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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORS

June 12, 2016

Klay Thompson

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. What was your -- I guess you heard on the practice floor. What was your reaction when you heard Draymond was going to miss the next game?
KLAY THOMPSON: I mean, it's disappointing, but I'm not going to let it get us down. We had a next-man-up approach all year. Draymond, we know it's going to kill him not being there, but we're going to go out there and do it as a team and win for him. Go out there and try to make a statement on our home floor.

Q. He's only missed one game this season, lost it. What are you going to miss when he's not there? What do you most feel like the void is going to be?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, obviously his defense, rebounding, intensity, and just -- and his emotional impact on the game.

We obviously can make up for it, but we've got to do it collectively. Nobody can make up what Draymond does individually. Luckily for us, we've got such a deep, talented team, we can really do it, and we believe it 1,000 percent.

Q. Can you talk about that sequence in Game 4 where LeBron and Draymond interacted? What was your take on what went down there? What were you seeing on the court?
KLAY THOMPSON: I mean, they got tangled up. I didn't even get to see the whole play. I saw them barking at each other, but it's nothing -- I mean, guys talk trash in this league all the time. I'm just kind of shocked some guys take it so personal (laughing). It's like, I mean, you know, it's a man's league and I've heard a lot of bad things on that court, but at the end of the day it stays on the court.

We're all competitive people. I mean, trash talk is a part of the game in basketball. It's a part of any sport, especially this competitive.

Q. LeBron spoke about that directly after the game. Do you think he overreacted?
KLAY THOMPSON: I don't know. I'm not -- I don't know how the man feels. But obviously people have feelings and people's feelings get hurt even if they're called a bad word. I guess his feelings just got hurt. I mean, we've all been called plenty of bad words on the basketball court before. Some guys just react to it differently.

All I can say for myself individually, I just try to ignore it or just let it fuel the fire, but I don't carry it with me when the job is done.

Q. Klay, it's hard obviously to know exactly what was going through LeBron's mind. But given the situation and having him knowing what Draymond's situation was, do you think there's any possibility that LeBron knew what he was doing in making sure he was mixing it up with Draymond?
KLAY THOMPSON: I mean, maybe. I guess that's -- I mean, I don't know. Trying to get any advantage he can get, maybe. I can't speak for the man. I don't know how he thinks or what his motive was.

But from my point of view, it just looked like two competitors who wanted to win very badly getting tangled up. I mean, I've seen it a thousands of times in this league. Obviously with the stakes that we're playing for, everything's going to be a little more in the spotlight. But I don't know. I don't think he was.

Q. Given how hot Draymond sort of runs, how he plays, are you aware of guys having any talks with him to sort of remind him of where he stood in this point system? The second part, is it a little bit like starting a game with four or five fouls in his case because he knows that the first one's going to be a problem?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, I mean, we mentioned it, but I don't think he did anything purposely to put himself in that position. From what I saw out there, it just looked incidental. But whatever he did in Game 4 was not on purpose. So he was not trying to -- Draymond's a very intelligent player. He was by no means trying to get thrown out.

So we're going to make up for it, though, and it is what it is at this point, and we're just going to go out there and next-man-up approach.

Q. Klay, talk about growing up, playground, what's the rules of trash talking, and do you consider it once you walk off the floor, it's done and over with?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, I mean, there are some unwritten rules. You don't really talk about anybody's family. That's probably the biggest rule. You don't bring any outside factors into it. But if it's just talking man-to-man, me and my friends are playing, growing up, AAU circuit, whatever, if it was something you said to another individual and it was going after their character or whatever but it was just about them, you can live with that.

I mean, I grew up with brothers, too, so when we would play, we'd always try to put each other down. I grew up with a lot of friends close in age and competitive. But you just, like I said before, don't bring anybody's family. That's the only time it really crosses the line, is bringing someone's family into it or talking about race or gender or something. But when it's just bad words or something or some cuss words, man, that's emotions. You let it go and you let it stay on the court.

Q. Would it be safe to say that in the NBA trash talking is commonplace?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, I feel like in every pro sport it's commonplace. Whether it's the NBA, MLB, NFL, guys are competitive, man, they're trying to win, and a lot of these guys grew up trash talking. Some of the best players in the history of the game were trash talkers. It's very common in the NBA.

Q. Coach Kerr mentioned that you guys didn't find out until late in practice that Draymond was going to be suspended. How tough does that make it to prep for Game 5 when you don't know exactly what kind of lineup you're going to have?
KLAY THOMPSON: Definitely doesn't make it easier. But we'll still have shootaround tomorrow. We'll all mentally prepare tonight what we've got to do to make up for Draymond's absence, but we'll just learn on the fly.

I mean, I'm proud of this team because we've been so great all year making adjustments, and this is just obviously a big adjustment we've got to make. But it's another challenge for us, and we're going to embrace it, and we're going to accomplish it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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