AROUND the NBA:

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Rick Carlisle: ‘One of the pictures from the 2011 finals was one where Jason Kidd was picking up full court against LeBron James. So, we were going to be full court, we were going to make nothing easy, and we were going to be persistent. We were always going to be there. We had a zone defense that we developed during the previous summer to prepare for that season, and Tim Grgurich was a big part of that. Now, Grg came on board with us that year. You know Grg well, and Grg is, to me, really the godfather of modern player development, and he's just a charismatic figure on a coaching staff. And so, we knew our zone was going to have to give us some help in that series because the matchups just weren't there. We had Peja Stojakovic, who had played well in the previous series against the Lakers, but the matchups were very difficult against Miami, and so the zone had to help us there.’