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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: ROCKETS v WARRIORSMay 27, 2015Harrison BarnesOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Five Warriors – 104 Q. Harrison, when Klay went down did you feel like you needed to add some offense to what was going on out there? Was that just kind of part of the flow of the game for you? HARRISON BARNES: I was just trying to be aggressive. Obviously they were putting a lot of attention on Steph. It was good to see Klay get it going last game. Obviously when he went down, I was just trying to fill in the pieces. Felt good to see the shots fall. Q. Harrison, how did it feel to win one of these at home? HARRISON BARNES: Ooh, it was special. I mean, obviously we want to take care of business in Game 4, but for a lot of us we've only closed out a series in Oracle once, and that was the Denver series my rookie year. To be able to do it here in front of these great fans that deserve so much and to be able to advance to The Finals, I mean, it was a perfect night for us. Q. Harrison, what's it like going up against Houston because you guys won four out of five but almost all these guys were hard fought right to the end with the exception of the one game down in Houston or actually maybe two, every other game was just a gritty battle? HARRISON BARNES: I mean, it's tough. Give those guys credit. James Harden, Dwight Howard, obviously offensive superstars, defensive superstars, so they're going to command a lot of attention, but I thought we did a great job of moving the ball around, playing our style of offense, defending at a high level, and we were able to come out. Q. How would you describe your role in this team's success? HARRISON BARNES: That was a long question. (Laughter). The biggest thing I try to go out there and do is just be aggressive. Obviously our hitters are Steph and Klay, and the rest of us, we just try to fill in and be aggressive from there, whether that means scoring, whether that means making the extra pass, screening away, rebounding, offensive rebounding, just things like that, so on a night like this when I'm able to get a lot more shots, make shots, it feels good, but also understand there's going to be a lot of nights where you won't necessarily have big scoring numbers but can still have an impact on the game. Q. It looked like it was getting pretty chippy out there and I was wondering what you did to kind of navigate that physical style of game. You've talked about trying to be more physical in this postseason. Are you feeling happy with the way that's been going? HARRISON BARNES: Yeah. I mean, obviously any time it's a close‑out game it's going to be extremely physical. A team is against the wall and they're going to try to do a lot of different things, try to get you out of your rhythm. The biggest thing obviously is to protect yourself and be physical in obviously a fair way. But I think our team has stepped up tremendously in terms of how physical we've been. We've matched or exceeded the physicality, especially in the Memphis series. I think that was a big test for us, and then coming into this series, as well, faster team, still as physical. I think it's prepared us for The Finals. Q. You've spent time on Harden and then obviously Andre spent time on him. What worked so well for you guys tonight on James? HARRISON BARNES: You know, I've got to give a lot of credit to Andrew Bogut. For us to be able to pressure the way we do, we have to be able to rely on our defense behind us. Bogut, Draymond, Festus, all those guys behind us to be able to protect the rim, that allows us to get into his airspace and make him put it on the ground to get to the basket. Q. For a young guy, 22 years old, like James Harden you just have so much poise, and I know you had some tough times early in your career. There was talk about you possibly being traded away. How did you manage to keep an even keel and talk if you could about maybe that's a result of something you learned very early in your athletic life. HARRISON BARNES: Yeah, you know, I think when I first went to college, I struggled my freshman year at North Carolina, and I think that definitely kind of made me appreciate the game of basketball a lot more, definitely made me become more dedicated, and I approached adversity a lot differently since then. Ever since I came into the NBA nothing has really been easy for me. I've had a lot of ups and downs in terms of consistency, playing time, starting, coming off the bench all that type of stuff, so I think I've been exposed to a lot. With the help of Coach Kerr I was able to grow a lot this year. I felt like I've gotten better with consistency and not necessarily worrying about points, rebounds, statistics, stuff like that, but just impact on the game and growing every day. I think that's the biggest thing that I've learned. I think that's what's helped me be mature, and I just have to give credit to my coaches and my teammates. Q. You guys really have faced some adversity. In this series you saw Steph land on his head, you saw Klay bleeding from his ear. Are those things that you're telling yourself, I have to step up my game right now to make up for the loss when those guys are on the bench? HARRISON BARNES: I mean, you take that stuff personal. When you see a leader go out of the game, hit his head and leave, you take that personal like it's our time to step up for him because we know he would do the same for us, and when Klay goes down, it's okay, let's all pull together, where that's defensively, offensively, screening, whatever your job it is your job, we have to do that because we do that for each other. And that's been our mantra all year, it's just us. We definitely pull for each other, and one guy goes down, somebody else's job to step up. Q. Things may not have been easy for you personally your first three years, but you haven't known not making the Playoffs. How much are you appreciating that, and are you surprised that this is how your NBA career is starting out and now you're heading to The Finals? HARRISON BARNES: Ooh, you know, making the Playoffs is not something I take for granted. I remember coming to media day and the media asking me, what do you want to accomplish this year, and I'm like, oh, I think I want to make the Playoffs. You guys laughed, and you said, no, what do you really want to accomplish, and three years later we're going to The Finals. I remember there was a special moment tonight, I looked down the court and it was me, Festus and Draymond on the court. We were all drafted together. Just for us to go from where we started not knowing how to play and just being rookies in the league to now being able to advance to The Finals together, I mean, that was a pretty special moment. I definitely don't take it for granted. I definitely appreciate it a lot. My vets helped me understand the magnitude of making the Playoffs and making The Finals, and I look forward to playing in it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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