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GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 24, 2019

Steph Curry

Oakland, California

Q. Getting rest but staying sharp?
STEPH CURRY: We've had experiences like this before. Not this long. I think we had like seven days back in 2017 twice, in between first and second, second and third round. So we kind of understand how you -- one, mentally, you want to refresh, too. Playoffs are demanding, talking about life-and-death, how hard it is to win one game, let alone a series. So if you have time to reset a little bit, take advantage of it, but also, just whatever you need, you know, on a daily -- like scrimmage a little bit, make sure your conditioning is straight, get your listing and body work in. Then you get your skill work in and all that type of stuff. We all kind of have an understanding of what our -- how our body responds and what we need to do and how to also get off your feet knowing that the rest should play to our advantage once the finals start.

Q. How have the scrimmages help you guys keep that sharpness?
STEPH CURRY: I mean, today was the first time. Obviously it was a little sloppy. But that's to be expected. We're still five, six days away from -- six days away, from Game 1. But throughout the scrimmage, you don't have to go 100 percent playoff intensity but you can still focus on the things that, you know, help you win games defensively, like just rotations and switches and all that type of stuff and then offensively, certain play calls we know we're going to run, just try to execute them, even though just got to have fun and compete with it. Obviously want to stay safe and really it's just to make sure, you know, the lungs still work for the finals.

Q. I heard you were a good player again. Have you heard that?
STEPH CURRY: Are you talking about in general or in life or are you talking about today in the scrimmage? That's the word on the street? Don't write it too quick because things can change by next Friday, by tomorrow, you know.

Q. Typically when you're watching basketball, you're watching as a fan, but the Eastern Conference Finals, do you watch from a different pace of play knowing one of the teams -- almost like homework, studying?
STEPH CURRY: For sure. It's a weird experience obviously because you're kind of nitpicking both teams. Studying and obviously you don't know which one you're going to play, but just following this series, it's been pretty interesting. You know, how Toronto has fought back and took the lead in the series, and you know, the game's coming down to last possessions, like most playoff games do. So they have a lot of great talent on both teams.

A lot of similarities, but we have to wait and see who we play.

Q. How has DeMarcus looked in the scrimmages?
STEPH CURRY: He looks good, considering what he's been through in the last year and a half and having not been on the court in almost a month. So he's making strides and obviously conditioning-wise, it's going to be that last step but it seems like in that scrimmage, he had confidence in whatever he was doing, and we work on timing and endurance and all that type of stuff. But he's looked good.

Q. Obviously nobody knows when Kevin is going to be back, but how long do you think it will take if at all, for you guys to catch that rhythm again together as a group with him?
STEPH CURRY: It will be easy. We've been through this before where guys have been out, like 2017 when he went out with his knee injury, and came back right before the playoffs. But we were able to adjust and adapt and honestly, this will be interesting because it is a finals, and just the magnitude of the moment. But we'll definitely rely on just, you know, the trust and understanding that this with K out there, the ball still moves. We have a couple more play calls we can run for him. Defensively we should be able to take it up another notch with his presence. Still keep the energy that we've been playing with and win a championship for sure.

Q. How much and in what ways does Klay's defense impact you?
STEPH CURRY: Same as it always has. He loves those challenges and those opportunities. He has a certain skill set where he can use his length and he's extremely quick for his size, to, you know, guard dynamic point guards or the main scorer in the backcourt, whatever the case is.

So it's obviously -- I mean, to me, a travesty that this is the first year that he's been acknowledged in terms of an All-Defensive Team because of what he does consistently night-after-night. Yeah, he's not racking up crazy amount of steals or blocks or whatever, but his presence is always felt and you could ask anybody who plays -- who plays against him, like you know where he's at at all times. Especially on the ball with him being able to slow down some pretty dynamic scorers in this league, and to your point, yeah, if you have to choose between me and him, you know, who you want guarding a guy, probably would pick him in any stretch. But he takes those challenges on, and is part of like the five-man defense and whatnot, we love to have his back when he's guarding the point of attack for sure.

Q. You guys were frisky, young, hungry and now that's replaced with experience. What are the pros and cons of being where you guys were before, where you're almost like where Milwaukee is to a degree where you're experiencing this stuff, but you want to get out there and show who you are, whereas now you guys, it's almost like you guys do this for a living.
STEPH CURRY: I like this situation a lot better for sure. There's just a confidence, you know, that you've done it before, and you know what it feels like. You know the adrenaline rush, the nervousness, the sense of urgency in the moment. And that -- that -- that accounts for something for sure. We're going through 2014-2015 season, we had all the confidence in the world, but you still don't know what it takes to get over that hump and win a championship.

So I don't think anything surprises us at this point. It's just a matter of can we, you know, rise to the moment. Can we execute.

And even in a situation like last series where we were down pretty much the whole series until, you know, the end of the game, that's because we could keep our composure, like Portland played extremely well and they had guys step up in different moment that is really challenged us. But when it really came down to it, championship mentality took over and we didn't get rattled. And when you haven't been this that situation before, it's a lot harder to do that on a nightly basis.

Q. Kevin was saying that he feels like -- when you hear people talking about him in that way -- what's your reaction --
STEPH CURRY: I feel like for the last three years, everybody has taken their shots at trying to nitpick or break us down or drive a wedge in our team chemistry or our togetherness and whatever the case is, and even this year, it's even been amplified even more with his free agency stuff. Nobody can say anything without it getting scrutinized or criticized or -- nobody can be happy when people are playing well.

That's the part to me that's the most surprising, you know, if it's KD playing well, it's, oh, they are playing a different style and it's not as fun to watch. Or when he's out and we're winning games, it's, oh, are we better, are we more fun, whatever the question is, we hear it all the time.

We're a great team because everybody who puts on a uniform goes out and competes at a high level. We look out for each other. You know, there's a little bit of sacrifice, but the end of the day, it's all about winning and no matter who is on the floor, that's what we're about. So the question before, like when K gets back, are we going to be able to transition? Yeah, because we have that experience and that capability to do so.

But the end of the day, we are one group until we're not. I don't think we're going to let any noise around us -- as frustrating or entertaining or whatever you want to call it is on a daily basis is, break us down in terms of distracting us from what the goal is. That kind of is what it is.

Q. On that note, like what characteristics do you think you and the group have to make sure --
STEPH CURRY: Just what do you care about. Like do you care about winning? Do you care about putting up banners? You don't really have to say much when you show up every day. When we were in Houston, Game 6, I this I Draymond talked about it, too. It was quiet in shoot around, in locker room, and he knew that meant we were locked in and ready to go for that challenge. It wasn't anybody having to go in and make a speech before practice or before a game, like, all right, let's block out the noise, guys (laughter). Not listen to anybody.

Like nobody has to say that. We just show up and play basketball, and you deal with what it means to be a great championship-winning team, because people care about what's going on and want to, you know, want to cover us the way that they do. And that's cool. That's a part of the territory. But if we can just play basketball, and enjoy what we do, then we -- we can keep it simple for ourselves for sure.

Q. Do you think the group enjoys being together as much now as they did a few years ago internally?
STEPH CURRY: For sure. I think at this point, like everybody's lives are a little different, I'll be honest. We've all grown up a little bit. Guys have families. There's kids running around everywhere. So in terms of like how much time you spend outside of the facility or games or whatnot, it might not be as much as it used to.

But in terms of the respect and chemistry and how much fun we have playing basketball at this level, that doesn't change at all. You know, especially in the playoffs when -- there's no better feeling than what we get to experience on a daily basis and we want to keep that going for as long as we can.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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