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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 1, 2016Harrison BarnesOakland, California: Practice Day Q. How important is it to you to have all the support here? HARRISON BARNES: It's great. To be able to play in this arena is super special. In the Playoffs, it's easy for everyone to get excited and get loud. But the entire regular season, night in, night out, this crowd comes in here, they've cheered, they've been loud. That's what you love to play before. Q. Three straight wins. What is the key to keeping it up? HARRISON BARNES: Just playing with that hunger. Games 3 and 4 [of the Western Conference Finals], we kind of let off the gas pedal a little bit. We weren't ourselves and we weren't playing at the level OKC was playing. Once we got that figured out, we were able to win the last three. Q. Could you comment on the growth and maturation of the team, even though you were the champions last year? HARRISON BARNES: We've grown so much. Last year's experience of winning the championship helped us to understand what we need to do to win, and also just love that experience. Everyone wants to continue to win again and have the team get better. Everyone came back better this year, which allowed us to start off the way we did. Q. [Anderson Varejao] was able to mesh with the team quickly. What were some of the ways the teammates were helping him to integrate with the team? HARRISON BARNES: Andy is a funny person off the court, so when we brought him into our group and talked with him a little bit, he instantly clicked. That's what made it so easy for him to get along off the court. On the court, he's such a great passer, he's smart and he can pick up plays quickly. So it was an easy transition. Q. Did you guys celebrate after the last game, or did you guys like quickly settle down and then prepare for The Finals? HARRISON BARNES: No, there wasn't a whole lot of celebration just because we've been to this point before. Yes, it is a good accomplishment, a great accomplishment to make it to The Finals, but there's still work to be done. So it wasn't necessarily a huge celebration. Q. What do you think are the differences this time for The Finals and the last time? HARRISON BARNES: The last time we were like the Cinderella story. Everything we did was new and exciting. It was like wow, We're going to the NBA Finals -- something we always dreamed of. This year it was a little different being the defending champs. There was expectation for us to be here. We ourselves wanted to get to this point. Now that we got here, it's like, OK, there are still four more games to win. Q. Do you think it's more pressure this year? HARRISON BARNES: More this year than last year? No, not necessarily. Anytime you get to this level, both teams have done a tremendous job. I think if we learned anything from the last series [against the Thunder], nothing's guaranteed. We were in a Game 7, and depending on a few shots here and there, we could have been in The Finals or been going home. So you just want to compete as hard as you can and leave it on the floor. Q. Do all these expectations wear on you a little more coming into The Finals, knowing people expect you not just to get back to The Finals but to win? HARRISON BARNES: No, I wouldn't say it was a weight on our shoulders. We wanted to be in this situation. We wanted to have the opportunity to come back and come to The Finals. This is what you play for. I think everyone's just more excited. Being down 3-1 to OKC, I think that was more of a wake-up call for us of just how hungry teams are to get to this point. At that point in time, we were not playing with that intensity. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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