|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 14, 2015Stephen CurryDraymond GreenOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Five Golden State – 104 Q. Steph and Draymond, this is for both of you guys. I know that you like to take things one game at a time, but one game away now you could be NBA champions. How are you feeling going into Game 6, and how bad do you want this? STEPHEN CURRY: What is the best way to say really bad? I mean, a long season goes into these last moments of The Finals series. We fought hard all year and put ourselves in good position now to go to Cleveland and hopefully close it out. So we're confident. We're not getting ahead of ourselves. In the locker room, if you walked in there was the exact same after a regular season win. But we know the sense of urgency of the moment. It's a good feeling to get a win in Cleveland and understand we can get it done and how we need to get it done. So ready for the opportunity. Q. Obviously winning this game was a big deal. But I'm just curious how much you're enjoying what looked like a guard, small forward pick‑up game out there tonight? STEPHEN CURRY: It's a chess match, and we both have a lot of wings and guards that can fill a five‑man lineup. And they made an adjustment. Didn't play Mozgov pretty much at all in the whole game. So they tried to match our lineup. Obviously over 48 minutes we feel like we can be versatile with who we can throw out there and how we're going to win games. I'm sure there will be another adjustment going into Game 6 that our coaching staff will make and obviously theirs as well. We've just got to be 1 through 14 locked in. That's been our calling card all year. Whoever steps on the floor is going to give us something. L.B. came in tonight and did what he was supposed to do and impacted the game on the offensive end and defensive end. Can't be said enough what H.B. was able to do in his minutes with putbacks, giving us extra possessions, being physical in the paint. He really changed the game. Especially in the fourth quarter he got us three extra possessions that we needed. So everybody's got to be ready, and I think that will hopefully give us a good chance to win in Game 6. Q. One for each of you guys. Steph, when you get rolling like that, 17 in the fourth quarter, the basket I guess looks real big to you. Do you have any sense now that you're done what you accomplished, how difficult some of those shots were, and how much your ball handling let you get some of the space to make them? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, those are plays I've been making all year and the ones I feel confident in. I think it helps to have gone through Game 2 where we were rushing a little bit in the same situation. A one‑ or two‑possession game in the fourth quarter, and we got ‑‑ I call them better shots because they were more in rhythm than in Game 2 where it was come down, look for the first shot. Don't even run any sets, only running screen and rolls, and we didn't kind of settle into them. And obviously when one goes in, it helps keep your confidence high. Q. Draymond there was this narrative throughout most of the series that Matthew Dellavedova was hounding, harassing and bothering Steph, and his physicality was making Steph unable to do what he did all season. Based on tonight, what do you think of that narrative? DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, I mean, people were saying that. I never really got off into it. You know maybe Steph had an off game or two. That's basketball. You know, I'm taking Steph in any match‑up. So he was hounding and physical, dirty, it's a fine line, whatever you want to call it. He do what he do, but I was going with Steph no matter what, and I'm still rolling with Steph no matter what. Q. Following up on the first question, you answered it strategically what it was like to play such small ball. But obviously ultimately you want the win. But talk about just with your style of play, were you enjoying kind of the open space maybe you had? That fourth quarter you looked like you were having a very good time. STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah. It's more screen and roll heavy, and I love the chemistry I have with this guy right next to me to be able to make those plays. Because if he's not a threat, then they can kind of go all out and sell out on the traps. And that's how we've been effective all year, like I said, because we have the versatility and the talent, all 1 through 5 on the floor, to be able to make those plays. If I come off and they trap, I've got faith in Draymond to make the right play. He finds open guy or he's able to finish. He got us like six free throw attempts just off of him catching in that wide‑open space and making the play and attacking the big or whoever was rotating at the rim, knowing they didn't have really a shot blocker besides Tristan. So he was able to get to the free‑throw line and get us some easy points and I was able to attack when they were kind of in between, not really knowing what they wanted to do in the pick‑and‑roll, and gave me some open looks from three too. Q. Draymond, after Game 3 in Cleveland, some of the guys were kind of playing it cool, but you were the one guy that came out and said you were really angry about what was going on, and you declared you were going to do something about it. Why did you do that, number one? Number two, are you less angry now? And number three, what was happening there at the end when you were kind of looking like you were doing some police work when they were going to hack and you stepped in? DRAYMOND GREEN: No, I just‑‑ I knew it was only two seconds left that they could do the foul. So I just kind of blocked them a little bit and channelled my inner football skills. As far as the Game 3, I was upset, and the reason I came out and said it is because in playing with Coach Izzo, one thing he always taught me was if you're going to be a leader, you sometimes have to take the blame on yourself. And if you're going to call somebody out, you got to call yourself out too. And I know I was pathetic in the first three games, but yet I also knew that there were some things that a lot of guys on our team, all of us, needed to do better, and that was fight. But I wasn't bringing any fight to the game. So how could I call anybody else on our team out and I wasn't bringing any fight? That's kind of my role on this team. Part of my role is to bring that fight to the game, bring that toughness, and I wasn't doing it. So I couldn't necessarily blame them for not bringing it. But at the same time I knew we all needed to bring it. So I needed to be heard. I just felt the need that if we're going to win and we're going to turn this series around, that that needed to be stated not only to the team, but to the world, because we were completely getting outworked, outhustled, outdogged, however you want to put it. They were doing that. In order to win games at this level in the NBA Finals, that can't happen. And we've done that all year, so we can't let up now, and that was my motive. Q. Are you still angry? DRAYMOND GREEN: Yes, I am still angry (laughing). I'm an angry person (laughing). Q. You were asked yesterday if you wanted a signature moment in the NBA Finals and you said you just want to win a championship. Do you think behind‑the‑back, crossover‑back fadeaway three over Dellavedova and Thompson, pick‑and‑roll, maybe is your signature moment? Draymond, if you want to add too? Is that something you're going to remember personally from this series possibly? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, it was a fun moment, but it only means something, and I'll probably have a better answer for that question after we win the championship because signature moments only come for players who are holding the trophy at the end of the day. So I can sit here and talk about what a great play it was and what a turning moment it might have been, but we have to be able to back it up and finish the job. It helped us win this game, and hopefully after our next win we can talk about all the great moments in the series. Q. Draymond, your thoughts on that play? DRAYMOND GREEN: I'm not going to go into signature for the reasons that Steph just gave, but it was an incredible play, and I enjoyed watching it from my front row seat. Q. Andre spent a lot of time on LeBron and several other guys, including yourself, did too. Steve Kerr thought you guys worked really hard against him. Is he so good that you guys can play well defensively and he still gets 40? DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, that's the player he is. He's been there for years now, so you're not going to shut him down. But if you continue to make him work hard for each and every bucket that he gets, it takes a toll on his body. He does a lot for this ballclub, on top of he's not a guy who takes the defensive end of the court off. He's constantly working, constantly working. You just want to make him take tough shots and make him work for those baskets that he gets. If he gets 40, he gets 40. Like I said, that's why he's LeBron James. You can go throw a triple‑team at him, and he'll probably still get 40, but as long as you make him work for those 40, then you've got to be satisfied with what you do. He took 34 shots and got 40. I mean, 15 for 34 is still a great percentage, but that's kind of what it's been this entire series. He's going to be aggressive and score. Especially with some of the guys they have out, and we understand that. If he's hitting shots, he's hitting shots. You've got to live with it and continue to make him take tough ones. Q. There was that moment in the second quarter where you got fouled by Dellavedova, and it looked like Andrew kind of calmed you down and maybe kept you from maybe even getting ejected. Could you talk about that moment? I mean, you said you've been playing angry. Were you angry at that point? DRAYMOND GREEN: I was a little angry at what took place. I mean, I'm really not going to get into it. It is what it is. The play happened. I thought something went on on the play. But, hey, it is what it is. We've got one more game, hopefully, to try to close this series out, and that's my focus. I'm not really going to worry about that play that happened in the second quarter, although I was upset when it happened. Q. And did Andrew calm you down a little bit? DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, he did. Because I was upset. And just wanted to be heard, but he didn't allow me to be heard. So I eventually knew I just had to let it go. Q. In the last minute you embraced Steph and said something to him. Can you share with us what you were saying? DRAYMOND GREEN: I told him if he ever steals my rebound again, we're going to have to fight. You may think I'm lying, but that's what I told him. Don't come steal my rebounds, bro'. STEPHEN CURRY: I thought it was a heady play. A fouling situation. He did tell me‑‑ well, we won't go into that. But I think I‑‑ two shots I'll knock them down, he'll probably knock them down too. But I need to get that ball. DRAYMOND GREEN: Oh, I mean, it was going to be a hot potato anyway. He was right there, but, yeah. (Laughing). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|