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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 16, 2016

Draymond Green

Oakland, California: Game One

Oklahoma City 108 - Golden State 102

Q. Draymond, you guys took advantage of Kanter on the floor, his defense in the first half, but not so much in the second half when he played with Adams. What was the difference?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I don't think we were ourselves offensively in the second half. We got away from the ball movement and everything was pretty much iso basketball. So I think if we execute our game plan and play the way we play in the second half, then the same thing works out the way it did in the first half. But we were kind of scattered and all over the place in the second half, so I think a lot of that goes on our shoulders.

Q. How much of that was their defense, especially in the fourth quarter? You guys scored 14 points.
DRAYMOND GREEN: You've got to give them some credit. You can't just come up here and say, hey, it wasn't their defense, because they play well defensively. But I think if we move the ball the way we do and what's been working for us the entire year, I think it's a different story. But we didn't do that.

So I think like I said before, part of that is us and you have to give their defense a lot of credit. You can't just say, oh, it was on us. Like some of it was, but their defense, they played defense very well. They were all over the place. Guys were flying around, guys were helping each other, so that's what it takes to win and that's why they won the game tonight.

Q. First half they had a bunch of turnovers, 10. Only two the second half. Second half you guys had eight. What was the biggest change? Was it their defense, your carelessness, what changed?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think we were very careless. I think we were rushing. Everything was rushed. We lost our poise. I mean, Russell was all over the place. He caused a lot of havoc, so we definitely lost our poise, and weren't ourselves, that's for sure. But like I said before, you've got to give their defense a lot of credit for that.

Q. You guys gave up 38 points in the third quarter; it's a rarity for you guys. What happened?
DRAYMOND GREEN: They started on the offensive end. You turn the ball over, usually when you turn the ball over on them they're going to dunk. They're that athletic. We were all out of sync on the offensive end a couple times. We didn't get back, and we fouled way too much in that third quarter. I'm not sure how many free throws they had in that third quarter, but it was a bunch. When you're allowing a team to set their defense every time because you've got to take the ball out the rim on a free throw makes everything a lot different.

So cut down on the turnovers and stop fouling. That's kind of what the third quarter was for us, a lot of both.

Q. Before the series most people think that the Thunder are underdogs. So in the second half do you think you guys a little bit overlooked them or underestimated them or just the came come out?
DRAYMOND GREEN: No, I don't think you're not overlooking a team like that. That's a very good ballclub with great players on it. I don't think we overlooked them at all. They played better than us in the second half. I think what they outscored us, by 9? No, 19, yeah. So there you have it. You can't win like that being outscored in any half by 19. That's tough.

We'll be okay. This is foreign territory for us. We've never lost a Game 1 in this era, so it's a little something different, but embrace the challenge and get it rolling from here.

Q. You just said it, this is uncharted territory for you. How does that change preparation and processes going into Game 2?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Our preparation won't change. I'm sure we'll have a light practice tomorrow, like we always do. We'll watch some film, and we'll get ready to go for Wednesday. It's not like some things happened that we know couldn't happen. I think our defensive game plan was pretty good, really good. Offensively we sucked. So that's something that we know what was the cause of it and that we can improve on. But our preparation won't change. We'll prepare just like any other game.

Obviously you're down 1-0, you've got to play with a little more desperation. But there is a difference between desperation and panicking, and we're not panicking at all.

Q. Draymond, Russell had 19 points in the third quarter and he plays with such a high energy level. Did you feel the momentum swing during that stretch when he got his game going?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I mean, he started hitting shots. When he's hitting shots the way he did in the third quarter, it's tough to guard. Then you compound that by putting him on the free throw line and think he's an 85% free throw shooter or something like that. If he's hitting shots and we keep him off the free throw line, I don't think much changes. But you do both and everything changes.

So it's something that we've got to be better at, and I think we will. But overall, I think we did a pretty good job on him with the exception of that quarter.

Q. How does this loss, being down a game in the playoffs compare to the last two times, the last playoffs you were in? Does winning a championship change how you take that at all?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I mean, being down before helps, but we've never been down 0-1 at home. It's a little different. You know, that's something that we've never seen before. Usually it's been 1-1 going on the road. Your thought process going on the road is just win one anyway, so your mindset doesn't change there. Coming back, knowing that they're up 1-0, they're going to come out swinging with not much to lose. Because if they lose Game 2, they did what they had to do anyways.

So we got to know that they're going to come out with that mindset. Obviously, they're not a team that doesn't believe they can win. They think they're as good as anybody and they've proven that. That part changes a little bit, but like I said before, it doesn't change our preparation or our thought process. We've just got to come out and win the game. We come out and win the game, then we've got to do what we need to do on the road. But it all starts with Wednesday.

Q. Kind of to piggyback off what he said, you guys have been down before but it was always on the road, this time it's at home. Do you think that adds pressure because it's in front of the home crowd?
DRAYMOND GREEN: There is pressure anyway, it's the playoffs. So no home crowd or away crowd has ever added more pressure to us than we put ourselves under. And we know what our goals are, and in order to reach those goals, you've got to win. So that's something that coming out in Game 2 we know we need to win. That's pretty much what it is. It's no added pressure from anyone else. It's playoff basketball. It's win or go home. Obviously, not the next game, but one game could change the entire series. So we need to get a win.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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