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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

May 31, 2017

Stephen Curry

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. Two-parter for you. When you watch, as a world-class shooter, Kevin Love, especially in the Conference Finals and the way he sort of took Boston apart, what impressed you most about his game in that series?
STEPHEN CURRY: He was always in the right spot at the right time. They obviously have some great passers that can find him. But he showed an ability to obviously catch and shoot really well and really consistently. Used his pump fake really well to keep people on their toes and not let them just sell out, to try to challenge his three. And he even had a couple off the dribble that were pretty impressive for a big man to be able to do that as well.

So all those things that shooters -- you respect when guys can line it up and knock it down consistently, especially in big moments, and he's been able to do that.

Q. Secondly, knowing the kind of impact that Draymond can have at the defensive end, what can he do to kind of keep Kevin Love in check in this series so that you guys could load up on those other two players?
STEPHEN CURRY: Well, it's -- the biggest thing is obviously to try to take away what I was just talking about, the best way you can. It's going to be a lot of rotations going on, there's going to be a lot of cross match and things like that. So it probably won't always be on Draymond, but if we can take away his 3-point game, that helps.

He's obviously got more on the block that he can go to as well, so you got to send bodies at him that way. But his biggest threat, especially in that lineup they have, is when he's able to move around the court in space and knock down those timely threes. You can't let that happen if you want to be successful.

Q. The last couple years I know you guys have gone by the mantra: Just us. Do you have a different mantra this year, something that has carried you guys, or you personally, or a song or in particular...
STEPHEN CURRY: Not really. We are who we are, same bunch of guys that lived by that "just us" mentality. Players, coaching staff, everybody that gets in that huddle and you say it, we're all together, we all have each other's backs when we're out there on the floor. That's how we have to play. So that's been that way for years. And as long as I'm here, and most of the core, that won't change.

Q. Secondly, is there anyone in particular that you have gotten any advice from, former player or someone who has played, like a Kobe or...
STEPHEN CURRY: No, I haven't been in touch with the Kobe muse yet. Maybe I'm the next in line. Not really. Just knowing my own experiences the last few years and being around our coaching staff who have been in a lot of different situations with us, that's kind of all the advice that I need right now.

Q. In '15 and in' 16 there was so much talk or focus about you versus LeBron and comparisons and rivalry, if one exists. Do you think that Kevin coming here has changed that or cooled that or taken focus away from the specific LeBron versus Steph dynamic, whatever that might have been?
STEPHEN CURRY: You're asking the wrong person. I don't know. It's not something I focus on. Same answer I've had the last two years: That's not why I'm playing; that's not why I do what I do every single game; that's not my perspective. So what people want to say about my game or LeBron or Kyrie or K.D., whoever you want to match us up and compare and contrast and all that kind of stuff, at the end of the day, we're all trying to win championships. If we can accomplish that, that's good enough for me.

So obviously LeBron and K.D. have had comparisons since K.D.'s been in the league pretty much, and they take on lives of their own, and we can't really worry about that.

Q. Does the shooting sleeve have to do with the elbow discomfort and do you plan to wear it in The Finals?
STEPHEN CURRY: Probably will. It's just a little bit of swelling but has nothing to do with my performance. It doesn't hurt or anything like that. So I don't really think about it much. It's just trying to control that. So we'll see. It worked pretty well in Game 4 of last series. I don't know.

Q. The sleeve doesn't bother your shooting arm at all?
STEPHEN CURRY: No. If it did, I would not be wearing it.

Q. Last year you guys had tremendous expectations on you, and then to lose the way you did had to sting. What does it mean to you to get back here to this historic opportunity in a trilogy, and how much of a motivating factor has that been for you?
STEPHEN CURRY: It's been a great motivating factor. The year before was -- kind of in the same boat. I have great memories of that and terrible memories of last year, but they're both lessons that you can learn going into this series, knowing what it takes to win, how important every possession is, focusing on the details, especially against the same team for the third time. We kind of know some of their tendencies and just have a better familiarity with how we're going to be successful against them.

But, yeah, I don't want to feel what I felt last year and going to do everything in my power to attack every game with that kind of perspective. But we obviously have been through a championship success story where we know what it takes to win. So got to fuel both of those experiences as best we can to put us in the best position to win this series.

Q. If I could follow up, how did you work things out with Durant over the course of the season to where everybody kind of gets what is expected of everybody else in this sort of free-flowing offense?
STEPHEN CURRY: It's kind of a natural progression as time went on. From October to pretty much December it was a little bit of a feeling-out process of understanding how we all were going to get our shots and how the ball was going to move and if things kind of got bogged down in crunch time or late-game situations, how we were going to be successful. And just trial and error, really. Get out there and you play and you log minutes and understand what the feel is going to be like and you work through some of the struggles just like any other team.

We hit our stride probably after the new year, and obviously when K.D. got hurt, we had to kind of readjust and try to do it in his absence. I think that made us better when he came back because he's obviously such an efficient unique scorer in this league, and has been for years, that he doesn't require much when it comes to getting him the ball in certain spots.

But we work around those other opportunities, myself Klay, Draymond, knowing that ball's going to be hopping and we have so many threats to finish out those plays, we all got to be aggressive, be ourselves, not have to, quote/unquote, sacrifice anything of our games as we put it together in that full unit.

Q. What's it been like for you to make this an annual ritual getting to the Finals and having that two-month marathon in the Playoffs every year? Have you learned to manage your body differently, manage your emotions differently throughout the course of a regular season?
STEPHEN CURRY: For sure. I used to argue and complain and whine about trying to get two or three extra minutes during the regular season with a different perspective about trying to keep yourself fresh for this time of year. So part of that is how you manage the 82-game schedule. Been down that road with all that resting talk and all that nonsense. It was just -- more than that, just how you pace yourself with taking care of your body, your strength program, your how you eat, all that kind of stuff that goes into the longevity throughout the season.

But beyond that, we have a coach that he's had that perspective for sure, so every year we have gotten better at it. I think this year with the way the Playoffs went and how we may not have had to pace ourself between series with these crazy long breaks and whatnot. This is a different experience and one that we kind of had to be collaboratively focused on staying sharp but getting our rest and that kind of back-and-forth dynamic. I think we did a pretty good job of it. It should show during this series, all those little decisions along the way that will help us be fresh and ready to go tomorrow.

Q. For you personally, can you even compare how you feel mentally and physically versus going into Game 1 of last year's Finals?
STEPHEN CURRY: It's totally different. Obviously that was a Game 7 with a three-day turnaround in the Game 1, so that alone was a little different. Obviously not really dealing with any bumps or bruises really besides this elbow that's not really a factor. So other than that, feeling fresh. Nine days in between our last game and tomorrow, I think we have used it wisely and we should be ready to go.

Q. Draymond mentioned K.D. had more pressure compared to other players. Do you feel that? Do you communicate with K.D. on how to release the pressure?
STEPHEN CURRY: You said he has more pressure?

Q. Yeah.
STEPHEN CURRY: I don't necessarily agree. I guess we all have pressure to win four games. Like we all are out there. We got 48 minutes to prove ourselves in this big stage every single night. He's been in The Finals before, so he knows he can kind of think back to those memories when they played -- was it 2013?

So that's helpful, for sure, but we're all in the same boat, man. We're all fighting for the same trophy, the same goal, and there's no more pressure on K.D. than there is on me, than there is on Draymond or Klay. We all got to be ready.

MODERATOR: Thanks, Steph.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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