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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 7, 2017

LeBron James

Cleveland, Ohio: Postgame

Warriors - 118, Cavaliers - 113

Q. Obviously down 3-0, what's the message that you communicate to your team right now in what looks like a pretty perilous situation?
LEBRON JAMES: Well, we didn't have any -- not many worries after the game. I'll figure it out within the next 48 hours. Obviously it's a dramatic situation to be in, but it is what it is and we got to get ready for Game 4.

So we're going to come in tomorrow, watch some film, see ways we can get better and just try to take it one game at a time.

Q. You guys were up six with 3:09 to go. What stands out to you in the remaining three minutes after that?
LEBRON JAMES: They made some shots and we didn't. We had some really good looks. We had some really good looks. I had a turnaround jumper in the post fade-away, I make a ton, didn't go in. Kyle had a corner three, really good look, right in front of their bench, didn't go in. They came down and Steph, one ricocheted off the backboard, he got a tip in, K.D. got a pull-up on Tristan, and then he shoots a bomb in transition.

So it's a miss-or-make league. We make a couple, they miss a couple, and it's the other way around. But it didn't happen that way.

Q. Last year you guys did something that was never done before in the NBA Finals, coming back from 3-1. Now you have an opportunity to do that again. Does that give you some confidence, give the team some confidence that, hey, it was something last year that they thought was impossible, now obviously a lot of people are going to be like this is impossible?
LEBRON JAMES: Well, of course, but for me personally I don't get involved in what people talk about. That's not -- I've been out of that department I told you guys for a long time now. So mentally, me personally, I got to go home, start my treatment right now, get my mind focused and get my body focused and get my body ready for Game 4, and we take it one possession at a time.

Q. Steve Kerr was saying after the game that he felt he kept telling his team, Kyrie and LeBron will get tired, they can't play one-on-one for 45 minutes. Was fatigue in your mind a factor in the late game execution?
LEBRON JAMES: No, only missed shots. We missed shots. I gave everything that I had, so at times throughout the game I was tired, but that's just because I was just playing as hard as I could. But I was able to get second and third and fourth winds. I don't contribute as losing this game because we got tired. We missed some shots, and they made some.

Q. Also, can you talk about your mindset when Kevin came up the court with about 40 seconds left to go and he paused at the three-point line when you were defending him?
LEBRON JAMES: What do you mean my mindset?

Q. What were you looking to do in that situation? What were you thinking he was going to do?
LEBRON JAMES: Well, I seen him getting ready to pull up, he uses a rhythm dribble to get a good look, and when K.D. shoots, he falls forward, and I wanted to get a contest. The last thing I want to do is foul a jump shooter. So I wanted to jump and contest it, but I know he -- when he shoots, he kind of leans forward a little bit. So I just stayed there, high hands, contested, and he made it.

Q. Did you guys -- throughout that game, were you convinced you were going to win it, or did you feel like you were in control of it?
LEBRON JAMES: Of course we thought we was going to win. That's just -- we had an opportunity. They had opportunities as well. And they made the most of them, and we didn't. So, yeah, we came in the game believing we was going to win for sure.

Q. I'm saying as the game went on, when you looked around, the shots you were making, the way your guys were playing?
LEBRON JAMES: We were playing good basketball. Kyrie got it going, JR got it going as well, so we had some really good looks, like I said. I can't go back and think of it right now exactly all the possessions that we had in the fourth quarter, but we had some good looks.

Q. You had 39-11-9 and Kyrie had 38 and 6. Does that constitute as your best shot? Did the Warriors take your best shot tonight?
LEBRON JAMES: I mean, it's so hard to say, but like I said, for me personally, I gave everything I had tonight. So win, lose, or draw, you live with the results. Like I said, they played a really good game as well, but they made shots, they made shot down the stretch. They got stops, which they have been doing. We shot in the low 40s again. They got stops and then they made play after play down the stretch.

Q. They withstand that from you guys tonight, Game 2 they turn it over 20 times and still win. I mean, can you wrap your head around what kind of team you're dealing with here in the Warriors?
LEBRON JAMES: Yeah, I mean, before the series even started we knew what we was dealing with. I said it after we won the Eastern Conference Finals that we're getting ready for a juggernaut. It's probably the most, most firepower I've played in my career. I played against some great teams, but I don't think no team has had this type of firepower.

So even when you're playing well, you got to play like A plus plus, because they're going to make runs and they're going to make shots and they got guys that's going to make plays. So we made enough plays tonight to still win the ball game, but they made a couple more.

Q. Along those lines, LeBron, you have faced a lot of great teams in The Finals over the years. When there's so little room for error against this team, how physically and emotionally draining is that on you?
LEBRON JAMES: On me personally, I mean, obviously it's physically and emotionally draining because I give everything to the game and want to put myself and my teammates in a position to be successful. So but I lay it all on the floor, and I did that tonight, gave everything that I had, both mentally and physically. So obviously I'm drained right now, ready to get home. But you're going against a team like this and you put together a game like we had where we had an opportunity, it's definitely draining.

Q. Will you look back at the game and think if there is more minutes I do play, if there's more I can do?
LEBRON JAMES: No. No, I did, like I said, I gave everything that I had to this game, so I don't look at it saying I wish I could have did this or I would have did that. I left it out on the floor.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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