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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATEJune 7, 2017Stephen CurryKevin DurantCleveland, Ohio: Postgame Warriors - 118, Cavaliers - 113 Q. Kevin, obviously a whole bunch of things happened there in the fourth quarter, but you take the three over LeBron to put you ahead for the first time there, what was -- how did that develop? Was that just a matter of you were going to attack the basket or if it was there you would take the shot? KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, you answered your own question. Q. I don't like when I do that. KEVIN DURANT: I just tried to -- first off, it was a great stop. Who got that stop? Klay maybe? Somebody got the stop, and always starts on the defensive side with us. We know if we get off the board and push, we're a dangerous team. And I seen him backing up, and I just wanted to take that shot. Also it was a good time, it was 45 seconds to go, we were down two, if I miss, we could have got another stop. But glad I was able to knock that down. I just tried to stay disciplined in my shot, hold my followthrough, and it went in. So but more importantly we got two stops after that. So we got to build on that. But we got to be better in Game 4. Q. For Steph, just what was the emotion of all that, that whole run that entire time? Just from the last half of that quarter, what were you talking to each other about? What was the feeling like? STEPHEN CURRY: We were talking, we got to love the situation. I mean, on the road, didn't play our best game, had a chance to get a couple stops, and kind of right the final situation down the stretch. And we had a ton of energy and belief in each other on both ends of the floor down the stretch. So that was a great feeling to kind of overcome their run, the crowd's energy, and just find a way to win. Having a close game down the stretch, honestly, it's been awhile, and that was a great feeling to kind of just overcome, stick to it and just find a way to win. Q. Steph, I believe you said something along the lines of this might have been the best, the biggest win during this three-year run that you guys have been on. Would you explain, elaborate why is that? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, obviously we're in the moment, and that's this 48 minutes is right in front of us, the only goal we had in mind and just the way the game went. It was back and forth, it was high intensity, we know our terrible record in Game 3s on the road in the Playoffs historically, and especially in this building, we have never played well. And this is a -- all the talk that we had going into it is just not getting complacent, find a way to have energy, try to play a smart game, which there's some things we can even do better and clean up. Just all that, all those variables going into tonight and the way that they played pretty much the whole game, to find a way to win was just an amazing accomplishment and set us up for hopefully a great night Friday where we can back it up. So, yeah, all those things, it was just a great momentum swing kind of win. Q. For both you guys, LeBron just came in here and said that he probably hasn't faced a team with the firepower of you guys in a Finals or even in the Playoffs, for that matter, and so I guess just would be asking, you're one game before becoming possible the first team in league history to go 16-0 in the Playoffs. One, is that part of the goal, and, two, do you even care? STEPHEN CURRY: It is now because we took care of tonight. That's -- it's not in terms of like 16-0 really just of what that means historically, it's just that's what's in front of us. We obviously know how hard it is to win a championship, what all goes into it and how important each game is. And now that you can look ahead to Friday, all our focus is on that. And just we obviously -- we want 16 wins; it doesn't matter how we get there. But now that we're in this situation, why not take care of business and finish the job. So we have to -- we got to play better, but just thinking about what's next, and that's the goal in front of us, is winning that 16th game. Doesn't really matter what, how we got there. Q. Kevin, you're on the precipice of your first NBA Finals, one game away, victory. Just your thoughts right now going into Game 4. KEVIN DURANT: Well, it's not over. Job's not done. Closeout games are always the toughest. As you heard from many players in this league over the years, how tough closeout games are on the road. I never been in this position being up in The Finals and trying to close it out. So I know how exciting that's going to be for us as a team, but their fans are going to be into it. They're going to be wanting a win from their team. And tonight it showed. Fans were great. They obviously fed off their energy. Kevin Love, of course, LeBron and Kyrie did. And we got to be even better in Game 4 if we want to take this. So it's an exciting time. The job's not done, but we still got a lot of work left to do. Q. You guys haven't played too many close games in the last few months where it's in doubt in the last two minutes. What was the look like in Kevin's eyes in the huddle, on the court those last couple minutes? It seemed like he -- he obviously did seize control of those last decisive minutes. STEPHEN CURRY: Confident basketball player that knows his ability. And the moment never overwhelms any of us especially, K. And it was fun to watch when we were in those possessions, just the patience and composure I think we all had. When he had the ball in his hands, getting to a spot, having confidence in himself to make those kind of plays. And like he said before, it all fed off of our defense collectively, all five guys trying to just find a way to get a stop so we can have the opportunity to seize control of the game and get over that hump. So the timeouts and even those dead ball periods, everybody -- there's no panic. It was kind of -- I don't know, kind of peaceful, really. Just there's a lot of time left, let's just figure it out. And he obviously made some big shots, and we got some big stops. Q. For both of you, was there a sense that the Cavs had multiple opportunities to try and at least put some real pressure on you guys by going up six, eight points, but you guys kind of kept swinging. Was there just a sense of they just couldn't put you guys away? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, we tried to do something about that, by not letting go of the rope, like I said, staying patient, staying composed no matter if they made tough shots or not. The biggest thing down the stretch is we didn't turn the ball over. We did it the entire game, but those last four to six minutes we just got shots up and finished those possessions make or miss. And that's something that you can't allow that momentum to swing back by giving away possessions. So when we got stops, Klay hits a huge three in the corner off of K finding him, in transition, obviously the two plays he made were off of stops and pushing the transition. So you got to give yourself an opportunity, but you got to execute down the stretch, make or miss, just to finish off those possessions with good shot attempts and give yourself a chance, and we did that. Q. I guess a question for both of you. I'm interested in that stretch of time in the second quarter things got pretty testy out on the court. I know, Steph, you had some words with Shumpert, I believe, and then Draymond got a technical. Were you concerned at all about your team losing their composure or any memories of similar incidents in last year's Finals? And then, Kevin, maybe, I know that you were talking to Draymond in that interchange, if could you share anything you could from that moment. KEVIN DURANT: I think, I mean, basketball is a feisty sport. Both teams want to win. The crowd was giving them a lot of energy, and those guys came out with a lot of force. And sometimes that brings some commotion out there between two teams. So it's nothing personal, it's nothing serious. We moved on. Draymond got a tech, he gathered, got it back together, we moved on. So it just didn't linger. We didn't let a call we didn't like or a turnover or a missed assignment linger over to the next play. It was always about the next possession. And even when things aren't going your way with the refs or a shot or anything, we just try to move on, and tonight it showed over the year that we talked about that a lot. It's not worrying about the refs, not getting distracted, and tonight it was -- it kind of came full circle. Q. Did you guys hear the crowd chanting his name during the game? Did you even register that? KEVIN DURANT: Chanting who? Q. There was a Draymond chant going on in the crowd. I was wondering if anybody mentioned that in the huddle. STEPHEN CURRY: I didn't hear it at all. Q. You can hear it on the tape then, all right. STEPHEN CURRY: No, I didn't hear it at all. We learned from our mistakes and when you play a team over -- this is our 20th time playing them in three years. There's going to be some stuff that happens, and you just got to kind of persevere and get through it, especially on the road. Q. You guys put a lot of eggs into that 73 basket last year, didn't work out. How much of that lack of success played into the fact that you guys have not put seemingly any effort into trying to go 16-0 this year? STEPHEN CURRY: We have been asked about it, we talked about it since The Finals last year that the last season was a very unique year, for a lot of different reasons, and we learned a lot. I think we have grown and matured just mentally of how to just pace yourself through this long year and take every day as a new experience and something that you can kind of take control of. So we try to control the narrative and the conversations and just our talk in the locker room and in practice and throughout the -- especially the last three months of just understanding what our goal is and how we're going to get there day by day. So it's being in this position right now, obviously it's working, and we have to keep that keyhole mentality of: What's next? And we're right there. So that's a great thing, but obviously we're not done yet. So I think we have done a pretty good job of growing up as a team. Q. One quick follow-up for either of you. Steve Kerr said that he kept telling you guys LeBron and Kyrie can't do this for 48 minutes, they're going to get tired. Did that seem apparent to you that they ran out of gas toward the end? KEVIN DURANT: It didn't look like it to me. I mean, they both shot over 50 percent from the field, over, yeah, 50 percent. My math's not really good, but they shot over 50 percent, they both had almost 40 points, and they did it for 40-plus minutes. They played extremely well, but I just think we stayed in front of them late in the game and got to contest some shots and rebound the basketball. But they had it going all night, you got to give them credit. Q. You mentioned that calmness down the stretch even though you were down. Was it there last year, or was that calmness because of the guy that's sitting to your left? STEPHEN CURRY: He obviously helps the situation, but the experience that we have been through definitely helps. You hope that we can learn from how the games got away from us in Game 3s on the road here where two or three possessions, where you give them easy open threes or turn the ball over, they get breakaway dunks, all that kind of stuff, where the crowd really gets into it and they feed off that energy. We did a pretty good job of cutting that out this year. So that was huge, and we just, as a group, everybody understood what they could -- the little things that they could do down the stretch to help us win. Not all of it is just scoring, it's the little stuff, like he said. Klay Thompson was amazing down the stretch just trying to make it as tough as possible on Kyrie and those one-on-one situations. Andre staying locked in on LeBron and those moments. K.D. and Draymond communicating, being our anchors on defense. And that part of it is just so much fun to be a part of and watch as everybody just is fighting, being dogs out there, just trying to get it done. And we're right there. Q. Kevin, how does this time through The Finals compare to the last time you were there? These guys have been in here two years in a row, they played this team so many times, but this is obviously different for you and sitting here right now up 3-0. KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, like I said earlier, I never been in this position before. I don't want to relax. It's not over. This is a crazy game. Anything can happen. So I don't want to relax or feel like it's over, it's not. And I'm just trying to enjoy this moment and not -- trying not to look in the future or in the past, just try to just stay in the present and enjoy this moment and for what it's worth and just keep pushing, keep getting better until -- and then I'll sit back and probably reflect on everything once the season's over. But for now I'm just trying to stay in the moment, enjoy every single minute and just keep getting better. Q. Steph, you just mentioned the work that Klay did down the stretch defensively on Kyrie. Obviously such a difficult assignment with what Kyrie can do one-on-one. What has Klay's work in this series on Kyrie meant to your team? And also Klay mentioned that when you guys see him getting going, it gets you guys excited offensively. What kind of effort did he put out in the first quarter? Did that really sort of get you guys on a roll offensively? STEPHEN CURRY: Klay offensively, we're never worried about him. He's always aggressive. We know he's a threat whether he's making or missing shots, just by his presence on the floor. But tonight he was smart about getting to the right spots, finding his looks, being confident, knocking them down early, being aggressive. Definitely gave us a boost. You're right, like when we see him get going, it's fun to watch, because he's pretty much automatic when he's able to, when he's in that zone and putting pressure on defense. And then defensively obviously Kyrie got his numbers, you see his stat line, but over the course of 44 minutes you know he's going to make tough shots, and it's just a matter of can you stick to it every possession, just trying to make him work. And Klay didn't hang his head when Kyrie was going off. He stuck with it, and when it mattered most down the stretch. I think all that pressure kind of showed itself, and Klay really helped us get over the hump by getting a couple stops. So a lot's been said about his defense and how important it is, and you can't understate it. It's just he understands how valuable he is for us on that end of the floor. Q. Kevin, for you, you had one point in the third quarter, 14 in the fourth quarter. What changed for you in the fourth? What allowed you to be so successful when you didn't have that success in the third? KEVIN DURANT: I didn't look at it as an unsuccessful third quarter. That's just half of the battle there. I just tried to stay positive and move on to the next play and know in the fourth that Coach is going to call my number and my teammates are going to look for me and it's up to me to finish. I work on my game every day, and I just had to trust in this, and I was able to get some shots to go in. And but we played with force in the fourth, and the in the third quarter we were a little bit too relaxed. We were up six, and that was a good place for us to be coming out of the half, but we didn't do what we were supposed to do in the third. So I think we just played with more force as a group in the fourth quarter and they put it on us in the third. So we got to watch some film and see how we can be better coming out of half. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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