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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 6, 2015Klay ThompsonOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day KLAY THOMPSON: It was that and obviously anxiousness. But once we got that media timeout, it felt good to take a deep breath and realize not that it's another basketball game, but it's just basketball. It's what we've been doing our whole life. And got to give a lot of credit to our second unit. They came in there and fought us back, and they've been doing it the whole year. Q. You shot better the second half. Did you feel yourself getting your legs back under you? KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, and I just felt like I was more patient. I was playing my game, and I didn't let the defenders rush me. I got good shots within the offense, and I was aggressive. I was getting to the free‑throw line and I was shooting without hesitation. Q. Were you nervous or tense in the beginning? Was that more of an issue than the layoff? KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, probably. It's the NBA Finals and something I've been dreaming of my whole life. So, little nerves in the beginning. But, like I said, after that first media timeout and you sit down and realize, oh, this is just another game, you go back out there and play like you know what's up. Q. Now that it's official that Kyrie is out, how do you approach it? Maybe not get too confident? KLAY THOMPSON: We can't read what's written. Lot of people are going to say the series is over, but that's not true. This is a team that's more than capable. They did beat the Atlanta Hawks twice without him, and that was the best team in the East. So you have to respect what the other guys can do. Like any other team, someone's going to go down and someone's going to step up. Obviously, Kyrie's a huge part of the team. He's one of the best players. But you can't let your guard down. They've still got guys who are capable of making plays. So for us, we've just got to go out there and act like‑‑ I mean adjust the game plan a little bit, but just play every possession extremely focused and play as if he was out there. Q. Is that as comfortable as you've been in a while? KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, it was. I just felt like I was in a great rhythm. Didn't rush anything. I just let the game come to me, and I was playing with a lot of confidence. I love to do that from the jump ball. Q. LeBron took 38 shots the other night. Now that Kyrie's out, do you plan for him taking even more? KLAY THOMPSON: Man, it would be tough to take more. He could, though. He's capable of doing it, but I think tomorrow he's going to try and probably get his teammates going. You know, he knows that he can't do it by himself, so he's going to try to get as many people involved as he can. Like I said, they've got guys who are more than capable. You can't take them lightly. They've had many, many wins this postseason without Kyrie, so you've got to go out there, and we've got to just wear on them with our depth and our defense. Q. (Indiscernible)? KLAY THOMPSON: LeBron was hitting tough shots the whole game, and we didn't let that deflate us. Coach wrote on the board, too, big bulletin point, "stay with it." That's what we did. We didn't let tough shots deflate us or turnovers deflate us. We just stuck with what we were doing well. And Andre Iguodala is a heck of a defender, and he made it really hard on us. So we have to give him a ton of credit. Q. How does he change defensively? What are the little things he does? KLAY THOMPSON: Well, he's fast and he knows his role and he's a fighter. He competes at a high level, and he can knock down the open shot, obviously. He's not afraid to shoot. So for us, we've got to respect his game. He's out playing in the NBA Finals for a reason. Obviously he doesn't have the capabilities of Kyrie Irving, but he can really impact the game. So we have to adjust our game plan a little bit and just respect him as a player. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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