"At the end of the day, one team's gotta get to four wins, right? Obviously, we'd like to have Game 1, but you just gotta watch film and move on to the next one. There's a new game in two days, so we got another chance to win."
Everyone needs to simply be better.
Kyrie Irving on defending a player like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander without fouling: "I'm going to show my respect and say that he's a great player. But tonight, in the first half, there wasn't really a rhythm for a lot of players out there. It was a lot of slow down, watching free throws being taken, and adjusting to the way the game was being called. It felt like a regular season game tonight, in my perspective. I don't speak for anyone else, but I think it was like a regular season game because we came off a very physical series against the LA Clippers, then we had some fouls called, and some of them may have been fouls or a majority of them. But as a competitor, you want the flow of the game to feel like the playoffs, with high physicality. It just feels better. It's all about adjustments. It's about continuing to stay positive through some of the runs they make and being mature about who we're going against - a good team that's shown it all year. They have a starting five with a plus-minus through the roof and one of the top defenses. So, we'll give them credit, but we have to come into game two ready and prepared."
.
