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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORS

June 2, 2016

Draymond Green

Oakland, California: Game One

Warriors 104, Cavaliers 89

Q. Two quick questions, first of all, what happened -- what goes through your mind when you see Steph and Klay with just an off night and you have to step up and also be a vocal leader to get everybody involved? Number two, do you know what really happened in the third quarter with the clipboard and the karate hand of Coach Kerr in that situation? Can you elaborate on that?
DRAYMOND GREEN: First off, thanks. When Steph and Klay struggle like that, it's not something that we really say, hey, everybody else needs to pick it up. You just know. Other guys need to step up. Those guys do so much for this team. And everybody's subject to an off night. The one thing we always speak on is our depth. Depth of this team, and that showed tonight.

We also got it done on the defensive end, and we kept our turnovers down. When we do that, regardless of who is having an off night, we give ourselves a chance to win the game, and that was important.

Then with Coach Kerr and the clipboard, he got a little better. He broke a clipboard in Madison Square Garden earlier this year, and it didn't go so well. So congratulations to him on doing a better job tonight.

Q. How are you feeling about the extra scrutiny that's on you because of the flagrant fouls and the technical fouls? There was another incident of something that came out in social media today where there was another kick that went close to Kyrie's head. Are you trying to tone that down knowing there is this extra attention on you?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Tone what down?

Q. The kicks.
DRAYMOND GREEN: You think I tried to kick Kyrie?

Q. No, the question that I'm asking you is are you aware of it? There seems to be extra scrutiny on it. Is there something you can do to make sure these things don't come up where people would even have that question to ask you?
DRAYMOND GREEN: No, if I was aware of something, I wouldn't do it. But basketball is basketball, and bodies react a certain type of way. I don't really mind any scrutiny. It doesn't bother me. I'm going to still live my life and do everything I do the same way and not lose any sleep. So life goes on.

Q. Steph was just in here earlier talking about how at practice when he guards you, you start shouting "mouse in the house" and things like that. Do you think Steph is an underrated defender yourself?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think Steph's a competitor. Within that competitiveness is a want to stop whoever he's guarding. Because as a competitor, it doesn't matter who it is, it doesn't matter what the size of the other person is, you want to stop them. So I think when he's on the defensive end, that competitiveness comes out.

Obviously defense isn't what Steph's going to hang his hat on, nor does he need to hang his hat on that. But at the same time I think he is a much better defender than everybody believes and everybody gives him credit for.

It's hard to have the defense that we have and there's a missing link out there. It just doesn't work like that. Defense takes five guys to be on the same page to be moving with each other, and if you've got a link out there that's weakened, it usually shows.

That's part of the reason we're able to defend the way we do because we have five guys on the screen with each other, and five guys out there competing on the defensive end. So, yes, I think he's underrated, and it is what it is. That's fine with us. We know what he's going to do when he's on that end.

Q. You hit that first three and it looked like it got your confidence up. It looked like they were letting you take those threes. Is that how it looks?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, that's how it looks to me. They'll probably do it the rest of the series, which is fine. I'll continue to shoot. I think I'll make more than I made tonight. I missed a couple of them badly and I kind of rushed them. When they're going to continue to leave me open, I'll lock it in and knock it down.

Q. Draymond, on a night when Klay and Steph both really didn't have it going at all in either half, what is it about Shaun Livingston that allows him to step up and, as LeBron said, get a game ball in a game like this?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Shaun's a guy who has battled through much more than having to step up in a game. He's been from the top to the bottom and back. And when you go through so much in life and his career, I mean, it makes stepping up in the game easy.

Obviously, he's a competitor. One thing about Shaun is he's never going to get outside of who he is. He's going to do what he does, and he's going to get to his spots and he's going to raise up and knock shots down.

And he's a very smart player, so he knows how to get behind defense and find openings. And all that stuff helps his team out, and him stepping up the way he did tonight was huge for us.

Along with the rest of the bench as well. Everybody who stepped on that floor was big tonight, and Shaun was a key part of that.

Q. With the way you guys defend, you're asked to do a lot of different things. Do you enjoy the challenges, especially against a team like Cleveland, where Kyrie can do it off the dribble, LeBron can do it all his ways, Kevin Love can do it in the post, but in a single possession you might be asked to guard all three?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, it's fine. I truly enjoy it, the challenge. I mean, obviously it's physical, but it's more -- it's even more mental than physical because switching those guys, they all do completely different things. So just switching on all those guys at different points in the game, you've got to know, all right, Kevin Love, I've got to stay home. LeBron, whatever he's trying to do, you've got to be ready to body up with him or whatever it is. Then Kyrie's so shifty that you've got to be ready to slide, slide, make a second effort, third effort, because he usually gets the step and you've got to try to recover.

It's really fun embracing that challenge of taking on all three sometimes. Usually I'll get two of them in a possession, not really three of them.

Q. Draymond, it's going to sound like I'm trying to bait you here, but the numbers are what they are. That's six in a row for you guys over the Cavs. Do you feel some sort of control or feel really comfortable, at any rate, playing against them right now?
DRAYMOND GREEN: No you can't feel controlled at all. This is the same team who we had down 1-0 last year and they hit us twice. So it's no control. Obviously last year in The Finals I think we won three in a row and kind of figured that out. And then this year, I mean, well, both games they didn't even have the same coach that they have now. Not that I'm blaming anything on David Blatt, I don't know their situation. But there's been a lot of changes to this team. They're not even really playing the same style of basketball they were before.

So it's not like we have any control over them or anything. I think the Christmas Day game could have gone either way. We made a couple plays down the stretch and we got them pretty good in January, I think it was, or whenever that was.

But other than that, tonight the game was right there, and then we went on that run, and that kind of got us tonight. So this is something that we've got to continue to battle. Because obviously this is a team that, you know, they're used to winning. They're going to battle, they're going to compete, and they're super talented. So you can't come out saying, oh, we beat them six in a row, we're good. Absolutely not. As soon as you do that and let your guard down, it's a wrap. We know that. So we've got to continue to compete and try to win games.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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