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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 5, 2015Harrison BarnesOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day Q. Was it mostly just nerves or did they throw some things at you guys offensively? HARRISON BARNES: No, I think we just had to settle in and move the ball. I thought in the first five or ten minutes of the game we got a lot of quick shots. We didn't move the ball like we usually do and get wide open looks. We took some poor shots. Once we settled in, we got the shots we wanted. Q. That three‑pointer you hit late, that seems to be the epitome of Warriors basketball outside of Steph doing ridiculous things. Scores the double, you guys get to the middle and knock down that shot. What was that like for you to experience that kind of moment in The Finals? HARRISON BARNES: It was great. I mean, just like you said, just playoff‑style basketball. Double team Steph, Andre gets the ball, drives to the paint, finds the three. That's what we feed off of, that type of movement early in the game when they get that. Q. Do you get chills before the game? HARRISON BARNES: I got chills when the ball was thrown up. It's kind of a surreal moment to kind of begin The Finals and just take it all in. Q. How long did it take before it was just a game, or did it become just a game? HARRISON BARNES: First of all, I think it was just a different atmosphere. It's just a different vibe. Not in a bad way. But obviously in a good way to be here. Once you settled in, it was just more back to being a basketball game. But the first couple minutes, it was fun. Q. On a gut level, what's it like to guard LeBron when you get the chance? His size, his strength, what is it like? HARRISON BARNES: Yeah, it's physical. He definitely initiates a lot of contact. You have to deal with it early. You can't expect, oh, I'm going to meet him at the rim or expect to body him late and recover. You have to do your work early and be solid. Q. Is it kind of fun in a way? HARRISON BARNES: It's definitely fun. I was telling somebody last night as a kid LeBron was always in The Finals. So it's always, oh, this is how I'd guard him. This is how I'd guard him. Now that you're here, it's like, oh, yeah, it's a little different. It's not as easy as you thought. You've got to love the challenge. Q. Were you a fan of his when you were a kid? HARRISON BARNES: Yeah, I liked his game. As a high school kid he was like the first‑‑ not the first, he was the most recent high school guy to pretty much do it big. Kid from the high school, come to the NBA, obviously he had a lot of success, so a lot of people definitely followed him. Q. Were there times you felt you did everything you could in terms of execution‑wise defensively and he would still score? Or did you feel like you picked different things like if I do this it's going to not be successful? HARRISON BARNES: I mean, there are some times when you play the defense perfectly, got him to the paint, help was there, contested the shot, and he makes a difficult shot. You have to live with those. Then there are other times where it's like, okay, he got beat under a screen and he was too wide open. He got too comfortable and into his rhythm. So you have to know the difference between he made a tough shot, and, okay, we could have made that shot tougher for him. Q. Do you sometimes overhear the coaches debating on the bench? What is that like when they're talking about how we're going to play this guy. How are we going to do this? How are we going to change things up? Are they talking a lot? HARRISON BARNES: Yeah, there is a lot of dialogue not only between the coaches but between the players and coaches. It's not a concrete thing. There is not a concrete game plan that we're going to say, look, we're going to go out there and play him this exact same way because he's a great player. So you obviously have to carry your defense around that. He hits shots, so we try to change things up a little bit. He went to more iso in the post, so we changed things up. You have to be really fluid with your game plan. Q. So you can go to Ron or Alvin and say, hey, how about if we try this or suggest things or ask them? HARRISON BARNES: Exactly. Even Coach Kerr. You can just ask him on the spot. We're not into egos or anything like that. It's not like somebody said this one thing and this is how it's going to go. If someone has a suggestion that they want to do, something that's best for the team, then everyone's all ears. Q. Are you going to prepare as if Kyrie's going to go, and how does that change things? HARRISON BARNES: Yeah, you always approach it as if he's going to go. If he doesn't, I know it will change things a little bit just because you have to put a little more attention on Dellavedova and pressure him a little bit. But the focus is still on him. Q. When you look at LeBron and he scores 44 points, it might be silly, but would you rather see that than him be 25, 30, with a triple‑double area for him? HARRISON BARNES: Oh, for sure. You would definitely take the 44 and not as many assists as opposed to him scoring 25 and getting 10 assists. J.R. Smith at times and Dellavedova, those guys had big games. So obviously you force them to score. He did that well. He showed he could do that and try to limit everybody else. Q. To us it looks like Steph doesn't get tired at the end of those games, I guess. HARRISON BARNES: Yeah, he's in great shape. He definitely did a good job of making sure he doesn't have to work too hard for his baskets. Try to save good screens for him, get him the ball and obviously late in the game so he's not gassed. Q. You guys have been stressing that all year long for all of you though, right, conditioning so you could run and outlast teams, right? HARRISON BARNES: Exactly, and I think the biggest thing is our depth as well. We play a lot of guys. So guys don't have to play too long of minutes. They don't have to go extended periods of time where they're just out there and strained and pushing through it. We have 10 or 11 guys that can come into the game and have an impact. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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