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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 9, 2015Stephen CurryCLEVELAND, OHIO: Game Three Cavaliers – 96 Q. LeBron has played 142 of 154 minutes. You guys have been unable to stop him. Can you just talk about why you've been unable to stop him, and are you hoping he'll just wear down if this thing goes enough games? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, we all know the accolades he has. He's a great player. He's shooting an okay percentage in our eyes. He's getting up a lot of attempts, and anybody that's that much of a volume shooter when he needs to be for his team, he's going to have points. But the timely ones are the ones that killed us. The three late in the fourth quarter, certain easy buckets that you allow him to get. But that's not the issue why we're down 2‑1 right now. It's the way we're playing on the offensive end, especially to start games. We'll fix that as we try to even the series on Thursday. Q. Steve said that he thought you guys were hanging your heads for three quarters and kind of got it together in the fourth quarter. Did you feel that way? What did you feel changed in your game in the fourth quarter? STEPHEN CURRY: We became the aggressors. Just like the last three minutes of Game 2. For us to win this series, we have to play that way the whole game. We have the depth, we have the talent to do it, whether we're at home or on the road. So no excuse why for three quarters we were kind of‑‑ I think we were playing hard and we were into it, but there were no results to show for it and you can't really get any spark. Especially, especially on the road, we have to just play free, have fun, and be the aggressors if we're going to win this series. Q. Coach Kerr mentioned earlier that you seemed to sort of find some flow in the fourth quarter that has maybe evaded you a little earlier in the series. Andre Iguodala said he thought you really found something with David Lee in the fourth quarter. What from your perspective was successful when you were working with David Lee in the fourth? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, he's a playmaker, so if they want to try the pick‑and‑roll in that situation, getting it to him on the free‑throw line and him making plays whether he's finishing at the rim or finding some guys on the wings for open threes or open shots, that's what he does. We'll see what adjustments we need to make going into Game 4 with lineups or even just match‑ups when we look at their lineups. So we'll figure that out. It was great to see him out there playing the minutes that he did, and giving us a big spark especially in that fourth quarter. So I assume he'll have a huge role in our play going forward. Q. Kerr specifically said that he thought you maybe lacked some energy, you lacked some life in the first three quarters, and he said generally didn't like the body language. Do you think you were a little down three quarters? Do you think you needed to spark yourself, especially as the MVP? Does the team look to you to be aggressive? STEPHEN CURRY: I've got to be aggressive. I said that going into tonight that's what I was going to do. Obviously, I didn't make any shots in the first half. But I thought, especially in the first quarter I was able to get in the paint a couple times, make some plays, kick it out. Then it kind of hit a stall in the second quarter. But whether I'm making shots or not, I've got to stay‑‑ I'll use the word vibrant‑‑ just kind of having fun out there. Because the team definitely feeds off of my energy and the joy for the game. So if it's not going our way, or not going my way specifically, I've got to find different ways to get us going. So I like that challenge because this is going to be a hard‑fought series, and I've got to have a huge part in it. Q. You guys were down 2‑1 already in this postseason against the Grizzlies. How much can you pull from that experience to help you guys now or is that just not the case? Is this different? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, it's a different team, but the same situation we were in. Like you said, exactly. Win Game 1 at home and lose two straight. We've just got to bottle up what we did in the fourth quarter and bring that for 48 minutes starting in Game 4. I think the confidence that we have knowing we've come back from 2‑1, it means a lot. Regardless if it's The Finals or not, that's a huge bonus for us to have gone through that experience before. So we have to rely on that. It all starts with Game 4. We've got to win that and then go home and protect our home court the rest of the series.  So that's the mission. Q. You mentioned your own point of view in staying vibrant. What can you say to Draymond Green? Is there something he can do to stay up or gain some confidence in that jumpshot? STEPHEN CURRY: Good thing about him is he's low maintenance in that category. He never is out of it. Whether he's making shots or not, he might get frustrated, but he's always going to stay confident and keep shooting. When it clicks, it's going to be fun to watch, and I expect him to be ready to go for Game 4. Never really have to worry about him. He likes a little trash talk at him, and maybe I'll throw him some in practice tomorrow. He definitely responds to that well. I expect him to play well, give us some offensive punch in Game 4 and be himself. Q. You were filling it up from the three‑point range, brought them all the way back to 81‑80, and right after that Dellavedova was losing his balance. You were on him tight, and he somehow managed to put that ball off the glass, make it and get fouled. What kind of impact did that three‑point play have on the game? STEPHEN CURRY: That was a huge turning point. Like you said, we were down 17 going into the fourth. Bring it all the way back to 1, and I tried to get out of the way. I don't know if I hit him or not, but he makes a great play off the backboard. We still had a chance to win regardless of that play. But it was a good turning point for him to get the crowd back into it. They obviously love the way he plays. He made some timely buckets, and that was one of them. Q. In the final two minutes you made three turnovers. Do you remember the three plays, and is there any of them that you really wish you had back? STEPHEN CURRY: The pass to Draymond I've got to stay sound fundamentally in that situation. I was trying to get free, and they had LeBron and Mozgov, I think it was, just chasing me in there and double teaming me for about four or five dribbles. And Draymond released. I thought he was going to be at the three‑point line, he took a step lower and wrapped around my back and obviously didn't connect on that pass. That's one that you just make a simple pivot move and throw it to him and he can make a play. The other two, LeBron, he stole both of them. The one I thought he slid into my legs and kind of took me out, but I kind of drove it in traffic and whatever. The last one was he made a good play. He read my eyes. We had a play drawn up to get a three. It was all starting with the inbound pass, and he made a good play. Just got to stay sound fundamentally down the stretch of games, especially in the fourth quarter. Q. We're two games removed now from the Kyrie injury. Are the Cavs playing better than you expected they would without him? STEPHEN CURRY: No. You didn't hear any of us say this was going to be easy with him out. We knew that they had won plenty of games in the playoffs without him leading up to The Finals. I mean, I don't know, they might feel more comfortable just because they had gone through so many situations like that in the Eastern Conference Finals against Atlanta. So, I mean, they're a great team. LeBron's making some crazy plays. I think they're all just fighting hard, and we have to match their intensity, especially to start games because we haven't really left our imprint on the game in any of these first quarters. You can't rely on your comeback abilities every game to win a series like this. Q. Steph, the outcome aside, there has been so much focus on your shot and what was going right or wrong the last couple of days. Just having the kind of finish you did, do you think it was good for your psyche walking out of here knowing that you got to see some shots go down and got to feel like your game's back in order a little? STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, I mean, nothing felt different about the fourth quarter than it did early in the game or even Game 2. All the shots felt‑‑ except I was out of rhythm a little bit in Game 2. But early in this game I felt like they were right there. So I still felt confident. It's obviously good to see a couple shots go in. I think I found something when it comes to how I'm going to be able to attack their pick‑and‑rolls and even certain iso situations. I'll keep that in the memory bank going into Game 4, and hopefully it has a trickle‑over effect into the first quarter of the next game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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