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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 3, 2016Andre IguodalaOakland, California: Practice Day Q. Thoughts on Game 1? ANDRE IGUODALA: Yeah, looked at a lot of tape, watched tape on the game and to see areas we can improve upon, and areas we thought were good for us that we can continue to try to do well. Q. In your defense, you're guarding Kevin Durant, you're guarding LeBron James. What is the key? ANDRE IGUODALA: The key to good defense is having five guys on the same page, having good communication, especially with your back line. The last line of defense has to be vocal, and Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green do a really good job of that. Q. When did you develop the knack for being able to slap the ball? When did you do that? ANDRE IGUODALA: I don't know. Just at a young age, being competitive. You know, you do monkey in the middle and you're trying to get steals. You're just competing. We had deflection drills in college. That was actually a stat. So just as my career as a basketball player has progressed, you try to get better at every area. Being a defensive guy, that's one area you want to try to be really good at. And watching different guys play, growing up (indiscernible) playing a lot, Gary Payton, even Kurt Thomas was like a master at slapping down. So you see a guy excel at something, and you try to pick up on it. Q. How difficult is it for officials to officiate? A lot of times they'll probably just suspect that you made contact. How hard is that? ANDRE IGUODALA: It's difficult especially when you're a young guy. You get a lot of foul calls. You're always in foul trouble. Then you kind of have to take that out of your game and try to build it back up as you become more of a veteran. I've had different officials come up to me and say in a game two months ago they missed a couple calls on me. But it's good that they acknowledge it, and you kind of earn that respect as an honest guy. It's really tough to officiate, because sometimes you might get hit with the bad whistles. Other times you might get away with a little contact. Q. Do you see the ball or is it all just reaction and instincts? ANDRE IGUODALA: It's a lot of both. It's knowing your opponent. Knowing where their shooting pocket is going to be. Certain guys like to shoot from the right side of their body, other guys from the left side. Paul Pierce was really good at keeping the ball on his right side, which is a difficult pocket to shoot from being a right-handed shooter. Most other guys like it on the left side. So you've just got to know your opponent, study their moves a little bit, and try to pick up on some things. Q. In hindsight, how hard is that for you being a bench guy? ANDRE IGUODALA: It's not hard to accept, especially with still playing a lot of minutes, still having a big role in the game. You've just got to adjust a little bit as far as the rotations and the group you're in with. It's a different mentality playing with the second group rather than playing with the first group. That takes some time just like any other new position or any job or any field. So once you get accustomed to it and find a rhythm for it and trust in it, things start to work in your favor a little bit more. Q. What are you expecting out of LeBron tomorrow night? ANDRE IGUODALA: Well, he's had a really good record in Game 2s after losses, so really expect him to come out and be aggressive, try to set the tone. But just continue to be himself. LeBron's had awesome games, whether he's defending well or not, he still tries to impose his will on the game and he still comes up as a very efficient player and gets a lot of guys involved, also taking care of himself. So you're not going to stop him or expect to stop him. You just try to make it as hard as possible for him. Q. You've been through a lot of big moments. How do you manage to control your emotions on court when conflicts are going? ANDRE IGUODALA: Just playing basketball for so long, there have been a lot of those key moments and situations where you failed and you can learn from if you get in that situation again. Playing basketball a very long time, from high school, playing championship games, playing AAU, playing big-time tournaments in college in Arizona, where every game was the team's biggest game, you kind of have that history of being in big moments. If you're blessed to have the opportunity to play this long, those moments shouldn't come as a surprise to you anymore. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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