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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 6, 2017

Andre Iguodala

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. I was talking to Richard Jefferson and he was saying as guys like him get older, they guard bigger guys. As you get older in the league, you use all your experience and you guard bigger guys. You've been doing that for a while, right? Has that been a natural progression in your career and why you find yourself guarding LeBron so well over the years?
ANDRE IGUODALA: I think it's more of the evolution of the game, where our game is right now, where everything is kind of on the perimeter. We have the floor stretched out a little bit more, and you don't have dominant centers like Shaq. I shouldn't say the game has gotten smaller, but you have 7-footers on the wing now. The three-ball is a little bit more important or has a bigger effect on the game. I think it's more that. But I understand where he's coming from. I don't know, maybe I'll get to where he's at as far as being older in the league, but I don't kind of see myself older yet (smiling).

Q. I'm not saying you're old.
ANDRE IGUODALA: I'm not embracing it yet (smiling).

Q. I'm not saying old, I'm saying older.
ANDRE IGUODALA: Older, yeah. But I don't know. I think it's a mix of the two. But definitely the game has moved out to the perimeter, so you have four men who are 6-7, 6-8 and stretching the floor out, doing different things.

Q. That's not what you signed up for. When you first came in, it was different circumstances.
ANDRE IGUODALA: Yeah, it was a little different. But I remember playing against Boston. I guarded [Rajon] Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul [Pierce], because I was always guarding him, and I was guarding KG [Kevin Garnett] on a few possessions and then I guarded [Kendrick] Perkins. And that's when I thought, this game is kind of crazy. That's the first time that ever happened. So being a defensive guy, you match up against a lot of different players.

Q. Do you expect LeBron to post up more since he hasn't been doing that in the first couple games?
ANDRE IGUODALA: I think it's an option for them. You have to prepare for anything. He's done that throughout his career, so we'll see what type of adjustments they make. The key for us is to be able to counter that as quickly and early as possible. That will benefit us most, in how we adjust to those things.

Q. Last year obviously you won the first two games, and you won the first two games this year. What are you guys going to do differently this year than last year? What can you draw on from last year? What has to be your mindset?
ANDRE IGUODALA: I think we were ready from the jump [last year]. But just be able to take that first initial punch. And like I said, anything they throw in the game, be ready to adjust to it. The longer it takes, the more confidence they get. So we just have to be mentally prepared to withstand the runs that they make at us or the small adjustments they make and be able to counter it.

Q. How much do you enjoy what your career has turned into? You've really been able to establish your career on your own terms, whereas early on people wanted you to be something that they wanted you to be.
ANDRE IGUODALA: I've always been the type of person who has been comfortable with myself. I never really tried to fit in. I kind of embraced that at an early age. I got made fun of for making straight A's on the basketball team. I was the guy that made All-Academic. My teammates had no clue until they heard the news.

Things like that kind of prepares you -- strange how that works.

I wasn't really predicted to be here until I got here. I didn't even know it. You just embrace how you were built and the way you were built, and just stick to who you truly are.

Q. You kept the grades secret? It was just your thing? You weren't bragging about it or anything?
ANDRE IGUODALA: No. My mom, she was bigger than me until I was like 16. So I was afraid of her for a while. So it was just habits at a young age. Just don't mess up.

Q. How much has Curry, Durant and even LeBron, how much have they changed the game over the years you've been in the League?
ANDRE IGUODALA: They have all changed the game. There are gifts and curses, but I think more gifts. I think LeBron, he didn't change who he naturally was. Everybody wanted him to score the ball like MJ, but he was naturally just a gifted passer and gifted facilitator and could create. I think he's done an awesome job of embracing the scoring side, which isn't natural to him, but he's embraced it and he's maximized that. It's amazing to see a guy who can pass the ball the way he does and still be able to score.

Then you saw the kind of the gold rush for Steph. Everybody is kind of gravitating to how he's playing.

That's something that you could see on a day-to-day basis, shorter guys who can dominate the game the way he has the last couple of years. You get kind of the normal guy more into the game, that they can relate [to], because he is a guy who looks like them from a physique standpoint.

With KD, you just see kind of the supernatural. It's just crazy. He's hard to explain. But now, that's kind of what every 6-10 guy wants to be like. They're trying to be like that, but that's gifts.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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