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NBA FINALS PREVIEWJune 1, 2015Stephen CurryQ. You missed a tee time today I heard? STEPHEN CURRY: Oh, I did. I did. Q. Is that something you were looking forward to? STEPHEN CURRY: No, it was kind of a back‑door plan in case I had a free Monday. But I happily passed my yardage book on to somebody else. Q. You started a baseball turf war going across the bay to watch the Giants. STEPHEN CURRY: Did I? Q. Did you see that? Josh Reddick tweeted it was a punch to the gut or something? STEPHEN CURRY: That I went to a Giants game? Q. Yes. STEPHEN CURRY: Oh, well. (Indiscernible). Just the chemistry that we've built over the last three or four years to get ourselves to this point, so I'm going to keep riding that wave. You want to have a hundred percent confidence in your abilities going into a series like this when all you need is four wins to get a championship. Q. How are you going to play better than you have in the last, say, week or two? STEPHEN CURRY: Have I played? Q. In your NBA career. STEPHEN CURRY: I've probably had better individual games, but when you talk about the moment and the stakes that we're playing for, there is nothing like playing well at this time of the year. So even if I scored less points, less assists, less stats and we're still winning and I'm still having a part in that, I would still feel better about these games than I would about career highs or whatever during the regular season. So this is a fun time and you want to be ready for the moment. Q. How will you miss Alvin Gentry going forward after this series? STEPHEN CURRY: He's a great offensive mind that has inspired us to kind of dig deep in our skillsets to expand our offense. So I think New Orleans has made a great hire to hopefully get them to another level. But we're going to take advantage of his mind in the next two weeks before he leaves. Q. Steph, who do you credit from taking your game from an All‑Star to an MVP level? STEPHEN CURRY: God, and a lot of coaches that have inspired me along the way. But it's all a part of the process of like taking bits and pieces from different personalities and characters that you come across. They all have‑‑ ever since my college‑‑ my high school years, basically, everybody's had a piece of that. So it's not one specific person individually that takes all the credit. It's kind of you learn every single day, be coachable, and just find different ways to challenge yourself and get better. Q. (Indiscernible) as the game heats up. You had a serious fall, Klay had a serious fall. Is that in the back of your mind as the game gets more physical? STEPHEN CURRY: No, you're going to get bumps and bruises along the way. Obviously, you don't want to have scenarios like I had in Houston and Klay had at home in Game 5. We don't want to have concussions and near concussions and all that stuff. But you expect to have, like I said, bumps and bruises that you've got to deal with on a day‑to‑day basis, because the games are physical. The intensity is at a high level and you've just got to play through it and do whatever you can in between games and in between series to refresh yourself and get ready. But I don't think there's‑‑ it's going to take something catastrophic or something crazy to keep any of us out at this point in the season. Because, like I said, we've got a maximum seven games left, so you've got to give it all you've got. Q. What was it like for you and your Davidson teammates to see LeBron come out to your games and kind of root you on at that young age? STEPHEN CURRY: It was cool because, like I said, we didn't get any spotlight or attention or anything like that. Go to Ford Field for your Sweet 16 game and our whole section had like The Witness shirts, but they were like red and white. Kind of a tag line off his old tag line, and he shows up to the game sitting about three or four rows behind our bench. So you obviously are worried about the game, but you kind of know who is sitting behind you. Then the next, two weeks after that game we went to see him play against the Bobcats when they were in Charlotte, and I actually got‑‑ that was the first time I met him. (No Audio) Vladimir Radmanovic and Stephen Jackson trade so we were kind of in a little chaotic state as a team and didn't have a real identity, and I was a rookie. I was just trying to find my way. And after the game he kind of pulled me off to the side on the court and gave me a little nugget of just you've got to have tunnel vision in a situation like I was in. To always find a way to get better every single day despite the circumstances that are around you. Because it's a league with so many ups and downs and it's a roller coaster ride of a career that you're probably going to have. The one thing that you can control is your energy, effort, and kind of focus on getting better every single day. Then just try to find a way to become your style of a leader. He said you'll last a lot of years in this league if that is the one thing that you focus on. So a good tidbit of information that I had as I went through that crazy rookie year. Q. Do you remember when you first heard that you guys were born in the same hospital? What's it mean sort of the crazy coincidence in how you guys are MVPs, and you meet in the Finals? STEPHEN CURRY: I don't remember what emotions I had when I heard it, but I probably just thought it was funny. Every time I looked at my birth certificate it says Akron, Ohio. I think I was there for maybe six months when I was born, so it's not like I remembered anything about it. But every time growing up as a kid, I grew up in Charlotte, and you can look at my birth certificate and say Akron, Ohio, and you say, oh, yeah, I'm from Akron. Fast forward how you hear about LeBron and where he's coming from and all that Akron was kind of thrown out everywhere. So I feel somewhat of a connection to it, but that's about it. Q. I have a question for you. Has Riley's popularity surpassed your own? STEPHEN CURRY: In the Bay Area, for sure. When we go out now they're all asking where she's at. Like little girls‑‑ we went to Toys 'R' Us the other day and little girls asking their dad can they talk to Riley because they saw her on TV and all that kind of stuff. So it was fun. Riley has no idea what's going on, so we like it like that. Just keep letting her be the fun little girl growing up. Q. How does your wife deal with having two stars in the household? STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, I know. She's got her own thing going on too. It's fun. We all kind of laugh and joke about it. You scroll through the TV and you might see something Pop up or see Riley yawning in my lap on the podium and all that kind of stuff, or I'll see Ayesha doing her cooking segments and all that kind of stuff. So it's kind of just a lot of back and forth going on, and joking and poking at each other because it's a fun time. You want to enjoy it and appreciate just the personalities I've got in my family. Q. Is it ever kind of strange to look over at the broadcast table and see Mark Jackson there? Is it kind of awkward that he's been sitting there kind of watching this whole thing? STEPHEN CURRY: Not really. I think the two regular season games he did it was very weird. Especially that first one, I remember we played Cleveland, and it was kind of a little mini build up to that game because you knew he was going to be coming back. But other than that, I think past those two games it was kind of been somewhat normal. I don't really think about the connection of last year as much, just because we're so wrapped up in the here and now. We've obviously talked all year about how important he was to changing our identity as a team and organization, and what he did for us those three years. Obviously we still believe in that. But we're about this year and kind of moving forward. So I think it's a healthy kind of situation to be looking ahead and worrying about what's going on right now. Q. How surreal is it? STEPHEN CURRY: Oh, my gosh, dude. (Laughing). Q. Is it surreal yet that you're in the NBA Finals? Has it hit you yet? STEPHEN CURRY: No, it will probably hit me during the warm‑ups of Game 1. This week is weird because you're just kind of sitting and waiting. You know you're one of two teams left, but until you get into the arena and get those jitters out, I don't think it will hit yet. So we're preparing and everybody's focused and everybody's ready to go. But we've still got three days to get this build‑up going. Like Luke and Coach Kerr were saying in their experiences playing in The Finals, that it will be different going to the arena and just the scene and the environment, and just the excitement all around Oracle. But once the game starts, it will feel normal. So try to keep your composure as much as you can leading up to tip off and just play your game. Q. You talked about it being weird. Have you totally shutoff from social media and watching television? STEPHEN CURRY: Pretty much. I've had Twitter gone since, I think the end of the first round. I don't really read any stories or anything like that. I mean, my family likes to watch Sportscenter and all that stuff or watch whatever's on TV. So you might happen to pass by it. But for the most part I'm kind of shut off from all the noise and distractions and just try and enjoy yourself as you get ready for a big series. Q. How do you calm yourself down before a key game like Game 1 being that this is a new experience being in the Finals? STEPHEN CURRY: You've just got to approach it like the normal routine you set up all season long. You've got to rely on that. To not change anything, not to overexcite yourself or just‑‑ I don't know what I'll feel when I walk in the arena. There is no preparing yourself for that. But I'm going to have the same routine from the time it comes to shootarounds, to the time I go home, to the time I go to the game. That should be able to calm myself down. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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