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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORS

June 15, 2016

Klay Thompson

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. Klay, how much confidence do you guys feel having Draymond back for tomorrow's game? What do you need personally as an individual to do better than the last game to try to finish the series tomorrow night?
KLAY THOMPSON: I mean, obviously it's a great addition having Draymond back. He does everything for us, and we missed him last game, obviously. So that's going to help lift us. But at the same time, we can't just relax and let our guard down because Draymond's coming back. We have to go out there and win the game and put in great effort.

And for me individually, just to play tougher defense on Kyrie, obviously. Give him credit, he was hitting very tough shots. He was on that night. But if we expect to win, we can't have him and LeBron going for 40-plus. They're going to get their numbers, but we've got to collectively slow them down because those two make them go.

Q. Steve Kerr mentioned right after the game still up 3-2 just like you were last year going back to Cleveland. Has he reinforced that to you guys? How much do you flashback to Game 6 last year knowing that you did celebrate a championship in just this way? Different circumstances, but in just this way.
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, that's a good reminder. When you lose a game in The Finals, it feels like Armageddon because obviously you have the spotlight and the stage. So you can't get too down on yourself. We had a golden opportunity. We let it slip away. That's all right though. We've got a great chance to redeem ourselves tomorrow. I don't think we really care if we win on the road or at home. We just want to win. It's hard work to get here and it's even harder to finish it off.

So we do feel good though, and we won here on the road before, so it's easy to reflect on that. But at the same time, like I said, can't just show up and expect to win. This is a very good team we're facing.

Q. Have you had time to have a film session yet? Is that coming up from the last game?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah.

Q. Did you have one already?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, we had a film session this morning. It was very good. We didn't play our brand of ball. Too many uncharacteristic turnovers. They beat us in transition 27-9 on our home floor. We were too stagnant at times. We realized it was a six-point game with six-and-a-half minutes left, and a couple bad shots and a couple good makes by them broke it open. But it was a winnable game. So as bad as we played, we were still in there.

Just tomorrow we have to be more sure with the ball. We can't let them beat us and triple our fast-break points. We've got to limit them in that aspect and not turn it over. If we stay solid on defense, I think we'll be in a good position to win.

Q. Not to knock your teammates at all, but are there spots in the film where you could tell yourself, okay, Draymond might have been in that spot and might have helped this play, does that go through your mind?
KLAY THOMPSON: No question. It would be like that if anyone was out. But plenty of times where you see Draymond makes a huge impact on the game and shows how important he is, even when he's not scoring or making the play on the ball or making the perfect pass. You can tell just his presence is huge out there.

So obviously, I mean, obviously he's a Second-Team All-NBA guy, an All-Star. So it's going to open up our offense a little more and our defense tomorrow to have him back. But like I said before, we can't just relax because Dre's back. We've got to pick up our intensity and try to exceed Cleveland's, because it's tough in their home building.

Q. What has he told you guys, has he said anything to the team or to you individually about him missing last game?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, he was very apologetic. I could tell -- we could all tell it hurt him bad. He told us it was the toughest thing he had to sit through as an athlete and couldn't imagine. But he has a chance to redeem himself tomorrow. We obviously missed him. But he was very apologetic and we understood. We had no hard feelings against him. We just need him to come correct tomorrow and everyone will forget about it. Winning is the best cure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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