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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORS

May 24, 2016

Klay Thompson

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Game Four

Game 4

Oklahoma City 118 - Golden State 94

Q. Klay, are you surprised the way these two games have gone? You guys have not had a stretch like this in a long time, and also is their length bothering you? Because you had 21 turnovers and it seems they got a lot of deflections and just hands on basketballs tonight.
KLAY THOMPSON: I'm very surprised. I would be lying to you if I wasn't. It did bother us tonight. Like you said, uncharacteristic game for us. Too many turnovers. Lucky for us we're going home and just got to get that win from home and go from there. Just get back to what we do best, and that's just playing with great energy on the defensive end and moving that ball on the offensive end. I know we'll show up.

Obviously it's a long ways from over. That's what our mindset is, and just take care of one possession at a time, get our rest tomorrow and go from there.

Q. After Game 3 the thought with most of the people on your team seemed to be it wasn't really what the Thunder was doing to take things away from you. It was that you guys hadn't played well. Do you still feel that way after this game or are you concerned that they do present some match-up problems for you guys?
KLAY THOMPSON: I mean, obviously a little bit of both. You can't discredit what they did. I mean, they used their length, forced us into probably half those turnovers we made tonight. Other than that, we just weren't as sure with the ball as we should have been.

I think we did have success there in the second half, spreading them out, getting to the rim. We did, to take one positive, we did limit them to under 46 points in the second half. So we'll watch the film and whatever we did right, we'll be in a good position. Lucky for us, we've been so great at home.

This really sucks right now. It's a terrible feeling to not even get one here, but you can't -- you've just got to play with desperation, like our lives are on the line on Thursday, and go from there.

Q. One of the reasons you guys haven't lost two games in a row all season is because you guys are pretty good at self-correcting. After the last game you lost, you talked about maybe getting those things right. What did you want to do tonight that you just weren't able to do?
KLAY THOMPSON: I mean, we had 40 assists, that's a positive. Is that right? No, never mind. 15. Way off. So we did not do what we needed -- too low of a number I mean, we did miss some easy shots. I mean, I know H.B. [Harrison Barnes] had a corner three that he makes 65 percent of the time to put us down 6 to go into the fourth. I mean, moments like that hopefully, but it's not on him; it's on all of us.

We just got to stick to the game plan. Play like we're the world champions on Thursday instead of it feels like we're kind of timid out there to start the game, and when we were threatened, we started playing great defense. So just we're threatened now, so we've got to play like that from the jump on Thursday.

Q. Klay, Westbrook obviously big stats tonight. What about his game most troubles you that you guys will need to get reversed if you want to slow him down?
KLAY THOMPSON: He did have a really good all-around game, but Durant and Westbrook, they're going to get their numbers. They can't have their role players going -- Roberson had a big impact, him going 7-of-12, Ibaka, Waiters, you can't have them killing us. So we've got to limit them and their production.

But he was just a problem in the passing lanes. We didn't use his aggressiveness to our advantage. We let him disrupt too many possessions with his playing in the passing lanes and stuff. We've got to make him pay for when he gambles, and we'll try to make the adjustment Thursday.

Q. You obviously got red hot there in the third quarter. What happened? Was it just you feeling hot or were you getting better shots? Also, were you a little surprised to come out when you picked up the fourth foul in the middle of all that?
KLAY THOMPSON: I just told myself I wasn't very assertive in that first half and we're not going to go very far if I don't push myself to be aggressive. I just told myself have one of those quarters. I mean, we're already down so much. Why not go out there and start gunning, make a couple quick shots, keep being aggressive. I'm trying to carry that same aggressiveness into Thursday night from the jump. Just trying to get to the rim as much as possible, find my teammates and just be a problem that way.

I wasn't that surprised, though. We were only down 8 or 10 when I came out. I mean, that's three, four buckets for us and I know we can make that run in the fourth. We just, you know, Coach was trying to preserve my time, and I understand where he was coming from.

Q. Klay, Draymond says after the game that he feels like he's the reason the team lost, and it's been a rough couple of days for him. What are you guys saying to him right now to keep him emotionally checked in and involved for the next game?
KLAY THOMPSON: Just to be himself. He's gotten us here. He's a huge part of our success this year, and we just need him to play like Draymond. Like get that dog from him, and he will. He's a very accountable player. Obviously he's been off the last two nights; that happens. Lucky for us it's the first of four. Things are looking pretty grim right now, but at the end of the day, we're going home, and we know what we've got to do.

Draymond's our vocal leader. He knows what he's got to do. So I expect him to bounce back in a great way. Just like everybody else on our team. We're going to play desperate, and we're going to play with, like I said, desperation.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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