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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORS

June 10, 2016

Andre Iguodala

Cleveland, Ohio: Game Four

Golden State 108, Cleveland 97

Q. Andre, can you talk about how you gave your contribution to the team in terms of defense and the seven assists.
ANDRE IGUODALA: Well, we have a very unique team. We have a lot of solid basketball players. We have some really good shooters, great shooters. We have some really good -- we have some very skilled big men. We have some skilled wing players who can play multiple positions, and I just happen to be one of the guys that can try to fulfill any void a team needs on any given night. I've been in the league a good amount of time, and I just feel like I have a good understanding of the game and what my team needs for me to bring to the table.

But defense is one of those constants that's night-in and night-out, and trying to make it as tough as possible for the opponent.

Q. Steph's first three games were a big storyline going in here. Hard to say we've seen him that ineffective over that long a period. What did you see might have changed things for him tonight? And how do you think all that talk about his sub-par play as Draymond called it, slander, might have impacted his play tonight?
ANDRE IGUODALA: Well, you always want to answer the challenge, especially after a bad loss and that's something we've kind of used as motivation throughout the season is never lose two games in a row. We've been blessed to not have that happen up until the OKC series. But he's in a situation that few go through. But the two guys it's on is him and the guy on the other team. The game has gone globally as far as the attention, social media. Wherever you go, my Twitter feed is Business Insider, Tech Crunch, Wall Street Journal, so I block everything basketball in the Playoffs. But it's coming up now, which just shows how our game is so fascinating to so many different sectors not just here in the United States but globally.

So the eyes are on those two guys. It's going to be a story if one guy plays well and the other one doesn't. And one team has to lose, and one of those guys is going to get the blame. For us, it's trying to make life as easy for him as possible, because he does the same for us. I wouldn't have a championship ring, I wouldn't have the accolades that I've had since I've been with this team without that guy on our team.

Q. We were talking earlier this week and you were saying how you really try to take the temperature of your team and make sure that they're kind of in the right emotional mental space at any given moment, so you've got 48 hours before a chance to clinch your second straight title. What's going to be your focus as you kind of relate to your guys the next few days?
ANDRE IGUODALA: I think the biggest thing is to get them to understand how hard it's going to be. You know, we had a closeout game here last year, and it was very difficult down the stretch. Calls may not go your way, or they might seem like they're never going to die, which we don't plan on them dying at all anyway. But if you have that understanding in your mind that this is as hard as it's ever going to get, that's the right thought process to have.

You have to play smart. You've got to go all out, no matter if you play 40 minutes or Festus played 1:19 tonight, but he contributed. So one through 15 have to understand that and just be ready to play.

Q. Within the framework of winning a championship, you guys have the challenge nightly of dealing with LeBron James, and it seems like it's a group effort. It takes multiple Warriors. How helpful or supportive are you of each other in the process of a game tonight like this? When you get the result you get tonight, how much satisfaction is there in dealing with him as effectively as you did?
ANDRE IGUODALA: Well, that's something I've been saying throughout my whole career. You've got a guy like that, physically gifted, high IQ, one of the best passers I've ever seen, he gets it going, there's nothing you can do. It doesn't take one guy to come in and cut off the water or shut him down. It takes five guys.

Throughout these Playoffs we've had some of the top scorers in this league who we've had to try to contain collectively, and he's the tip of the iceberg as far as collectively we have to work together and communicate to keep him from exploding on us or having those really high-assist games where he's making everybody on their team a much better player.

Q. Kind of along those lines, but LeBron had seven turnovers, he also seemed out of sync, especially in the first half. Do you think that's what you guys were doing to him? Could you get any sense of frustration there?
ANDRE IGUODALA: I think the best mentality to have is at any moment the guy can just turn into an uncontainable player, and you've got to have the appropriate fear. Even if you do see a little doubt, you still take the approach that he can hurt you at any given moment, and he's done that. So we've got to have our guards high and, like I said, collectively be locked in.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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