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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 17, 2016

Andrew Bogut

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. Andrew, you came out of the game limping a little bit there and then went back in. What happened?
ANDREW BOGUT: I'm okay. I'll be all right.

Q. Did you just aggravate it a little bit?
ANDREW BOGUT: I'll be all right. Little sore, but figured at this point in the season everyone's a little banged up.

Q. It's been a while since you guys lost in a Game 1. Does it feel a little different to be in this position now to start a series?
ANDREW BOGUT: Well, it's foreign territory for this group. So we've been in similar situations where we've been down 2-1 and whatnot, but to lose that one at home was tough. Especially we played a pretty good first half, had a good lead, but they stole the game from us.

They're big scorers in Russ [Westbrook] and KD [Kevin Durant] made some good plays, and it was a tough loss. But we're going to move on from it. At the end of the day, they've got to beat us four times or we've got to beat them four times, so we've got a little more work to do now.

Q. How many teams play big like they do? How is their size and the way they utilize it?
ANDREW BOGUT: They're tough. They've got some big bodies in there. [Steven] Adams is obviously having a great playoff run, and they bring [Enes] Kanter off the bench, who started pretty much his whole career, and he provides a big punch for them inside. Even the guys outside, Durant and Westbrook, like to post up a lot, so it puts pressure on our "D." But we'll be ready next game for that.

Q. (No Microphone) did you know about [Steven Adams] at all?
ANDREW BOGUT: No, I just know he's from New Zealand, that's about it. We didn't play against each other or anything like that.

Q. Never played a game of basketball?
ANDREW BOGUT: No, he's younger than me. I'm 31 and he's, what, 22?

Q. Is that (No Microphone).
ANDREW BOGUT: Is it good for Australia that a New Zealander got drafted? Is that your question?

Q. Is it good for that part of the country?
ANDREW BOGUT: I couldn't really care. He's not from Australia. That's like asking if it's good a Canadian got drafted for America. Sean Marks is obviously their first New Zealand player, but as far as helping Australia that a New Zealander got drafted, probably not that much.

Q. Steph [Curry] was saying last night that he likes the challenge of the test and facing this kind of adversity. Do you agree? How big of a test is it?
ANDREW BOGUT: It's a huge test for us. They're a great team. Give them a lot of credit. Three or four years ago they were kind of like that team that was coming out poised to win a championship. So they're not a team that's just there by accident. They beat a very good Spurs team and they've had a pretty good year.

So they've dealt with a lot of injuries in their past as well. Give them a lot of credit, but at the same time, it's a huge challenge now for us. Especially Game 2 at home. We've got to get this one, and then going on the road, OKC is as tough as coming to Oracle to play or going to San Antonio. So it's going to be a huge challenge for us.

Q. Do you fall back on the experience of last season's playoffs in a time like this?
ANDREW BOGUT: Yeah, we've been in this position before. Not down 1-0, but down 2-1 with the fourth game on the road. So this is the situation. Hopefully we'll get it to 1-1 and go to OKC. But we've been in these situations before and dealt with this pressure before. We have confidence we'll bring this series back.

Q. Is this tougher than a year ago, considering you might have beat a team a year ago (No Microphone)?
ANDREW BOGUT: Yeah, like I said, they're playing great basketball. So we have to obviously make them feel us out there, and I feel like we did in the first half and we probably could have had a bigger lead at halftime. But when it was money time they made some big shots to start the third quarter and got them back in the game. Once they got confident, we just couldn't stop them. But we're aware of how good a team they are now.

Q. (No Microphone)?
ANDREW BOGUT: Long, yeah. We just saw some effort plays throughout the stretch, just some mental mistakes. Our offense wasn't flowing like it usually does. We were kind of stagnant. Coach [Steve Kerr] made an emphasis on making sure that we go back to our ways of playing. But, yeah, we'll make a few adjustments going into tomorrow.

Q. What was it like for you guys (No Microphone)?
ANDREW BOGUT: Yeah, it bogged us down a little bit, but that's won us a lot of games too. Steph's obviously unbelievable in the fourth quarter when it comes to that. But I think we all felt it, like we didn't have our flow in the second half offensively. We turned the ball over a lot at certain times. So, like I said, we just emphasized moving the ball more and guys making hard cuts; we'll be okay.

Q. Was it injury that kept you out of the second half?
ANDREW BOGUT: Probably a mix of everything. Had a shocking game, no excuses. Had a bad game. We were in small ball for the majority of the second half. It's one of those things.

Q. Do you expect you guys might need to play bigger given their size?
ANDREW BOGUT: Yeah, there will be times for it. You know, that small lineup works if obviously we don't turn the ball over. So I think the small lineups are usually so good because we look after the ball and get good shots. So I don't think it was the fact that they had that that big a lineup, they kept in there to beat our small lineup. They did a great job. But at the same time some of that accountability falls on us as well.

I think we'll match up a little more, play our bench a little bit more, who knows?

Q. Is their rebounding mostly a function of their size?
ANDREW BOGUT: They're a great rebounding team. They've got big, physical bodies. Kanter's probably one of the best offensive-rebounding bigs in the league. Adams does a great job of putting pressure on you all the time. Westbrook's probably one of the best rebounding guys for his position and Durant's long. So they keep a lot of balls alive and get a lot of easy baskets for tip-ins.

So they didn't get a whole lot of offensive boards for tip-ins, but they still won the rebound battle. That was a concern for us going into this series, and something that we need to at least be competitive in.

Q. Does this feeling compare to when you guys were down 1-2 to Memphis at all?
ANDREW BOGUT: Little bit. It feels like it's the end of the world for some people. Some people think the series is over. We respond pretty well to these situations.

Q. Did you guys talk to each other in the locker room after the game?
ANDREW BOGUT: Yeah, a little bit. There were some frustrations. But for the most part we had a good night's sleep, came in levelheaded today, watched some film and we'll make some adjustments.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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