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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: ROCKETS v WARRIORSMay 19, 2015Shaun LivingstonOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game One Warriors – 110 Q. Shaun, you told me the other night this is why you joined the Warriors. How good does it feel to rise to the occasion in a moment like this? SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Again, this is the furthest that I've been. The opportunity is amazing. Again, just trying to bring energy off the bench. I think our bench has been good all year. We rely on our depth, you know, and again, I just try to come in and do my part. Tonight I was able to make some plays just to help our team kind of get into a run in the second quarter. Q. Shaun, I understand you want to do your part, but tonight you did your part plus. You did a lot. What was going on tonight that you‑‑ you really got off. What was going on that you were able to do that? SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Match‑ups. Match‑ups and my teammates. My teammates were making plays. I was able to hit a couple shots, get going early. But I think we have some of the best playmakers in the NBA. Obviously Steph gets a lot of attention, Klay gets a lot of attention, but Draymond is an underrated passer. I believe he had eight or nine assists tonight. We have multiple guys, Andre Iguodala, we have multiple guys that can hit shots and also put the ball on the floor and make plays for their teammates. Q. This team has such a rep for being tough. To be here but another slow start, how concerned are you about the occasional slow starts we've seen in the Playoffs? SHAUN LIVINGSTON: You know, with the series, sometimes it can be a long series just trying to figure out the other team. I mean, they're coming in, they just played. They have a lot of momentum, rhythm, winning a Game 7, emotional game. They have a lot of players playing well at a high level, hitting shots. Trevor Ariza, another good game for him, Corey Brewer has been good off the bench. They have a lot of confidence, but we‑‑ I think the thing us for us is matching the intensity that they bring as soon as the ball is up. That's kind of what we did with Memphis, not trying to look back, but that was kind of the turning point of that series, and I think this series, as well. We're going to have to match their intensity from the jump because they're capable of going on big runs. Q. Coach Kerr was talking a little bit about the match‑ups when you guys went to the small team and what was going on strategically, but what about just in terms of emotion and intensity? What do you think that that small lineup brought tonight? SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Energy. We came with it. When we go small, it's not necessarily small. You know, we have guys out there that can guard multiple positions. A lot of times Draymond is the center, and he's 6'7", 6'8", but we're all covering each other. We're able to cover a lot of ground defensively, switch, and help each other out. And from there it's just feeding off the crowd. Oracle, you guys heard it tonight, it was rocking. We went on that run, that was a big run for us, it gave us a lot of momentum, and it can also be intimidating for the other team. Q. In 10 seasons you've only been in the Playoffs three times and this is the farthest you've gotten. How much fun is this and are you going to have any time tomorrow to enjoy it and what it was like a couple years ago, five years ago and your run in the Playoffs at this point? SHAUN LIVINGSTON: Not yet. Not yet. It's been a great journey for me and I'm definitely grateful and I'm enjoying the moment, but at the same time we're focused on the next game. That's really what this is about. They're a good team. They're going to come back and throw their punch at us the next game, as well. We have to be ready. Q. Shaun, you guys did a really good job early of turning Harden into more of a distributor. Does it always feel against that guy that he's going to catch fire at some point? SHAUN LIVINGSTON: He can. The type of shots that he was hitting, that's a top‑five player in this league. There's only a few players in this league that can hit those shots consistently, and he was doing it consistently. We kept telling Klay good defense, because the way that he was guarding him, those are the shots that we wanted him to take. It was also keeping some of the other players out of the game, and so we know he can get hot. We know he's going to get some numbers and make some shots, but the key is making it hard for him, making it tough, trying to wear him down, and over a seven‑game series it gets harder and harder. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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