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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: ROCKETS vs WARRIORSApril 18, 2016Draymond GreenAndre IguodalaOakland, California: Game Two Warriors - 115, Rockets - 106 Q. Andre, at halftime you did an interview and you said it felt like a practice or a scrimmage. I was wondering if you could expand on what you meant by that, and also what did you feel in terms of picking up the slack with Steph out? ANDRE IGUODALA: No, what I said was the question was how did you change your game or how did you change your game so quickly? And I said when we practice in our scrimmage and practice on my team, I'm the guy that shoots most of the shots so I shoot all the balls. So I've been in those situations before. When we have scrimmages and practices, we really get after it and try to make it a game-like so we can run our sets and get our timing right. So that mindset isn't hard for me to switch because you practice like you should play, right? That was a perfect example. Q. Without Steph obviously Klay took it upon himself to really go after it scoring-wise. Didn't have the greatest shooting night, but what is it about him that just this relentlessness going to the basket? He seems like he has -- he wasn't worry about a miss. He'll come back. DRAYMOND GREEN: First off, I don't think Klay's ever seen a shot he didn't like. He can miss ten in a row, he'll come down and shoot the 11th one like it was a heat check. Sometimes we get mad at him and say, come on now, Klay, you've got to shoot the better shot. But that is the reason he is the shooter that he is because he doesn't have a conscious. He's going to take the shots that he likes, which all of them he likes, so he's going to continue to take shots. In a game like this, I'm sure everybody thought Klay was going to come out and take 30 shots and he took 20 shots, maybe a couple more than he would normally take. So our focus was to come out and move the ball, and everybody gets involved, and we did that. Obviously Klay got to the line a lot and that was key for us. When they would go on a run, he would get to the line and knock the free throws down. But our focus wasn't to just come out and just give Klay the ball, give Klay the ball. For one they'll tire him out, and it's easy for the defense to guard that. When he's moving around like he was moving around, that's when it's tough to guard him. He did that for us tonight, and he got to the hole a lot and stayed aggressive for us. Q. I saw you reach out and congratulate Klay. I think it was in the third quarter, a pass to Livingston, I believe. Was that you trying to encourage him to distribute the ball more and pass the ball more? DRAYMOND GREEN: No, he passed the ball when he needs to pass the ball. We don't expect him to come out and be our number one play maker. That's not what he's paid to do. He's paid to score the basketball. Obviously if the pass is there, then he makes the pass, but that's not what he is paid to do. I wasn't trying to encourage him. If he can make a good play, you should tell him it's a good play. Q. James Harden just did one three pointer. How do you think that happened? ANDRE IGUODALA: Well, I think it was a team effort more than anything. He's so crafty, and his craftiness got to the best of us especially in the second quarter. We were getting to the foul line a lot. We went backwards in terms of the game plan and trying not to get our hands in the cookie jar and we got caught a few times. But the bigs are doing a really good job of communicating. Then we have some really mobile four men when we go small, whether it be Harrison or whether it be Draymond where we can switch a little bit and be really creative with our defense and try to force them to make tough shots. Q. If you could maybe both talk about this. Obviously when your leading scorer is out and the NBA's leading scorer, that can cause a little bit of stress, panic on teams. But you guys obviously bought into the strength in numbers, your depth and confidence in each other. Can you talk about that special mix that you have and knowing that you have so many guys that can get the job done? DRAYMOND GREEN: I mean, we've relied on our depth all year. Not only when Steph's out. Steph's playing and we rely on our depth. The number one reason for Andre coming off the bench last year was to bring more depth. Shaun and they provide depth, Barbosa, Preston, Mo, Brandon Rush, I think we're the deepest team in the NBA. When Steph goes down, that's obviously not easy to replace, so not one guy's going to come out and do what Steph does for this team. Even if a guy comes out and gets 30, he's still not going to do what or bring what Steph brings to this team. He draws so much attention that he gets other people shots as well. So we knew coming into this game that we had to rely on each other, move the basketball, cut, and have a low turnover game. And everybody bought into that, and we did that tonight. It was kind of using the same blueprint we used being down in Houston on New Year's Eve. Q. Coach Kerr said that you can help the team in so many ways. Before you entered the court today, did you tell yourself I've got to make points tonight? ANDRE IGUODALA: Yeah, I think you kind of assess your game before you get there, the way you're shooting and see how you're feeling. But for me, I think the first six minutes of the game really just trying to get a feel of what's working for us, what we need, and I think we do that as a whole, the guys coming off the bench, we say we've got to get the tempo up if we feel like it's slow, or if the guys are playing well, we have to sustain it. So for me it was just being aggressive, getting out there and I felt like our flow was there. So we just needed an extra push and I just wanted to be aggressive when I got out there. When I did that initially, I felt like we could continue that throughout the rest of the game. Q. Andre, could you tell before you started shooting the way you did tonight that you were going to have a night like that? Did you feel that shot before the game? ANDRE IGUODALA: Actually I was feeling really good last week, and I think it was the last game in the Memphis game I couldn't get any attempts but I was feeling really good. So you kind of have a feeling like what kind of groove you're in and I had it then. We won the game though, I was happy. But last game I didn't quite have it, so I didn't force it. I kind of found it again yesterday in shooting the ball a little bit and kind of finding my rhythm. There is a certain pregame rhythm I try to get in before the game, and I found it, and it was there today. Q. This is the second game this year that you've beaten the Rockets without Steph and you've won 13 of the last 14 against this team. What kind of mental edge does that give you guys playing them? DRAYMOND GREEN: I mean, it definitely gives you confidence knowing how much success that you've had against a team. But at the end of the day that's still a very talented team that we know at any point could come out and get it going, so you have to make sure that you're staying the course, staying true to who we are, not necessarily just coming out and saying we're going to win this game because we won them the last 12 out of 13. We don't even know those stats until you say them. So we still come out with the same mentality to try to dominate the game. That's always the mentality every time we step on the floor. That's, like you said, it's always a little different without Steph, but like I said in my interview on the court, he's carried us so many times that if he goes down, it's our turn to step up and carry him, and a lot of guys did that tonight. It wasn't just one guy. Andre, Shaun, Festus came in and gave big minutes, Bogut, everybody gave big minutes, and that was key to us winning the game. Q. You had to play obviously a lot of points. But do have Shaun Livingston be able to step in and start for Steph, Klay called him mesmerizing, but to have that guy, I'm just curious your thoughts on what he brings and how huge that is to have him be able to step right in? ANDRE IGUODALA: Well, I think we have guys with a lot of confidence and guys who do a lot of sacrificing and they kind of hold back their total game for the betterment of the team. And we know what each guy is capable of. So when guys are playing this well, it's no surprise to us. We have a saying for Shaun and what he's been able to do in the post throughout this whole season, and it's a lot of fun to watch. So we want that for him, and he's come a long way from a terrible injury, but he's a great guy and it's a lot of fun to see him have a lot of success. What he's doing out there, we're not surprised. We're really happy to see. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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