	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND TWO: TRAIL BLAZERS vs WARRIORS

May 11, 2016

Klay Thompson

Oakland, California: Game Five

Warriors - 125, Trail Blazers - 121

Q. Klay, in this series, a lot of different guys had to step forward and make contributions especially with Steph out for a lot of it. How did you guys rally together and make sure that you could pull off the series?
KLAY THOMPSON: We know what it takes to win in the playoffs. It's extremely hard, and the Blazers made it -- it might be the closest five-game series of all time. We only had one game where we really won handily.

So give them a lot of credit, they're an offensive power house, and I think guys just -- it wasn't an individual thing when Steph went out. We did it collectively and that's what you've got to do to make up for that. You saw tonight how many times he bailed us out and we obviously missed, yet so many guys stepped up and that will pay dividends for the rest of the playoffs.

Q. There were times tonight when you got on a nice roll and you were shooting the ball a lot, and there were other times where you hardly touched the ball. Did you have to take a different approach tonight because Steph was back?
KLAY THOMPSON: Not really. Even when he's not out there I still try to play my same game and that's just try to move as much as possible on the offensive end, do your best on defense, and offer great shots. I think tonight obviously he was back in the field, but thought I played a solid game both ways on both sides of the ball.

I'm not going to go out there -- I'm just trying to get myself in the flow of the offense. I'm not going to go out there and try to take the ball from Steph when he's in the zone like that, going behind his back and a stepback 25 feet. It's a pleasure to watch. I don't know if there's any guy in the league that can do that.

Q. Damian Lillard scored 21 points in the first half, and in the second half you held him to 2 of 12 shooting, what was the adjustment you and Iguodala made there in the second half?
KLAY THOMPSON: Try to stop fouling him and sending him to the free-throw line. When you play a great scorer like Damian, you don't let him get into a good rhythm, and that's what he was in in the first half.

I got to give a ton of credit to my bigs in the second half. They were always up on the ball screens and made the adjustment from Game 2 and on, and Game 3, that's when he was killing us with those threes off the ball screen. I thought we did a good job tonight making him play from the arc.

Q. You had a great offensive series, you had a great defensive series. Were you more proud of one or the other?
KLAY THOMPSON: I'm just proud of my focus. I'm only able to do that if I'm focused and I thought in these playoffs I've been focused. We only get one shot at this and just want to give it my all every game. When I play with great focus, I think sky's the limit.

Q. You've got some guys nicked up on the team. You came through it okay, but are you a little maybe physically tired at this point and is a break good for this team at this point?
KLAY THOMPSON: A break is great, but we've got to stay in good shape. We can't just lounge around. We've got to have good practices, but a lot of our guys need it to recover.

I feel great, and I'm lucky I haven't had any bad injuries. I'm just excited to get to the next round. I mean, West Finals two years in a row, it's been a really special season.

Q. It looked like before the game started during warm-ups you were in a rhythm. Did you feel that way and did you feel it carry through the whole night?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, I thought I was taking good shots out there and I got my feet under me. I felt like my shot was going and you know when you see a couple go in, that always helps. Especially in a game where you get a couple easy ones around the rim, that's when I'm at my best.

Q. Do you have a preference, Spurs or Thunder?
KLAY THOMPSON: That's a tough question. Both teams pose different problems. I mean, obviously you've got that two-headed loss in OKC and two of the top 5 players in Durant and Westbrook, and you've got a deep, solid, fundamental team in San Antonio. It's really a coin flip. You're not going to get any breaks playing either team.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297