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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 20, 2016

Stephen Curry

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Practice Day

Q. The consensus is your elbow's okay. How's it feeling for you?
STEPHEN CURRY: It's fine. The swelling went down, so no worries.

Q. Steph, is it throbbing at all? Is it a throbbing pain?
STEPHEN CURRY: It's sore just because of the impact, but it doesn't affect the range of motion, so I can shoot and dribble and do all I need to do. It's uncomfortable, but it's not necessarily painful.

Q. Have you seen the play back a few times since then?
STEPHEN CURRY: I saw it once. Not a lot of help (laughing). That's all I can say.

Q. Did you recognize the team owners?
STEPHEN CURRY: I did. I was right between him and his wife. I think I stepped on her chair. I don't blame them. They're the first response. It's kind of coming at them pretty quick. The row behind and everybody to his left. I wanted to do like a crowd surfing kind of deal like at a concert, but they weren't ready.

Q. Did you see the guy taking pictures of you?
STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, I need that picture. That would be something to remember. I'm kind of disappointed he took that moment to document it, if you will. Took a picture of me, took a picture of Draymond [Green] or Andre [Iguodala] who were behind me on the court so he was taken in the moment.

Q. Does it cause you to reevaluate whether you'd do the same thing next time?
STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, for the most part, those are split decisions. You don't really weigh the options when you're chasing a loose ball. Obviously I'd rather stay on the floor as much as possible and whatnot. It's kind of dangerous, but I don't know how you can play hard and do what you need to do in those situations. 50-50 balls, whatever, with any doubt in your mind of, all right, protect yourself, really, especially in a playoff situation.

Q. Have your coaches or anybody in your organization asked you to please don't do that again?
STEPHEN CURRY: Some have, but most know if it's a situation like that, I always try to make the best decision whether I can get the ball or not, but that's it.

Q. Overall do you feel pretty banged up? You've had a couple injuries and now this, are you okay?
STEPHEN CURRY: I'm doing all right. It's nothing to really worry about. It's nice to have three days in between to get your body right. But such as it is in playoff basketball. You've got to be prepared for anything.

Q. That 37-footer you hit at OKC in overtime, is that a moment that sticks out among others?
STEPHEN CURRY: It's a big shot and a big play. A very eventful night overall for a lot of different reasons. So to get that win meant a lot. Having been down in that game and clawing our way back and the way we even got it into overtime, regular season-wise, that was a big win for us and a big shot. It doesn't mean anything going back there for the playoffs.

Q. What's the benefit of the sleeve on the elbow?
STEPHEN CURRY: Just compression, just to make sure I can get shots up and not have any swelling.

Q. Is this the first time you've had an injury (No Microphone) the same thing on the elbow?
STEPHEN CURRY: That severe, the way it looked during the game, yeah. But it was kind of, from what I hear, very common injuries. If you land on something on the hard surface or get bumped, elbow, hip, knee, they tend to kind of swell up. They don't cause any problems mechanically or whatnot, so you can still use -- I can still use my arm and do what I need to do. It just looks ugly and a little uncomfortable. That's it.

Q. Can you talk about KD [Kevin Durant]?
STEPHEN CURRY: Wrong person to ask. I don't really guard him that much. But you've got to stay tight on him and make him take tough shots. He'll make some of them, but he's 7-foot with a handle and can shoot, has range. He's a tough, tough matchup.

Q. How much of a luxury is it to have someone like Draymond who can play that sort of center field on defense and help out when he's needed against this team and the way you guys are playing defense?
STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, he's done it all year. It's just a different scheme now, so it's the same concept, it's just he's in different positions and can be more aggressive. So his IQ is great enough that whatever lineup they throw out there, he can find a way to impact the possession. Our job around him or anybody that's out there on the floor is to try to keep guys in front, communicate on switches, and any actions they run. You know, just have multiple efforts on every single possession.

Q. Do you actually feel him coming up to give you help at times in situations?
STEPHEN CURRY: I hear him. He's always talking. That's the biggest thing. That's where on the defensive end that's communication, and if you can hear him before the play actually happens, you know where to send a guy or where your help's coming from.

Q. He's not sneaking up on anyone?
STEPHEN CURRY: No, no, there's no time for that on defense.

Q. Speaking of defense (indiscernible) more active than you were in Game 1. After watching tape, what stood out to you?
STEPHEN CURRY: We just had less breakdowns. Game 1 we had too many situations in pick-and-rolls where we sent two on the wrong guy, left a guy wide open that's a threat. We rotated without having the IQ of where we were going. And if we just paid attention to details on those kind of situations. Obviously, it wasn't perfect. We could continue to get better. There were still a couple of slip-ups.

But in the half-court offense, we measured our success by just trying to make them take tough shots every possession, and we were able to do that.

Q. How important has Andre been to the team in these three years?
STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, he's huge. He's trying to bother KD as much as he can. Swiping at the ball, making him uncomfortable with the dribble, and just contesting shots. Obviously, KD's having big numbers, but he's going to get points just because he has the ball in his hands so much. But over the course of 48 minutes, you hope that he can wear him down as much as he can, and we have to help him behind them on the defensive end.

Q. How big of an influence has he been on you guys?
STEPHEN CURRY: I think he's been -- I wouldn't say undervalued. People know how much impact he has every single night, whether he has four points or 20 points. When he's out there, he has a presence as a playmaker on both ends of the floor. So he's a huge X-factor for us, and it obviously showed in the playoffs last year and it's continuing to show as we go through this playoff run.

Q. Last game, second quarter, adjustment on the court. Is that part of the plan? Did Steve [Kerr] ask you to do that or did you just play by yourself?
STEPHEN CURRY: Just have creativity and make plays. That's what he trusts us to do all the time.

Q. After Game 1 you said you had so many big shots, how do you avoid that?
STEPHEN CURRY: Some of the quick ones we took in Game 2, we made them, which helps. But there were certain situations where we got a little rushed on second-chance opportunities, not taking our time and resetting or whatnot. But for the most part in the second half, we moved the ball from side-to-side and everybody touched it and got involved and made them make decisions on defense to hopefully have some breakdowns and we were able to get open looks.

Q. People always talk about your offense and how gifted you are on offense. How do you rate yourself as a defensive player?
STEPHEN CURRY: I feel like I go out and do what I'm supposed to do. Whether it's noticeable or not, I try not to have any breakdowns on the ball guarding my man, getting steals, deflections, contesting shots. Rotate when I need to. I love that people try to create mismatches with me on the defensive end, because those are -- one, I love that challenge as a competitor, and two, most of the time, it's doing something that they usually don't like to do. So we welcome that kind of game plan against us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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