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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS VS SPURS

May 13, 2017

Manu Ginobili

Oakland, California - Practice Day

Q. It's finally here. You guys ready?
MANU GINOBILI: Yeah. Yeah. We didn't have much time to practice. It was a long series, exhausting series, now we play now at noon. But we are here, happy to be here, and we've got to prepare as fast as we can.

Q. LaMarcus has obviously been a little bit up and down these Playoffs; how important is it for him to play his best basketball for you guys to succeed in this next series?
MANU GINOBILI: We need him to score. Probably not that much against Houston because Houston is a different type of defensive team than Golden State, but against Golden State we're going to need him in the post to make some damage. It's great to see him finish the previous series on a high note, and hopefully his confidence is higher.

Q. Is it just him or is it bigs in general? You guys averaged 51 points in the paint last series, higher than your season average. Do you guys need everyone here?
MANU GINOBILI: I mean, it's not like we're playing the 14th team in the West. We are playing one of the best teams like almost ever, last year [73] wins, made it to The Finals, this year [67] whatever. They are tough, and they added to that incredible offensive talent and good, solid defense. They have the whole package, and we've got to all perform and shoot well and decide not to turn it over and a lot of things to have a chance of winning against Golden State.

Q. How do you approach that defensively, that four-headed monster?
MANU GINOBILI: We're going to end up scrambling, hustling every play, trying to -- if they're going to make 20 threes contested, there's not much you can do, but if they start shooting threes in transition after two passes or we don't switch or we don't step or we don't follow the rules, we give them everything, then it's impossible. They are going to get hot, and they're going to make runs, and that's who they are. We've just got to be steady for 48 minutes.

Q. Was the game the other night a template for how to defend them?
MANU GINOBILI: I mean, Houston is a team that prepares you for that type of game. Of course more talent, more shooters, more ball handlers, so you've got to do an even better job, and they're much better defensively, too. No, it is tougher, but the further you go, the tougher it gets, and we've got to be as solid as we can.

Q. Any word on Kawhi?
MANU GINOBILI: He looked better today. I don't know. It's short rest, so I assume -- he wanted to play the last game, so I assume he's going to be ready. We haven't seen him play. He's resting and trying to be ready for tomorrow, so we'll see. I hope he does play.

Q. He was a full participant in everything you guys did today?
MANU GINOBILI: Full is a big word. In this case Pop is concerned, he is concerned, and we want to be sure that he is ready for when it counts, not today.

Q. All the, quote-unquote, experts already have Golden State moving on. Do you embrace that underdog role, or does it bother you?
MANU GINOBILI: I mean, it makes complete sense for them to be the favorites. They had an unbelievable season even with Durant out for 20-something games. They beat us the last game pretty easily without him. So I understand why they might be favorites. We're just going to go out there, compete, and try to play our best series.

I mean, pretty sure Houston was underdogs with us, and they played a great series. They had a bad sixth game. Anything can happen in a playoff series. But for anything to happen, we've got to play our best basketball possible.

Q. Everybody talks about their offense, and naturally they've got great shooters, great scorers. What about their defense?
MANU GINOBILI: Oh, yeah, that's what I said. I mean, to their incredible offensive talent, they've added some good, solid defense now. They're strong. They've got size. They strip the ball from you. They cause a lot of turnovers, and they run. I mean, you don't win [73] and [67] in two seasons if you just have good offense. So definitely they've become an incredible team, and we have a lot of respect for them.

Q. With the second-round exit last season, getting to the Western Conference Finals this season, how important was that for you at this stage of your career?
MANU GINOBILI: I mean, we want to get as far as possible, and if we can be the last team standing, it would be awesome. If you don't because the other team plays better, like what happened last year, what are you going to do? Shake their hands, and you feel satisfied with the way you competed. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In these 15 years, now 16th, sometimes, enough times, did great and played until the end, and others we didn't. I mean, it's sport. I've just got to face it, and sometimes it doesn't happen.

Q. You did it the first year without Tim Duncan at the Western Conference Finals. That has to be some type of --
MANU GINOBILI: Oh, yeah, for sure it's a great achievement. We wanted to be here last year, too, and I think we had a great chance, we just didn't win that Game 5 and then Game 6 was tough. Now we did. But you know, we've got other players, too. We're always in a good spot, too. The last few years we've won 60 games, so I guess we deserve to be in that spot even without Tim. But for sure, when you lose a guy like that, and Tony now, it's hard because those are leaders and people with a lot of experience that you need them in key situations. They're going to be missed, but we've got to go and compete with what we have.

Q. They got a chance to rest. Is there any advantage to you guys having a rhythm going into this series?
MANU GINOBILI: I always prefer to rest. I always prefer to win in four if we have the opportunity. You get everybody healthy, you can prepare more. You go through the motions, your offense here at practice. Again, we played Thursday, and now we play Sunday noon. It's not like we had the opportunity to prepare that much. I would prefer to sweep if I can.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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