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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 11, 2015Draymond GreenCLEVELAND, OHIO: Game Four Golden State – 103 Q. Draymond, you seem a lot more confident with your shot. You came out and made your first three. Did that kind of just get you going? DRAYMOND GREEN: I put a lot of work in yesterday. I know the amount of work I've put in over my life, over the course of the summers, this year, but I just wasn't feeling confident at all. And I knew coming into this game I had to be more confident. So we actually had a day off yesterday, and Coach Kerr gave us 30 minutes to shoot if you wanted to shoot, and I took an hour. And I wasn't leaving this gym until I felt comfortable. I shot a lot of pull‑ups, mid‑range jump shots, floaters and threes. And I just shot until I felt comfortable, and I was able to come out with more confidence. You can say you're going to come out more confident, but if you don't put the work in, it's hard to come out more confident. So I think just putting that work in with Luke Walton yesterday helped me out a lot. I just said, hey, got in here being confident and just continue to push and play with intensity. I can't get here and play the way I've been playing the first three games. So I was able to be a little better today. Q. You guys held those guys to 33 percent shooting and 14 from three. What was different for you guys defensively tonight from the other games? DRAYMOND GREEN: Our intensity level. We really picked up our intensity level. We contested shots. We got on loose balls, and we rebounded. They still outrebounded us, but we battled. It's more important to just battle. If they were getting off his rebounds, they weren't clean. They still had to scramble to get another shot. And that's what's been winning them games. They've just been outworking us. So we said, hey, we're going to come out tomorrow‑‑ this was yesterday. We're going to come out tomorrow, we're going to outwork them, and we're going to play our brand of basketball. We're going to play at our pace, and that's what got us this win today. Q. Coach Blatt said that they were fatigued. Did you notice them being a little fatigued towards particularly the third quarter, end of the fourth quarter? DRAYMOND GREEN: Absolutely. And that's one thing we've been preaching the whole series is that we wanted to wear them down. They're playing seven guys, sometimes eight, but the majority of the time they're playing seven guys. And LeBron is having to shoulder a lot of the load. So you just want to continue to try to wear them down, wear them down, and we were able to do that tonight. Pushing the tempo, that was able to wear them down a little bit more. So they made comeback, and I think they just ran out of gas. That's what's been the game plan. But in order to wear them down, you've got to fight for the loose balls. You've got to fight for the rebounds. If everything's easy, no matter how many guys they're playing, you don't wear them down. So I think the way we fought was able to wear them down tonight. Q. It's been 101 games before Andre Iguodala got his first start of the season. Steve Kerr says he's been your best player in this series. In what ways did he prove that to you and to the team against LeBron James tonight? DRAYMOND GREEN: Oh, I mean, I knew that before today that he's been the best player in this series. Guarding LeBron, he's been aggressive on the offensive end. I mean, he's been phenomenal for us. He's been that steady force in every game in this series for us. Inserting him into the starting lineup tonight, he's already being aggressive. He's already being really confident, but it brought pace to the game. Mozgov's just been pretty much sitting at the rim the entire series. Now you have to chase somebody around a little bit more. He was knocking down shots. He was all over the floor, getting deflections, coming up with loose balls, coming up with rebounds and pushing the tempo. And that really helped us out a lot. So that's another one of those decisions that Coach Kerr made that most coaches probably wouldn't make, but he's had the heart to do it, and it worked out for us tonight. Q. When did you find out that you would be moving over to center, and when did you find out about the lineup shift? Talk about defending Mozgov in the middle. You're giving up a lot of size there? DRAYMOND GREEN: I found out a little earlier today before the game that I'd be moving over to center. I mean, I've played center multiple times throughout the course of the year when we go to our small lineup. I've never started there this year. But Mozgov's huge, man. 7'3", and he probably outweighs me by at least 40 pounds, and he's talented. I think he's probably one of the most underrated players in the league. Even watching him in Denver, he never got the credit that he deserved. He was great for them tonight. But at the end of the day, you're going to want Mozgov to beat you. You're going to take the chance on Mozgov beating you before you take the chance on LeBron beating you. So he had a good game, but we were able to slow LeBron down a little bit, and we made him have to run the floor with us, and it worked to our favor. Q. Following up with what you were talking about with Iguodala. Your two former All‑Stars, David Lee and Andre, have kind of been huge keys and they're the ones who have arguably sacrificed the most this year for the team. Do you see that as a coincidence or how have you seen that situation play out especially the last two games? DRAYMOND GREEN: One thing I call those guys is they're a pro's pro. They're very professional. When Coach Kerr inserted me into the starting lineup, David never mumbled a word about it. He never gave up on me. He never stopped supporting me. And whenever his number's called did he not go hard. Same thing with Andre. And they're two of our vets. They're two of the longest tenured NBA players on our team, and they act like it. That's why this team has been successful this year because of guys like that, willing to sacrifice, but yet staying ready. Because one thing we've preached all year and we've used all year is our depth. Struggling a little bit throughout this series, David came in last game and gave us a lift. Andre's been great for us throughout this entire series. Yet they're the two guys that lost their spot. But it's not about that. It's about what Coach Kerr feels is best for the team, and everybody else, it's just about winning. Whatever works to win. Bogut didn't say a word about not starting. He played two minutes. Didn't say a word. All he said is if we win, I don't care, and that's what it's about. And that's what's made this team successful, attitudes like that. It's a group that's tied together, working for each other, and that's the type of stuff that helps us win. Q. You guys have used the lineup, as you said, throughout the year with you at center. What was different about starting a game with that and taking the jump ball? DRAYMOND GREEN: Can you repeat that one more time? Q. What was different, you guys have played the lineup with you at center throughout the year. What was different, if anything, about starting the game with that lineup for you? DRAYMOND GREEN: Well, I had no chance at winning the tip. That was one thing. The ball was gone before I even got a chance to jump. No, but it just gave us that pace from the start. We kind of use it usually as a change of pace thing. So all of a sudden the game slows down, boom, Coach Kerr goes to the small lineup, and the complete flow of the game changed. Well, that's something that we've been missing throughout this entire series. It has not been at our pace. LeBron's been doing a lot of iso and then finding guys, and it slows the game down. So that allowed us to push the tempo. Even off made baskets, one time. I think I outlet it to Andre over the top and he got a dunk off one dribble. That's the type of things that we need. We needed to put them on their heels. This entire series it's been them as the enforcers, them as the aggressors, and us on our heels. We needed to reverse that, and we were able to do that tonight, and that's what the small lineup helped do. Q. Was it a concerted effort on your part going into the game that you weren't going to talk to the officials as much tonight? DRAYMOND GREEN: You noticed that? (Laughing). My mom and my grandma told me I'm crying too much. Leave the officials alone and just play. They got you out there looking like you're a punk and don't know how to play basketball. When you sit back and watch, that's what I was doing. And the fact that you asked me that question even further lets me know that that's what I was doing. So I just told myself, I'm going to come out and play and whatever happens, happens. Don't argue the call. It's not getting overturned, so why continue to argue and waste energy on that? I spend enough energy dealing with these guys. Don't really have time to try to argue with the officials and all that stuff. So I just wanted to come out and really focus on the game, the task at hand, and focus on helping my team. That kind of helped me out a lot tonight. Q. With your turnaround in this game and the way you were playing, was it a little bit of you getting out of your own way and kind of getting your head right? First time on this kind of big stage? DRAYMOND GREEN: Absolutely. I've been killing myself mentally, and it's been killing me physically. My punch hasn't been there. That drive that's made me who I am in this league as a player, it wasn't there. In turn, that's who I've been for this team. I've been that spirit, that guy who brings the toughness to the floor. That is the department that I lead this team in. So if there's nobody to lead the team in, then it's not there, and that's what this team was missing. I told you guys the other day. I said we've been soft, and it's all my fault. And I wanted to come out here and change that tonight, and I knew in order to do that I had to get out of my own head. I had to be more aggressive and just fight. That's what it comes down to. It's just a street fight. Nobody's doing anything dirty, but they're battling and we're battling, and that's why this series is so exciting, because that's all it is. Beyond basketball, it's just a fight and guys are going at each other and trying to win The Finals. I think if we played as hard as we were playing the last couple of games, it would have won us probably 67 regular season games, but it would have lost us The Finals 4‑1, and that's what we had to change. And we were able to do that tonight. That's what helped us out a lot. That's what helped me out. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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