That's What He Said - @ Cleveland

http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/twhs-20171017-boscle








BRAD STEVENS

RE: On Gordon Hayward’s injury:

“You hurt for him. He’s put in a lot of great work and I thought he had his most comfortable week as far as feeling like he was going to play really well. Now, hopefully we get a full recovery and it’s a tough deal but I guess that’s part of it, the risk of injury. I really feel for him. He’s on an ambulance to the airport right now.”

RE: On bringing the guys back to focus after the injury:

“I didn’t think we were very good in the first half, but I thought that we really came out after halftime and played the way we want to play. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot better. I don’t have any magic words for that, we’re all hurting for him. I’m not going to try and take the human element out of it.”

RE: On Kyrie’s first game back in Cleveland:

“Really hard game for a guy to have to play in, especially the first game of the season. All the emotions that go through it, how he can play at that level is beyond me.”

JAYSON TATUM

RE: On what was said during the injury break:

“We prayed. We prayed for him, for his health, and we just told each other we just have to keep pushing.”

RE: On matching up with Lebron:

“He’s way bigger than I thought. He was way better than I imagined, it’s the reason he is who he is.”

JAYLEN BROWN

RE: On the focus in the second half:

“I feel when you get hit with adversity, there’s two ways you can go, you can go forward or backward. I think tonight we chose to go forward and we played a tough game.”

RE: On his fourth quarter:

“Just come out and play hard and aggressive, try to make some plays happen. Just be competitive, that’s what the Boston Celtics are made of, just come out and play hard.”

TYRONN LUE

RE: On if it was hard to remain focused after Gordon Hayward’s injury:

“It was very difficult. Even though he was from the opposing team, we’re still a fraternity and we’re still brothers. You never want to see anyone get injured or go down like that. I’m not sure of the severity of the injury, but I wish him well. He’s been a great player in this league, an All-Star and a great model citizen as far as the NBA is concerned. So, I just wish him well and hope he gets well.”

RE: On what the team needs to improve on:

“When we got the lead, we started turning the basketball over. We took some bad shots. I thought our pace was really terrible tonight, so I think we have to get in better shape. We have to do a better job of playing hard. Our pace was really slow. To hold a team to 41 percent shooting and they were at 36 or 37 (percent) for a while, and not playing with pace, that’s not good for us. We want to play fast. We want to get up and down the floor. I just thought tonight we settled and played a half-court game.”

RE: On the team’s play down the stretch:

“Down the stretch, I give the team credit. They really executed ATOs down the stretch. We just have to continue to keep building on this. Last year, this is a game we would have lost. Not playing well and beating a good team like the Celtics is a good start for us.”

RE: On the 7-1 run to end the ball game:

“When we came into the timeout, we really locked in and said ‘let’s just take care of the basketball and let’s get good shots’ and we did that. When we got up 18, we relaxed. We let our guards down. If we’re going to be a championship-caliber team, we have to do a better job of putting teams away. We didn’t do that tonight but we came out with the win.”

RE: On Kevin Love being one of the main options:

“He’s been there before. He comes from Minnesota being the go-to guy, finishing games and making big shots. We know he can do that like tonight, a big shot that he made to seal the game. We just put him in some better positions and Kevin delivered tonight.”

DWYANE WADE

RE: On Cleveland playing Boston in the season opener:

“It was emotional from that standpoint. The schedule gods were with the NBA on that one. First of all, just prayers go out to Gordon Hayward and his family. This is a competitive game. We all compete. But it’s a brotherhood at the end of the day and no one wants to see that at all, so our prayers go out to them for a great recovery for him. But this is just a game for us where we try to find out a way to win. This is our third day playing together as a whole group, so we did some good things, we made a lot of mistakes, but we learn from it and move on.”

RE: On LeBron James tonight:

“For a guy who has been out most of training camp to come back and play those minutes he played, hit the shots he did – we lean on him. We’re going to depend on him. This is why he’s one of the greatest to do it. There’s not many people who can do what he’s done. So we went to him down the stretch and he did what LeBron does, and guys just got to be ready to do what is asked when its time – like hitting that three for Kevin Love off the pass from him. So that guy is incredible."

LEBRON JAMES

RE: On the emotions playing against Kyrie Irving tonight:

“Any time you win a championship with someone, you automatically think about the moments and the memories, especially with someone who was instrumental to what we were able to accomplish. But once the ball went up, it was kind of back to our regularly scheduled program.”

RE: On guarding Kyrie Irving for the final shot:

“I just didn’t want to commit the foul and if he made it, he made it. He’s made so many of those tough shots right there, kind of on his sweet spot (at) that right wing, too. So we played well – well enough to win – but obviously we’ve got a lot of room for improvement, both teams. It was good to get a win under the belt though.”

RE: On what was going through his mind after Gordon Hayward’s injury:

“A lot. Like I said postgame with Kristen Ledlow, my thoughts and prayers go out to Gordon and his family – hope for a speedy recovery and a healthy recovery. I’ve seen a couple injuries like that in my lifetime. I’ve seen Paul George when it happened to Paul. I was watching the game with Shaun Livingston when it happened when he was with the Clippers. I was watching NCAA basketball when Kevin Ware was at Louisville. Those are the injuries that you never see coming and you never want to happen, no matter who it is, no mature what the stature, no matter how much competitive nature that you have. It’s just very unfortunate.”

KEVIN LOVE

RE: On how his familiarity with LeBron James played into draining the game-clinching three-pointer:

“Well especially in a situation like that, you know that they’re going to come and double (LeBron). He only played one game in the preseason and he still can pick up his game to a level so much (that) even when he looks a little bit winded, like he never does, he was able to make a huge play. He made big plays all night and though we were a little rusty all the way around, he was able to find not just me but a lot of guys tonight. I was happy I just found myself in the right spot, they went to double him and I knocked it down.”