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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: JAZZ vs CLIPPERSApril 25, 2017Gordon HaywardRodney HoodLos Angeles, California: Game Five Jazz - 96, Clippers - 92 Q. Gordon, a big part of the narrative coming into the series was will a young corps such as yourselves respond to playoff pressure, and you guys through five games have held up pretty well. How have you guys been able to do that collectively, and how can you keep doing that going forward? GORDON HAYWARD: As far as like this kind of being like our first series; is that what you mean? Q. Yeah. GORDON HAYWARD: You know, I think a lot of what we've been through the last three years or whatever it's been together has helped us where we're at now. I remember talking about that at times where we had lost, at times where we had been successful about learning from it, and we'll be able to use some of those experiences later. I think that's helping us now. Obviously this is way different than a lot of us have been a part of, and so we're trying to soak up the experiences, lean on some of the veterans, Joe, G, Boris, let them guide us a little bit. But like I said, I think those experiences helped us. Q. Gordon, you guys are going back home for Game 6 up 3-2. How do you stay balanced and focused on taking care of business? GORDON HAYWARD: Yeah, it's something that we've been trying to do all series. You can't get too high on the highs. We won Game 1. Can't get too low on the lows, lost the next two. For us we have to treat this one as like a must-win. We want to close it out in Salt Lake City. We definitely don't want to come back here for Game 7. But you treat it just like -- you prepare the same way you have with all the other games, try to be focused and be ready to go. Q. Rodney, what's it like to have a guy like Joe Johnson who can make those timely shots and also play make for you guys? RODNEY HOOD: It's huge, especially going down the stretch of games. This guy right here hits a lot of big shots, and to have another guy step up and make plays for everybody, it's big for our team, and his poise has been just as important, making plays after double teams or creating for himself, so it's been big. Q. Rodney, your coach was saying your lineup has been through so many combinations that he doesn't really differentiate between starters and guys on the bench. Do you think that helps you with production off the bench? RODNEY HOOD: Yeah, it's just about what you do when you're out there, whether you start or coming off the bench, everybody's job is to play hard and be confident offensively. I think we've been doing that, especially the latter part of the season when the lineup has been different, and we just continue to play hard, give ourselves a chance to win. Q. Gordon, with about three minutes left you got the tap-out rebound to Joe for that three. What did you see on that play, and why did you go for the rebound there instead of going back on defense? GORDON HAYWARD: I think it was just adrenaline taking over at that point in time, competitive juices. You wanted to stay in the play. It's the end of the game, there's not going to be too much transition. Both teams are kind of setting things up, so you can afford to crash the glass a little bit and just try to make a play. Q. Gordon, how do you carry that energy over to Game 5? GORDON HAYWARD: To Game 6? Q. Game 6, I'm sorry. GORDON HAYWARD: To be honest, there's going to be so much energy in that building. Our fans are tremendous, and playing in front of them, I know they're going to be loud. They're going to bring us a lot of energy. I think we want to try to carry some of the momentum we have right now, and that we can do from watching film, from just remembering how we got to where we are right now. I think that answers your question. Q. Gordon, what happened with the -- call it a scrum with Chris? GORDON HAYWARD: Again, I think that's something where adrenaline takes over. I think there's just something in basketball when there's a little scrum like that, you know, you want to make sure you get the ball and come out with the ball. He tried to take it from me, so I just didn't let him. It's just competitive adrenaline. Q. Gordon, what did you see from the Clippers when they made that run to tie the game early in the fourth, and how did you guys respond? GORDON HAYWARD: Well, they were running something to get either J.J. or Chris Paul a look. It's actually a play that we run, as well. It's hard to guard. They've got three good players that are running the play, and Chris Paul had two big threes, so we had to figure out how to try to stop that. But it's definitely a tough play to guard. I'm sure they'll go back to it. Q. There's always talk about having in the Playoffs veteran players and people who have been there before, but quite the opposite with your team. Can you kind of explain how that's working in your favor? GORDON HAYWARD: Well, I think we do have veterans on our team. It's just not our whole team. Like I said, those three that we've added, George and Boris and Joe, have done it all, and we lean on them a lot, and I think us being together as far as the other guys, I think, like I said, the last three years we've been in a lot of situations where kind of came down to the wire. We were successful on some of them, we failed on some of them, and I think those experiences helped us, and I think they're helping us now. So we're still learning, and we're learning from our vets. We're letting them guide us a little bit, and we're out there competing. I think when you play hard and play smart, a lot of that takes care of itself. Q. You played a full game today with what looked like no ill effects; how does your body feel now that the game is done? GORDON HAYWARD: Yeah, I didn't have very much legs out there. I think it was good I got some open looks early. My teammates got me some wide-open ones. Definitely helps you when you see the ball go through the hoop. But I was definitely tired out there. There was points in time where I didn't have legs and I said before the game I was going to lean on my teammates. Rodney stepped up and hit some big shots, Joe Johnson. You saw late we were running a lot of stuff through him. And so a lot of it was just leaning on my teammates. I'm pretty tired and thankful we have a couple days off, try to recover as much as I can. Q. Gordon, you mentioned that there's not a lot of transition those final minutes so you can maybe be more aggressive. You guys slowed the pace so much throughout the entire game. Does that set you up for success in those final minutes because it's slower? GORDON HAYWARD: I mean, we want to try to control the game and play at our pace, make the other team have to guard the whole possession, make them try to scramble. It's tiring when you're guarding for 20 seconds and somebody gets a wide-open shot. It's a draining effect, and so I think at the end of the game, something that we're definitely used to is playing slow like that. We want to be opportunistic when we are in transition, but also, like I said, we want to play at our pace, and they like to run. I think it's a little different with Blake out. It changes some of the things that they do. But we want to play at our pace. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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