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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 5, 2016Stephen CurryOakland, California: Game Two Warriors 110, Cavaliers 77 Q. At the beginning of the series, I think the whole world and a lot of us thought it was going to be a long series, maybe 6, 7 games. After the results of the first two games, do you think that's possible? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, we haven't won anything really. I mean, we took care of homecourt advantage, which is what we're supposed to do. There's still a lot of basketball left. How we show up in Cleveland will be a big test for us. They have a great home atmosphere, and obviously the way the first two games have gone, you would expect Cleveland to come out with a lot of energy and feed off of that home crowd. So I'm only worried about Game 3. Q. If it was up to you, who is the MVP of your team right now? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, you could pick from a lot of guys. Draymond, what he did tonight; Shaun, what he did in Game 1; Andre with his defense on LeBron; Klay making timely shots. We're doing it by committee, and everybody's playing their role. The crazy thing is we can all play better. So we've got to continue to play the defense that we're doing and individuals will shine along the way, and that's what we're about. Q. You mentioned Andre briefly when you threw out a lot of names. You wound up on LeBron a few times. Can you just express what you think of when you watch Andre's defense against LeBron these last couple games? STEPHEN CURRY: He's just smart. He knows how to close the space but also give some room to move his feet and stay in front of him and obviously use his hands and get deflections and get steals. So you kind of underestimate his length when he's guarding you because he can be two feet off you and still impact the ball and contest shots. He's obviously not going to give any ground if you try to go through him. So he's done a great job. And being so versatile, he can guard a bunch of different guys and make those adjustments pretty quick. So it's pretty fun to watch. Q. I'm going to get out of the way a little bit. You just met Neymar right now. Is that the first time you've met? And what is it that you admire about Neymar? STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, it's the first time we've met. L.B. and Varejao talk about him all the time. But obviously a star in the soccer world, and such skill and kind of grace when he's out there on the field. So he's fun to watch. I know he's a basketball fan. I saw him dribbling two basketballs the other day trying to mimic my two-ball routine. I told him I appreciate that and he doesn't want to see me with a soccer ball because I wouldn't know what to do. It's pretty cool to know we've got fans all over, and obviously it's inspiring what he does on the soccer field. Q. You had a chance to get a lot of spectating in tonight especially in the third quarter. And you really got a good look at Draymond that seemed to make you pretty happy. What was it about what Draymond was doing out there that made you especially happy? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, you know how he's going to impact the game consistently every night with his defense and playmaking, getting guys involved. The way he was shooting the ball and having that confidence and bailing us out of a couple of possessions, knocking down his threes, whether they were open or contested. The one stepback one, that's when I kind of lost my mind watching him just impact the game on the offensive end the way he did. So we needed that push to separate ourselves, and he provided it, for sure. Q. He had five threes to lead you guys. Is there a time that he might be able to apply to become a third Splash Brother? STEPHEN CURRY: It's been three or four years he's been with us, so I want him to keep shooting. He's got some work to do, though (smiling). Q. These two games you and Klay haven't really been the Splash Brothers, at least statistically, and yet you've won the two games fairly easily. Do you think it's a nice thing, it's a good thing? People are recognizing that you don't go 73-9 without a pretty full contribution from people that the casual fan might not recognize? STEPHEN CURRY: For sure, that's what we're about. If you watch us play, you know how we get the job done. Everybody falls in love obviously with how me and Klay shoot the ball, and that's a big part of what we do, and having success over the course of the season in a Playoff run, you need to have that punch. But you look at the stat sheet and look at some names that jump off, whether it be Shaun, L.B., Andre, H.B., obviously Draymond, what he did tonight offensively, that's huge, but it's the little stuff that you don't see on the stat sheet that has gotten us to this position. I'm talking about Andre's defense, talking about L.B. being ready, that microwave we need off the bench, and Shaun's steady hand. That's where you become a consistent team. We need that along the way for sure. Q. Steph, late in the game, one of the late timeouts, you might have been out of the game already, Draymond pulled you aside and had a real long talk with you out in the middle of the court there. What was that about? Was that about the whole series? Generally what was that conversation about? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, the overall theme was we have each other's backs and the way that we're playing right now is great, and we're obviously closing on a second win, but there's a long way to go. Me and him need to continue to bring energy and just do what we can to focus on Game 3 and not getting ahead of ourselves. So he did a great job of really all night kind of being vocal and allowing us to stay in the moment and understand we did what we're supposed to do, taking care of homecourt, but Game 3 is when it will be a big test. Q. Steph, no team in the last 25 years has won a Finals game with as few as seven made free throws. Do you guys take pride in doing things differently or winning differently than teams in the past? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, I would say we'd like to get to the free-throw line a little bit more. We're probably going to need to do that in Cleveland. But some things, the way they guard and what might be open, you know, shots-wise, might cater to that lack of a lot of free throws. But for the most part when you're out there on the court, you kind of feel the flow and understand the way that we cut and screen for each other, you're going to get a lot of open jumpshots, you've just got to make them. But on the road, I think we need to focus on maybe getting to the paint a little bit more, putting pressure on defense in the paint and swinging it out and getting to the free-throw line if we need to slow momentum down if it gets away from us. But during the course of tonight, you're not really worried about it if you're getting open shots and making them. Q. You guys were down 6 early in the second and then you went on this 20-2 run, the crowd got totally into it. What happened? What was that like? And are you surprised at winning these two games by a combined 48 points? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, I'm not surprised that we won, but, yeah, the margin. Nobody would have guessed that coming in. But every game is different in the Playoffs. You can't really rely on the fact that the margin is what it is. Game 3's going to be totally different, and we need to play like that for sure. What was the first question? Q. About the 20-2 run. STEPHEN CURRY: Our defense clicked in and we had a brief moment where we didn't turn the ball over. Obviously we had 20 tonight, and a lot of those were early and a little bit of third quarter. But when we're going on those runs, that means we're taking care of the ball, getting stops and getting in transition and have their defense on their heels. That's the thing Coach has been so adamant about throughout the course of these last two games is we can play a lot better and be more composed with the ball, taking care of it and not giving them opportunities to, again, use those turnovers against us. They had 26 points off those turnovers, so thank God our defense was good in the half court, because that's not a number that you can probably win with on the road. Q. I want to ask you, we just gave to you Messi's National Team shirt. You are very close because they are in San Jose, but today he was training. He could not come to see you. Tomorrow is his match, and you are traveling to Cleveland. So unfortunately you cannot see each other, but you can give to him a message. What do you want to say to him in this Copa America is starting, and if you would like to see him on the field maybe another time? STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, obviously schedules didn't work out. But he's got business to take care of, so good luck to him. I know he's going to be ready. I'm sure we'll be watching in Cleveland. Q. There were some times earlier in the postseason when your defense was having some difficulty with really explosive offenses. It seems like the last four games you guys have really locked in. In what ways do you think you're playing better now than earlier, and maybe even better now defensively than a year ago? STEPHEN CURRY: Just playing smarter and letting the individual defensive talents that we have on this team, letting them shine. Because when we don't have breakdowns, we can use our length, we can use our quickness, our speed, our IQ on the defensive end and for the most part in this series, specifically, we haven't had many, many breakdowns with the game plan. So that's kind of what it's all about. Granted there's been a couple possession where's they've gotten open shots and just missed, and we want to shore those up, but a team shoots 35%, that means you're doing something good. And the key now is for our defense to travel on the road and be the most consistent part about what we do. Q. Are you surprised at how successful your defense has been versus Kyrie and LeBron as opposed to Russell and K.D. and talk about the differences there. Second question, little light-hearted, what nickname do you prefer? There are several nicknames out there -- Threezus, Baby-Faced Assassin, The Human Torch. Which one do you prefer or which one have you heard that is a good one that we haven't heard yet? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, Kyrie and LeBron are two different players than Russell and K.D., but they all have, obviously, amazing strengths which have put them in the category they are. So there's no real comparison. It's just you know what their strengths are and what our game plan is to attack them, and we've done a good job of just staying consistent with it in our game plan this series. That's all you can ask for is try to make them take contested shots, tough shots, make them work to get open, and you live with the results. If they go off and make tough shots all game, then you tip your hat to them. But you don't want to have breakdowns where you're giving them easy looks, and we've done a good job of that so far. I don't really have a favorite one, but Baby-Faced Assassin was first one I ever got when I was in college. That was like the first one that became popular, so it has a special place in my heart, even though I've got a little bit more facial hair now. Q. Game 1, Shaun came off the bench and played very well, and tonight Draymond came out big one more time. It seems like you won the game without too much of your input. I want to know, as a regular MVP, are you feeling pressured and afraid that these guys might steal your Finals MVP? STEPHEN CURRY: I don't know how to answer that one (laughing). No, you can fall in love with numbers and averages and comparing averages to what people might expect or whatnot. Right now we're up 2 games to 0, and everybody's doing what we need to do to make that happen. So looking forward to trying to get Game 3. That's it. That's all I'm worried about. Q. You're up 2-0, and I know you're saying all the right things because you aren't there yet. You still have to get two more wins. At the same time, how confident is this team having won these two games by fairly decisive margins and impressive style? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, we're feeling confident, but, like I said, we're not getting ahead of ourselves. There's no point in celebrating or jumping up and down and saying look at us. We're two games away from winning a championship. We still have to go out and get the job done. It's a trap to think that we've figured things out and that we have the perfect formula to beat Cleveland and they have no chance in the series. Like that's not how we're supposed to think. I mean, that's probably going to be the chatter the next 48 hours, but we have to stay in our own little bubble and worry about what we're doing and how we're going to go out and win Game 3. That's all we can really worry about. So we've been on the other side where people may have thought we didn't have a chance to come back in the series, and now we have a good handle on it, so we know how quickly it can go away if you don't come out and play the way you're supposed to and keep the focus and the edge that we've played with these first two games. So Game 3 will be fun. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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