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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS VS SPURS

May 13, 2017

David Lee

Oakland, California - Practice Day

Q. Seems like for most people, most experts have already anointed them to the Finals. Do you ever embrace an underdog role and does it bother you to hear things like that?
DAVID LEE: Well I think the first thing that coach has talked to us about is trying to minimize listening to that stuff at all. The last two series, we were supposed to cruise through the last two series and we were the higher seeded team and everything like that and they were two very difficult series. So now the roles are flipped, according to the media. I don't think that means anything, except for we got to go in and be ready to play the games like we did the last two series.

Q. Manu [Ginobili] said that you're obviously not going to stop everything that they do, but you all have to make sure that you follow the rules. What are the rules?
DAVID LEE: Well it's very similar to Houston. I consider them a better version of what Houston does, where you want to get out and run, have a lot of guys that can score the ball. As a team, they're one of the best teams ever I guess scoring the ball. The biggest thing is going to be stopping their transition and from them getting easy threes and easy layups. Similar to what we did in the Houston series is, if they're hitting threes and they're getting fast-break opportunities and we're turning the ball over, things are going to be a lot easier on them than if we make them score five-on-five against our contested defense.

Q. One of the biggest advantages obviously that you guys have in this series is your bench. Is that something that you guys are going to try to exploit?
DAVID LEE: Well, of course the game will determine that and coach will make those decisions on what we do, but we have been a team that all season long has utilized all our players in different situations and I think like you said it's one of our strengths, that we're deep and that guys can fill in for one another. So, yeah, we'll try to use that to our advantage as much as we can and continue to, everybody will be ready and ready to contribute in the series.

Q. Was that 2013 series against the Spurs almost like a launching pad for the Warriors?
DAVID LEE: Wow, throwing it back huh? Yeah, I remember being in that series and I was coming off an injury, but that was -- I remember we came all the way back in a game here and again I guess it was, Manu hits a Manu shot, makes a Manu play and years later he's still doing the same thing, so some things never change. But this, the Warriors success is somewhat new, obviously the Spurs have been sustaining it for a lot longer, but two franchises that have won a lot of games in recent memory and two teams that are very, very good and it's going to be an exciting fun series.

Q. Did you have a sense of how good that team could become?
DAVID LEE: Well, yeah, I mean I think that you look at the potential of situations and if guys continue to get better and better and things like that and stay injury-free, and, just because there's a potential for it to be there. Look at a team now like a Utah and you kind of see the same thing where they have a lot of the pieces moving forward that could be really good. But just seeing that all come together -- things can work out a million different ways -- and for us with the Warriors, it eventually gave us a championship and that was a really exciting time. And now that team is very different than they were two years ago when I was there, but obviously still very successful.

Q. Any mixed emotions from you heading back there?
DAVID LEE: No, I try to keep things as simple as possible. I mean, it's a building and an environment, a lot of people out there that I'm very familiar with and keep in touch with many of the guys on their team still. With that being said, they're competitors, I'm a competitor, guys on my team here, the Spurs, are competitors -- and by "my team" I didn't mean my team, but I just meant the current team I'm with are competitors. So we know it's going to be a highly contested series and a series where both teams are playing hard and trying to get wins.

Q. Word is David West is helping them kind of scout the Spurs. Are you helping these guys with the Warriors?
DAVID LEE: No Coach Popovich determines that. And like I said, a lot of the stuff that they do with having KD versus two years ago when I was there, having a more typical lineup with [Andrew] Bogut and guys like that in there it's completely different. So, I, the thing with this series, with the amount of basketball we played this year, I'm not sure there's a whole lot of secrets with what we're doing and what they're doing. It comes down to execution of a game plan and both teams are going to be trying to do their best at that.

Q. This time the other team's the big favorite, you guys are the underdog, but psychologically you guys doing what you did the other night to win without Tony [Parker] and then Kawhi obviously a late scratch, what does that do for you guys psychologically going in against a team that's a heavy favorite?
DAVID LEE: I think that is all good story line leading up to the games, but once we get on the court, we're two teams that won over 60 games this year and a lots of people see them as the favorite, but more than anything we got to go out there and play the game and that's why you play a seven-game series and we know they're a very good team and have a lot of respect for them and I believe they respect us, without putting words in their mouth, so, yeah, it's going to be a fun series. But all that is fun media play and fun lead-up and everything like that, but once the game starts, we're going to be locked in trying to get a win just like any other series.

Q. Everybody talks about their offense, can you talk a little bit about their defense, a lot of times it's overlooked.
DAVID LEE: Yeah, their defense is, with all the three-pointers and all the dunks and stuff, you kind of overlook their defense sometimes. And they're a team that really scrambles well and is very interchangeable with a lot of pieces they have. Obviously Draymond is the leader of their defense and does a great job for them. Similar to Kawhi anchoring our defense. So a very good all-around defensive team that scrambles a lot, creates a lot of turnovers, creates a lot of havoc and that's how they like to get out and get a lot of points off that.

Q. Without Tony Parker out there and with potentially a rookie starting for you guys at the point guard position, is there any concern there or how do you guys approach that?
DAVID LEE: Well, Tony's a huge piece of this franchise and of what we did all season long. We were able to survive last series doing that with Patty and Dejounte [Murray] and I thought both those guys stepped up and, once again, that plays back into the, our team depth and guys filling in for one another. When one guy goes down, somebody else has to step up and play well. And I thought that Patty was consistently really, really good for us and I thought Dejounte in that final game was as good as anybody we had on the court. So that's just, guys are going to have to continue to step up and we're going to have to use our depth to our advantage.

Q. Is Kawhi being hobbled a concern at all or do you think it's -- or do you think he's fine?
DAVID LEE: You would have to ask Kawhi that question.

Q. You played with Draymond. Are you preparing these guys for some of the trash talking that he's going to do?
DAVID LEE: Draymond and I are friends. With that being said, on the court is a business thing and it's similar to playing a Patrick Beverley, a guy that's going to talk a lot and get his team going and he's the vocal leader of that team and is very effective at that. So I think we take our Spurs approach as usual and that's to be business like on the court and to focus on what we have to accomplish.

Q. You almost have to hold yourself back from trash talking too?
DAVID LEE: No, no, that's not my game. That's not my game. I'll do a little celebrating after an "and one" or a dunk or something, but that's not my game. That's more his game than mine.

Q. You've been in the league obviously a long time, you see players come and go, Dejounte, how good is that kid going to be in a few years?
DAVID LEE: Yeah, he's really good. The thing I've been most impressed with this season with him has just been his attitude. He's had times he hasn't played, times he's in the D-League and he got hurt, a lot of pitfalls for a rookie that would, a lot of guys would get very frustrated, get very down and start pointing the finger and complaining why they're not playing. Instead his answer to me, I've always checked with him and said, everything good, and he always said, yeah, man, my time will come. I'm not sure if he knew that would be this year or in the future but he's stepped up big for us and just really proud of him and, obviously, what he's done on the court, but also how he's handled himself off the court I think that as much as anything else matters moving forward on how good you're going to be.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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