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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND TWO: TRAIL BLAZERS vs WARRIORSMay 11, 2016Stephen CurryDraymond GreenOakland, California: Game Five Warriors - 125, Trail Blazers - 121 Q. Steph, last year you admitted that the MVP series kind of threw you off a little bit, I mean the MVP Award got you out of your routine and you kind of struggled that night. Did any of that happen tonight for you? STEPHEN CURRY: It was better handling it emotionally having been through it before. I kind of understand the adrenaline rush and whatnot. So it's just kind of been a long three days with just having come back and then fly home and have the day we had yesterday and turn around and have a game. So all that said, we as a team, we all pretty much had to go through it. I think we started off a little slow, but found our edge and our competitiveness and were able to find enough juice down the stretch to win. So it ended up being a great night. Q. Steph, how impressed were you with C.J. McCollum's performance there in the fourth quarter? He's a guy that's just coming into his own, but 16 points in that fourth quarter. STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, he was tough. He kept his foot on the gas pedal, made some tough shots and took advantage of some offensive rebounds and had the confidence to keep shooting and knock them down. So he did what he could to keep his team in the game. He's a talented player, so that's what you expect. I'm sure he's only going to get better as they go forward. So that's why it was kind of just a grind-it-out series every game we played against them because they are a very talented team as a whole. When they make threes, it's tough to separate yourself. So we just had to grind it out. Q. Draymond, how's your ankle, and what happened to it? Your mom tweeted out that you had tweaked it in the game before. DRAYMOND GREEN: It's a bit sore for sure. I went up and it was on the transition play where I got fouled by Crabbe. I went up, he kind of hit me, I lost balance a little bit and came down on the side of it. But it's definitely something that's been reoccurring a bit. Same thing happened last year in the playoffs. I sprained it like the second round and got it almost every game after that. These few days off will be good for me. What is it, four days off or six? Whatever it is, it will be good to rest up and do some strengthening up and get with our training staff and try to get it back right as much as possible. But I mean, it's one of those things where once you do it, it kind of lingers on. So it's just something that I've got to do what I can do for it right now. If it happens again, just deal with it. Q. I know when you've missed a lot of time, it takes some time to get into rhythm. You kind of battle yourself a little bit. There can be some thinking involved. Both Monday and tonight, earlier in the game, it looked like you were, but then obviously late was when you were at your best. Was that kind of crunch time, don't have to think, react and you kind of got back in your flow? STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, when you miss that much time, it's just hard to kind of get into the flow of the game. It goes from being you and two coaches rebounding for you while you shoot jumpers to nine other guys on the floor and a lot of moving parts. So just have to stick with it. It was a huge adrenaline rush in Portland to get through that fourth quarter in overtime and feed off the energy of my teammates, and tonight, kind of the same deal. We really needed that energy from the home crowd to just find a way to have some huge offensive possessions and get some stops down the stretch. So I was happy to be a part of it, obviously it's nice to be back and just figure it out. Q. What are the benefits of having a team push you like they pushed you guys? And going into that next series that you're going into, what do you get from this going into that one? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, the playoffs is what you expect. I mean, we're at home and playing a team like Portland, that's a talented team. You can't expect, especially in a closeout game to blow a team out or whatnot. We played decent. We didn't play amazing, but we did enough to get the job done, and it just battle tested us in those clutch kind of possessions down the stretch to find a way to get some stops and lock in offensively and just try to execute. So we know it's only going to get tougher as we go forward. The intensity, the atmosphere, and the pressure's going to build. Just have to rely on it, like I said, the experience of this series, last series, and what we learned about ourselves as we keep going. Q. How's your knee and all that stuff, for both of you guys, are you guys a better team at this point than you were last year going into the Conference Finals? STEPHEN CURRY: My knee's fine. I'll be all right. It's going to be sore, like Draymond said. At this point, continue to get treatment, be ready for each game, deal with whatever discomforts you have and go out and play. Q. Are you guys a better team now? DRAYMOND GREEN: It's two complete different years. I wouldn't say we're better, we're more seasoned, so that may make us better because we've been through so much, the experience, I think makes us better. We know how to handle things. We know how to stay poised. So I think if anything, that will make us better. Some guys have gotten better individually and when that happens you get better as a team. Q. On that last shot with 24 seconds left, was that just a matter of doing what you've done all season, and how much do you live for those moments with the ball in your hand and the team looking for a big shot? STEPHEN CURRY: It's what you practice every day for and go through the regular season to be in those kind of moments. Just let your mind free, have confidence and try to knock down the shot and make a play. Yeah, just in that situation I was trying to make a read after they switched the pick-and-roll. Just have confidence in whatever I decide to do at that point, and obviously I was just trying to shoot the three and thankfully it went in. Q. This year was harder, right? There were more injuries, you had injuries, Steve Kerr was injured for a lot of the year. Was it just more painful or was it harder in other ways in the sense that teams came at you as defending champs? DRAYMOND GREEN: I think the season was -- I think it presented different challenges for us. Like you said, with some of the injuries we dealt with and with Coach Kerr being out, that presented a different challenge, but Luke was great. So I think then being the defending champs like you stated, teams are coming at you every single night. So in that aspect those things made it a little tougher. But then I also think having that year under our belt in the system helped out, making a run to The Finals and winning the Championship, going through that helped out. So I think there were different challenges. I wouldn't necessarily say it was that much harder, but there were different challenges than last year. Q. Draymond, do you have a preference, Spurs or Thunder? Is there a match-up where you guys think one way or the other or is it a coin flip? DRAYMOND GREEN: I don't have a preference. Regardless of which team we play, it's going to be tough. So we know that, so I'm going to enjoy this one tonight and enjoy closing this series out, because, number one, didn't want to go back to Portland and play. That crowd was amazing. They're tough there. Just happy to be done with this series. That was a tough series, and that's a team who continued to fight. A lot of talent. Lot of guys stepped up huge for them in this series. So just looking at this series and seeing 4-1, it didn't feel like that. It was a very tough series. I gained a lot of respect for those guys because the way they fought obviously behind Dam's and C.J.'s lead, and the way everybody else filled in, whether it was Crabbe coming off the bench stepping up huge, and Aminu had a huge series, Mo Harkless stepped up, everybody stepped up. So I'm happy to be finished with this series, and I'm going to enjoy this one tonight and we'll see who we play then. But I don't have a preference. So enjoy this one for now. Q. Draymond, I know you need a physical recharge. How about mental recharge after a tough series like that? Particularly at the halfway point of your goal in the playoffs. And maybe, Steph, you can answer this too. Is this a good time to take a four to six-Daybreak? DRAYMOND GREEN: I think it is. Sometimes a lot of people worry about if that's going to make you rusty or not. Usually if it does, that lasts for a quarter, maybe a quarter-and-a-half it's something you can bounce back from. But the rest, I think goes much further than the rust. So I think obviously with myself going down, not going down, but kind of tweaking my ankle today and a few other things going on, and Steph's knee and Bogut going down today, the physical is definitely big for us right now. But I think in a regular circumstances where everybody's healthy, the mental goes way farther. Like just the stress of knowing that I've got a game today, your entire day is stressful. So not having that stress for five days allows you to recharge and really get ready to go again. So I think this comes at a great time for us and we're definitely going to try to take advantage of it. Q. You got to 14 points in the fourth quarter when you hear the fans say MVP, MVP, what is your emotion about this? STEPHEN CURRY: They support us thick and thin, no matter if it's a regular season game or a big night like tonight in a closeout situation with the ceremony and everything. So we appreciate that love, that support. We get spoiled every night coming into this arena and feeding off that energy and that vibe. This was fun, and you appreciate those kind of moments in particular. So it gives us a huge home court advantage for sure. I will have to say one thing though. You've got to talk about -- Klay was in here earlier. That dude had the best series I think I've ever seen him play on both ends of the floor, defending Dam, exhausting all his energy to make it uncomfortable for him and what he's able to do offensively, hopefully that doesn't get lost in our series and the way that we play as a team. Because you look down at that 33 points and chased Damian around for all 34 minutes he was on the court. So shout out to him for him elevating his game on both ends of the floor. Had to say that. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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