‘They Have Incredible Scorers!’ Erik Spoelstra on James Harden, Kawhi Leonard And Clippers

‘They Have Incredible Scorers!’ Erik Spoelstra on James Harden, Kawhi Leonard And Clippers

Back to that point and then what happened in your view after that point yeah it uh I think we’re on our way you know to very good defensive game I mean this game would have had to we would have had to really win this thing in the

Mud um but the way it was trending going into that fourth and um it felt like we could have you know held them you know to mid90s um you know way under their average you know at least 20 under their average um I think the game really turned in the

Fourth quarter when we started fouling uh and it’s a tough team not uh to to foul I mean they have professional scores and professional foul drawers uh and they you know three straight times uh Drew fouls um and then got into the penalty early and then continued to draw fouls and and that

Just created that separation you know when it was it was back and forth and uh it takes incredible focus and discipline you know to not foul him I’m not even you know you know if you if you’re too aggressive they just really know how to draw fouls 30 feet away from the basket

Um and then Harden obviously hit those you know threes and the and uh um you know the moment momentum shifting three where we fouled them on on that step back on the right uh corner or right uh Wing um and then from there it became a double digit game we were just never

Able to really claw back uh you know into it it would have you know at that point once we got down 10 we probably would have needed to knock down some threes uh you know get some relief baskets uh from there but we weren’t able to do that and then um you know

That that was pretty much the story uh you know in the fourth on the other side of that you guys got to the line 12 times low number for you guys but was that a something you guys didn’t do or just a good defense by them yeah you

Know I don’t know um there were probably like a handful I’m sure they say the same thing I thought there was probably four or five on on Jimmy or bam that I I felt you know could have been a foul uh my vivly remember one Jimmy’s spin in

The first half where he got like knocked off the block and um that was a very makeable shot but the only reason he missed it is because he got hit uh on it um but you know they do a very good job of that you know they can kind of

Flatten you out and you have to be really intentional on how you’re creating some kind of Advantage uh and even if you have an advantage they have some length and and guys that have really good hands uh you know so I think you know we

Probably would have had to to make a few more shots offensively um and you know there were some good looks this thing was going to have to be in the mud and and you know I just would have liked to have seen what would happen if we didn’t

Have those fouls uh early in the for fourth quarter and some of the bailout fouls and and see if that could have been a three four five-point game you know going to those last three minutes the fouls late aside and and some of their Star level shots that they

Made what are you seeing in the defense now that maybe you weren’t seen a week ago well there’s a lot more connectivity our guys are really committed you know to doing some some tough things uh in this league and even as is uh you know the 103 points uh that’s you know

Whatever 15 points under their average uh that shows what we’re capable of it’s three straight games you know holding teams 10 plus points under their average uh and you’re only doing that if you’re you know really rallying around each other rallying around multiple efforts rallying around doing a lot of

Tough things um you know defensively and that’s our identity uh you know and that’s how we’re going to you know try to win games right now while we’re getting everybody uh in a rhythm and and figuring out you know what what’s best plan is offensively to to that end

Obviously he’s going to take a degree of scoring also obviously without Tyler and especially without Duncan’s three-point shooting it’s a different kind of game when whole now do you feel you’re getting any closer to you getting to the scoring totals that are almost mandatory in the league this yeah yeah we do so

You know um it it’ll happen guys we get in in Rhythm the you know I don’t think this is going to be a 130 Point game uh but I think we had some very makeable shots uh in that second half and you know the guys uh you know are

Disappointed about that but that’s you know you you can’t control that whether the ball’s always going in you just control whether you’re getting shots in your wheelhouse um there are some things offensively we can do with better pace and and better intention um that’s not exclusive to us and and we’ll work on

That and we’ll get better GP mg Mix Sports media Terry poured in 17 tonight and with Tyler out he was a bit more aggressive what does that look like for you guys when Terry’s aggressive how’ you feel about that today yeah we want him to be aggressive

We want him to be him and everybody they saying the same thing and uh he’s he’s very respectful of everybody in the locker room but uh we’re better you know with his aggressiveness for sure all right thank you

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra speaks to media after Heat lose against James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Los Angeles Clippers. Heat postgame interview. Heat game today.