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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATEJune 4, 2017Draymond GreenKevin DurantOakland, California: Postgame Warriors - 132, Cavaliers - 113 Q. For either or both of you, what was the scene like in the locker room when you guys learned that Steve would be coaching tonight, and were there moments during the game when you kind of took that, took stock of that, and felt his presence? DRAYMOND GREEN: I think for me I saw it -- I mean, social media tells you everything nowadays, so before he even came in the locker room, I had just finished my pregame shoot, and it came across my phone. So I think everybody kind of found it out at different times, but it's obviously great to have him back on the sidelines, but it's still business as usual. It didn't feel any different as far as play calls and things we need to do. That's why he prepared the staff the way he did in his absence, and he came back and we just wanted to keep the ball rolling. But it's definitely great to see him over there and have him talking in the timeouts and out there leading us. Q. Be interested in both you guys' general thoughts about the game tonight, but also Draymond, I'm interested in your thoughts of how you've been able to restrain yourself emotionally and avoid getting -- KEVIN DURANT: Geez. DRAYMOND GREEN: You act like I'm just this troubled guy who's been in a bunch of trouble and can't control myself and Jesus Christ. Q. You've avoided going over the line, right, to get any T's so far? KEVIN DURANT: You waiting on him to go across the line. Q. No, I'm interested in what his -- how he's been able to do that. DRAYMOND GREEN: I just been playing basketball, brother. And when you got great teammates like I do, who allow me to play with my emotions and allow me to be emotional when I'm talking to them, to use my emotions to the better for us, it's easy. So just really trying to lead this team as much as I can in the ways that I do for this team. Not worrying about the officials and all that. I think at the end of the day, I think everyone talks to officials. I talk to them. But going over the edge isn't going to win me a championship. I think I'm pretty smart guy and I learned my lesson, so I went over the edge before, fool me once, you can't fool me twice. Q. Kevin, what was your take on that play Steph made where he dribbled around LeBron, goes left through the paint, beats him to the rim? And also how much did Klay's shooting really open things up for you guys at all today? KEVIN DURANT: Well, that was a good play by Steph, just driving to the rim, just trying to be aggressive. We love when he's aggressive. And tonight he shot 14 free throws, so that's huge for us. We needed that, especially when we were struggling a bit, turning the ball over, not getting shots up. He was great. And he controlled the game from the point guard position really, really well tonight. As far as Klay, no matter if he's making them or not, he's still drawing a lot of attention because he can shoot so well. But I think that his driving to the rim, his defense got him going and knocking down his three, so he drove to the rim a few times. He had what? Seven rebounds. Never seen it. DRAYMOND GREEN: Never seen it. KEVIN DURANT: But all in all he just played with confidence, he just tried to follow the game plan on the defensive end, and it was good for us. Q. They said coming into this game they were going to look to pick up the pace. I wonder over 48 minutes, do you guys -- are you guys pretty comfortable with that, think that that kind of plays in your hands? KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, they were, they came on through a nice blow to start the game, getting to the paint, and I think that's one thing we got to cover. We can't give up 23 points off our turnovers. Especially a championship team like that, they're going to thrive off of it. So they were going downhill, getting into the paint, but I just think we just stayed poised and tried to play better one-on-one defense and make them shoot over or contest. And they're going to make some, but if we just try to make it tough on them, it will be in our favor. Q. Draymond, how big a luxury is it when you get in foul trouble and you guys still want to go small to have Kevin that can basically play center? And, Kevin, in those moments, did you feel you had to step up defensively? DRAYMOND GREEN: It's great. I don't think there's many teams in the league who their backup is better than their starter. So I think that's a luxury that we have and with K.D. here and when I went out with foul trouble, obviously he -- to say pick up the slack is kind of a ridiculous term, because he's a great player, a MVP, one of the best players in the world. So just the way he played on the defensive end, the way he played on the offensive end, he's been -- he's been doing it all playoff long, but in these Finals he's really picked it up and it's been huge for us. So with me going out, it wasn't like we were going to skip a beat with him right there taking over my minutes. Q. Both of you, I know you have not won the championship yet, you're still two games away, and it's a long ways for those two games. At the same time, this streak is quite remarkable. It's something that's never been done before. Is there a common thread in these 14 games that's allowed this team to remain undefeated so far? And if you can take a step back, are you impressed with this? KEVIN DURANT: I'm not going to take a step back. Q. Okay. But can you talk about is there a common thread that can describe why this team is playing so well in these 14 games? KEVIN DURANT: Like I said, we're worried about the series right now. So we're just trying to just stay in the moment. But for the most part we just try to play hard and try to play smart every possession down. Can we do that? We could play hard every possession, but can we play smart? That's the question sometimes. And so we're just trying to stay with it. We know this is far from over. We know how hard it is to be the best team in the league. So we got to just keep going, man, keep our foot on the gas and keep getting better every day. Q. Your defensive night, five blocks, three steals, just what did you see and was it because you were playing small ball center that kind of presented those opportunities? KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, when Draymond went out, I just tried to do my best to help everybody out. He's so good at just sniffing out plays before they happen. And so I just tried to follow his lead with that, and I learned so much from him throughout the season. But I'm just trying to play hard, man. I keep saying that. Just play hard every possession. I'm going to make mistakes but not get discouraged because guys make shots over me or I gave up an and-one the first play of the game. So I just try to just keep my head up and think about the next play and just play hard for my teammates. Q. Draymond, what have you seen from Kevin and Steph these first two games? DRAYMOND GREEN: I see two guys who Steph has been around for five years, K, who I've been a teammate now with for a year, but played against for five years, more locked in than I've ever seen either one of them in my life. Whether it was playing against him, other than when he put 52 up on my head -- KEVIN DURANT: 54. DRAYMOND GREEN: My fault. (Laughter.) Shortchanged him. Other than that, when you got somebody doing you like that, it's just like a burning fire in their eye and you know you don't stand a chance. But that's like the look that I see in him throughout this Finals. And both of them, to me, it seemed like it's personal for both of them. And you are talking two of the greatest players that we got in this world locked in the way they are, that's why we're up 2-0. And they're two of our leaders that we follow, and with them playing like that, it's everybody has to be locked in, when you got those two guys locked in like that. So they continue to do that, which I have no doubt in my mind they will, we'll continue to follow their lead. Q. Draymond, you're passionate when you're in the game or not in the game. And I thought the best reaction you had tonight was when Kevin had a block of Love late in the game, he went down and had a runner at the other end? DRAYMOND GREEN: And one? Q. Yeah. DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah. Q. And you were into it. And I thought that single play probably finished them off. Could you talk about what one play can do in terms of lighting up the crowd and lighting up your fans and your team? DRAYMOND GREEN: When you make a play like that, number one, where they think they got a mismatch and they're trying to go at K in the post, and he blocked the shot, get the rebound, start talking, see, that's the big part for me, you know, he blocks a shot and start talking, so that's what got me hyped. So then they pushed the ball up the floor. And you can see right there in him he's not passing that ball; he's going to get a bucket. He took some contact and still finished the play. Those are the plays that kind of put you over the top, the plays that just bring life into a team. That's the luxury that you have with K, where he get a block, he get the rebound, he don't have to give the ball to nobody, he can go get a bucket. That was a huge play for us. Like you said, I think that's where we kind of closed the game out with that play right there. Q. Kevin, LeBron was really kind of dominating the game for three quarters, then you actually took a lot of the responsibility of guarding him in the fourth, and he only had two points after that, while he was also guarding you and you were putting those buckets in to kind of put the dagger. Can you speak about the fourth quarter kind of going back and forth with LeBron? And, Draymond, I do believe during that sequence you just spoke about, you did flex for that, and do you transfer your flexing powers over to Kevin Durant -- KEVIN DURANT: Geez. Q. -- when you get sequences like that? KEVIN DURANT: First off, and Andre Iguodala was guarding him for the most part in the second half, and Draymond was out, so I had to play four and guard a big. So Andre did a solid job with just trying to make it tough on him. And we just tried to help him out as well. Offensively, I just tried to play within the offense and move and be aggressive when the ball's in my hands. And so there you go with that part. DRAYMOND GREEN: That was a man play. I don't really know if I could put this power in these arms, though. KEVIN DURANT: Oh, my gosh. (Laughter.) FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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