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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: PELICANS v WARRIORSApril 20, 2015Stephen CurryKlay ThompsonOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Two Warriors – 97 Q. Klay, your fourth quarter, was that just in the realm of the offense? It seemed like you seemed to see something you could do off the bounce. You were able to get close to the paint a couple times and rise up. Was that just in the flow of the offense? KLAY THOMPSON: It was. I wasn't going out there trying to force anything. I was just trying to get a great shot if I was open, and I was moving well without the ball, and moving from side‑to‑side, and happened to catch me in rhythm, and I do what I do best. Q. What does Draymond bring to this team, especially when you guys are struggling, and he kind of brought something to get you guys through in that fourth quarter? What does he bring for you? STEPHEN CURRY: He's a gamer. He finds different ways to impact the game. Obviously we know he's going to defend at a high level, whoever his match‑up is and make some plays that won't show up on the stat sheet that kind of get the crowd into it, just bring some life into us out on the floor. He just always finds a way to be in the mix. There is no teaching that. He just has a NCAA for it. He's shown that since his rookie year, and obviously in big games like tonight, that's huge that you can rely on him to be ever present on the court. Q. Klay, we've seen you all season, when you have one game that's below your standard, the next game you typically come back. What was your mindset tonight in this game? KLAY THOMPSON: I didn't want to change much other than cut down on my turnovers, and I thought I did a good job of that. Just continue to play both ends hard and trust the offense and play unselfish. If I do those things, it's tough to stop. Q. You guys are obviously aware that you're going to get every team's best shot. New Orleans came out tonight with a little more resolve. How do you expect things to be once you get to New Orleans? STEPHEN CURRY: This is the playoffs. We talked about that during the regular season. Whether we were at home or on the road we knew we were going to get everybody's best shot. But you expect that in the playoffs. It's win or go home. So the grind it out kind of feel that these games here, and you expect it's going to be the exact same thing if not tougher in New Orleans. I'm sure they've got some life being at home, feeling their home crowd. It will be a big swing game, if we can go down and take care of Game 3, that's a huge momentum builder for us to seize control of the series. So we want to come out in the first part of that game and hopefully set the tone. We know it's not going to be easy regardless of how well we play. Q. Does winning a game like this, when you didn't necessarily play your best game the whole game, does that give you more confidence for the rest of the series moving forward? KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, it gives us confidence, but we know we're not going to shoot a high percentage every night. We know we're going to have turnovers or lapses. But it's the defense that won us the game tonight. It's our guys down low, Draymond and Andrew, and the guys on the bench who really carried us. That's who we've been relying on the whole year. That's why we have the best defense in the NBA. Q. I was going to ask you in the second quarter, did the second‑string bench guys come in and give you good lift? You seemed to be playing with energy and efficiency. STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, they changed the game. The first unit, we played hard. We just couldn't find a way to kind of seize the momentum. It might have been a double digit‑‑ I think 9 or 10‑point deficit. And they came in, and Mo Speights didn't give them much time last game. He came in and made some huge plays and knocking down a couple jumpers. Finally the guys that were open, once they reacted to him on the floor, and Shaun came in and made a huge impact on the game as well. Even in the second half down the stretch, just making plays. Everybody on the bench was ready and knew that they didn't have their best game in Game 1. In the playoffs everybody has to be up for that task of taking advantage of their minutes on the floor because you don't know how each game's going to go and where your points are going to come from and things like that. That's why we're so good, I think because it's such a well‑balanced effort night‑in and night‑out. Q. Steph, you didn't mention Barbosa too? STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, I forgot. Well, LB, he knows. He knows how he played. He was talking about himself in the locker room. So shout‑out to LB. Q. Just going to ask about Barbosa. What do you see from a veteran like that that's done if for so long? That continues to come through in big moments? STEPHEN CURRY: Just he's ready for the moment. We talk about his career and the games he's played in and kind of getting prepared for hopefully where we're going to be in a couple of weeks. And he's the guy that's been the farthest in the playoffs. This is nothing new for him. It's probably a different role, but the energy and atmosphere and just how he is preparing for every night is the same. The way he came in and got it to quick bucket and was able to attack and get in the paint was huge as we needed that punch off the bench. Q. Steph and Klay, for the first time in three years you guys are the favorites in an NBA playoff series. Does it feel different out there? And now that there is some room for error, are you guys confident you can play with a sense of urgency in Game 3? KLAY THOMPSON: I don't think it feels any different. Just because when you step out there, it's still the same, loud, amazing atmosphere. It honestly feels great to be back. It's what we all wait for all year and work for in the playoffs. There is a sense of urgency going down to New Orleans because we love to have a cushion coming off Game 3. The quicker you win, the more rest you're going to get, so you can use that for motivation. It's just you want to win every game, it's that simple. Q. Both of you guys, after playing together for a few years and playoff runs like this, can you sense when one or the other is going well from the field shooting and you want to get the other guy the ball? Is it sort of a thing that trades off during the game sometimes? STEPHEN CURRY: I think everybody saw the Sacramento game. What was it last week, the regular season? You got to remember the good games, man. KLAY THOMPSON: Grizzlies. STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, a situation like that where it's just ridiculous out of your mind, and you obviously can feel the ball every possession. But in other situations, I think the beauty of the offense, like you talked about in the fourth quarter, it wasn't really a play call for him. It was just get into our motion offense, and our bigs had great screens for us coming off down screens or moving the ball from side‑to‑side. Then when he gets it in the sweet spot it's just him making plays. That's deadly because everybody is in attack mode whether you're getting to your spacing spots or trying to get downhill or in the paint or what have you, you move the ball and somebody's going to finish the play. He did a great job of that all night, especially down the fourth quarter down the stretch. So you get comfortable having played with each other for a while to just have confidence in everybody's ability to go out and make plays. Q. It seems like every year, every series we're talking about the grabbing and the holding and how teams play you physical. Is it comfortable for you because it happens so much, or does it get frustrating out there? STEPHEN CURRY: I expect it and you just play through it. Hopefully I'll continue to try to find ways to counteract it and still get to my spots. But within games you can't waste energy and effort worrying about that and plays going back and forth. You still have to try to make an impact on the game and not rely on refs to bail you out of certain situations. I hope to get calls and we're going to keep being aggressive, but you can't really worry about it in games. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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