LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 3, 2020

Kawhi Leonard

Postgame Press Conference

Clippers 120, Nuggets 91

Q. A big focus offensively was stopping the Jokic and Murray pick-and-roll, limiting them to 27 points tonight. What did you think you did well defensively against those two?

KAWHI LEONARD: Just trying to contest their shots, staying in front of them. I thought we did a great job of that, and you know, the other defenders, as well that, wasn't in the action, they were on help-side defense, just that's it, you know, but that team went through a seven-game series, and I'm sure they will come back more prepared for Game 2.

Q. You've been incredibly steady so far in the playoffs. You and Michael Jordan are the only players since the merger to score at least 29 points in the first seven games of the playoffs. Can you talk about your steadiness, like how important it is to you to be consistent? Doc said it felt like the team's intensity, it's almost like the team didn't arrive until Game 4 against Dallas. What did you see tonight as far as you guys being locked in?

KAWHI LEONARD: You know, we're just trying to win the basketball game any way I can. I've been very fortunate to make shots up to this point. You know, mindset is going in, playing defense, the whole unit. You know, starting with our first shooting, we've got to go out there, play defense and you know, we could get what we want on the only end.

But that's our main focus going out there and I think, you know, Dallas is a great scoring team, and we felt like if we could get stops, we could win the series. So we've got to keep carrying that over.

Q. Throughout your career, the game started to evolve into the three-point line more, but you've made an emphasis to hit the mid-range shot at a high clip. Why have you focused on that shot and why are you so consistent on it?

KAWHI LEONARD: Just working on it, working on my game, being confident in my shot, and that's pretty much it. Just trying to get to my spots. I'm pretty much focused on all the areas in my game, but I'm able to get to my spots right now and make shots.

Q. What did you think of Marcus's performance tonight?

KAWHI LEONARD: He did a good job playing defense, rebounding the ball, doing a great job on the switches. You know, he made shots tonight, some big ones early that boosted our confidence and gave us the lead.

So he's very consistent.

Q. With your experience, what advice do you give your teammates --

KAWHI LEONARD: You know, I'm not a guy that, you know, talks about what I've done on different teams. It's just about now. But just giving them, you know, some thoughts, like when things do come up, it's about this year and how we can be better as this year's team.

So you know, I guess just taking from what I've seen in the past and just trying to make us be, you know, as consistent as we could be, and you know, just trying to keep our focus and just having us be relaxed out there.