easy. We made him take contested jump shots.”
On the game: “We had a really good, hard-fought effort out there. We kind of beat ourselves tonight. We had 22 turnovers and lost by seven points so that is the difference maker in turnovers. We have to limit that (turnovers). I feel that we are in a good spot. Tonight we can hold our heads up because we gave a hard fought effort against a good Miami (HEAT) team.”
“We have to make simple plays and cherish the basketball. Turnovers lose games for us.”
On the game: “I have just been staying ready. This is the story of my NBA journey; staying on the bench, coming in every day and working hard knowing that my turn is going to come.”
“We have a great group of guys. We are still getting used to each other.”
On the game: “We brought help when we needed to (on LeBron James). We tried to make him (LeBron James) work for everything. He is a great player and he is going to get points. We did not want to give him breakaways and easy lay-ups at the basket.”
“The only positive things about it (tonight’s game) is that we competed and played better. We are not satisfied coming out with a loss, but with the last couple games we have played, we competed tonight, and stayed in it and fought. That was positive.”
HEAT HEAD COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA
On the Game: “It wasn’t an altogether smoothly played game. There at the end, regardless of how you get there, we were able to get a handful of stops and then be able to execute some half court offense going down the stretch. Finally, in the last three or four minutes the ball started to move and we were able to connect on either some open shots after some ball movement or able to draw some fouls. We’ll take it; now we have a quick turnaround on this back-to-back. We will probably get in late tonight so our mindset is about doing whatever it takes to have the right energy and focus tomorrow night in Detroit.”
On Chris Bosh stepping up: “He [Chris Bosh] is a very cerebral player. He knows what we need when we need it. He is able to be aggressive. He is also able to allow us to run offense through him. He is able to do it within the context of our normal offense and ball movement. He was able to be aggressive but still able to facilitate our offense tonight; it was important for us.”
On Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers playing together: “They [Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers] did some thing defensively. They were very aggressive and they took away our initial one or two looks. Particularly in the post they were able to stagnate our game a little bit with their activity and some of their traps and get us down to the end of the clock. When we had the two point guards in there we were able to run multiple action sets. It gives us a little more versatility.”
LEBRON JAMES
On Chris Bosh’s play and shooting performance: “I told him that if he was going to work on it in the offseason, you should implement it into a game situation.”
On the game: “I didn’t have a rhythm offensively. I think they did a good job every time I dribbled the ball, they doubled me. That’s when you have to rely on your teammates, and I’m glad I have some real good ones. C.B [Chris Bosh] was able to take care of the offensive load.”
On the HEAT’s back-to-back games: “We have no choice. It is what it is. It’s tough, but you have to mentally prepare yourself.”
On playing the Cleveland Cavaliers: “It’s always going to be an emotional game with me no matter what. Being out there playing along side my old teammates, [we] have a lot of history together. It’s always good to play against them.”
CHRIS BOSH
On his big fourth quarter play: “I was just playing the ball and shooting the ball without hesitation. My teammates found me in the right spots, and I just wanted to make sure I pulled the trigger without hesitating.”
“They kept coming to me and they showed trust in me, and I couldn’t do it without them.”
“I’m really happy for our guys. We’re really sticking with it. This is one of those games we had to overcome.”
“If you put the time in the gym, good things will happen.”
On no hesitation with shooting from the outside: “It’s about having that mental toughness, and not worrying about what happened last, and worrying about what you’re doing right now.”
“I know my shots, I know where I’m going to be, and sometimes you can just see things before they happen. Sometimes the best move is to get that shot up.”
“I’m just trying to play team basketball.”
On gaining confidence with his jumper: “People say don’t fall in love with it, but it loves me, so I love it back.”
“I just take it one game at a time. I don’t worry about how many touches, I don’t worry about how many makes or misses. I don’t worry about anything. I just worry about what’s going on in that point in time.”
“Whatever this team needs me to do, I’m going to do it. We have guys that need to fill specific roles, and that’s what makes a team.”
On the game and the Cleveland Cavaliers tough play on the inside: “They’re a physical team. When that happens you just have to take the challenge and be physical as well and just play strong.”