Read what Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said after Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals 2015.
CHICAGO -- Here is what Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said after his team's 94-73 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday in Game 6 if the Eastern Conference Semifinals at the United Center.
Two things seemed to get Cleveland going: Mirotic's flagrant foul and Chicago's inability to score to start the third quarter.
Thibodeau: The second quarter was problematic. It's hard to make it up when we get down 14. I thought the defense to start the third was vey good. And then we couldn't score. Give them credit. They played very well. LeBron was unbelievable. He beat us with the pass. Thomposon was a monster on the boards. Congrats to their organization on winning. I'm proud of our guys. We came up short.
Talk about the up and down season.
Thibodeau: We had a lot of injuries. I liked the fight in our guys. It was an u and down year. But hearer was no quit in them. They hung tough. Found a way to win games. We wanted to give our bet shot here. And it didn't work out for us.
Dellevadova scoring 19 is not his usual role. How tough does it make things on you?
Thibodeau: I thought their bench played really well. When you couple their bench along with LeBron, LeBron is going to make you pay. He forces you to put two on him. If you're not quick in your recovery, they're going to get open 3s. They made 12 3s. It's tough to overcome that. Then the rebounding really hurt us.
Did you come out flat in the second quarter and third quarter?
Thibodeau: The second quarter has been a problem for us the whole series. That took a lot out of us. But I thought the fight was there in the third quarter. We had a shot at it again, but we couldn't get it within striking distance. I think we got it down to 10.
What did you see in the second half from Derek Rose?
Thibodeau: It was a long year. The good thing is, I think he's regained his confidence. He had the surgery the second half of the season. I thought he played very aggressively. You gotta remember he hasn't played in three postseasons. Playing in the last five games of the regular season, and getting this experience I think is really good for him. I think he'll have a great year next year. I think he feels really good about where he is. He'd tell you he wants to play better. But he's got a lot of confidence right now in where he is. That was a positive. I thought it was unfortunate Pau got hurt. He had a a terrific season for us. Jimmy you can't say enough about. He was fantastic throughout. He's grown a lot.
Cleveland was 12-27 from 3. They moved the ball well. Your shots were contested. Was that a huge difference?
Thibodeau: We had been shooting the 3 well in the postseason. We haven't in the past couple of gams. Give credit to what they're doing. When you have LeBron out there with Thompson and Shumpert played very well along with Dellevadova. They covered up the line well. It's really what LeBron is doing to you. What he's doing is opening other things for them. If you look at LeBron's line, you say 7-for-23. But he controlled the game. He got them the open 3s. He had 11 assists and a lot of other plays that led to a second pass and a wide open 3. Finishing our defense, we probably could have done a lot better than we did.
Do you expect to be coaching this team next season?
Thibodeau: Yeah. Until they tell me I'm not, I expect to be here. That's the way I'm going to approach it.
What do you think the team needs to get better to get by LeBron?
Thibodeau: It's premature. When a season ends, we like to decompress and take a look at it. To evaluate what is needed moving forward. I don't want to say too much on that right now.
Pau got off to a good start. Talk about his night.
Thibodeau: I want to give Pau a lot of credit. He gave us everything he had. Obviously he was laboring. It speaks a lot as to who he is. He knew the situation we were in. That's what he could give us. He gave us everything he had. He had a terrific season for us.
How will you handle it if other teams approach you in the offseason?
Thibodeau: I haven't even thought about it. Haven't thought about it.
Judge the season for the Bulls?
Thibodeau: Some good, some bad. It's not for me to judge. I have my own thing I'll look at in terms of where we are and the things we accomplished. For the team to stick together is a credit to them. Our starters played in 20 games and less practices than that. It's a credit to them that we were able to do what we did.
Did the distractions and speculation take a toll?
Thibodeau: If you're a pro, it's easy to get sidetracked. You always want to guard against that. If you want to find an excuse you can. If you want to make good you can. There's a lot of adversity. It's the way you look at things. Being mentally tough through adversity is huge. You have to look at it in terms of an opportunity to grow. I thought our team handled that well. Whether it's trade talk or injuries, whatever it might be. You eliminate all that stuff. If you're building the right habits all season long, you don't allow yourself to get distracted.
Derek Rose had no free throw attempts. Your thoughts?
Thibodeau: In general, I think it's tough right now. He's not an easy guy to officiate because of his strength and speed and quickness. I do think there's a lot of contact where he doesn't get calls. And because of his nature he never complains. He doesn't exaggerate contact or complain to officials. When he has a chance to step back, he'll feel good about where he is. He's regained confidence. I think hell be ready to roll going forward.