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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 8, 2017

Kevin Love

Cleveland, Ohio: Practice Day

Q. You guys expended so much energy last night, you played your butts off and obviously still came up on the down side. So how do you process that and then look forward to the task of trying to extend this series?
KEVIN LOVE: We were exactly where we wanted to be, with two, three minutes to go. A real tough game on both ends for them, put pressure on them on the defensive end and offensively we pushed the pace and got a lot of what we wanted. At the end of the day we gave ourselves a chance, and it came down to the last few possessions, and we -- both teams executed, got a lot of good looks, but ultimately they hit shots when they needed to.

Q. Did your game plan change between Games 1 and 2 and going into Game 3 for you guys?
KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, a few minor adjustments, but I think just really knowing what we wanted to do on the defensive end and also using the crowd, using being at home to our advantage like we said we would do, we did. Like I mentioned, it just came down to a few possessions and K.D. hit a big shot, they hit big shots.

Q. Are there certain times that you remember specifically that you felt like the crowd helped?
KEVIN LOVE: Oh, I mean, running out on the floor. I said before or after Game 2 that if we couldn't get up for this, might as well go home. And guys were ready to go, and rightfully so. This crowd has always been good for us. We always play well at home. And last night was no different, other than losing a very close game, which was obviously naturally very tough for us to swallow.

Q. Do you now have to approach this one game at a time?
KEVIN LOVE: That's how we have to look at it. We felt like Game 3 was do or die. We have to look at tomorrow the same way. I would be very surprised if we don't come out and play well.

Q. After what happened last year and how you guys were able to battle back, is it completely different, a year later?
KEVIN LOVE: Listen, every -- every playoff series, every game is different in its own right, but, yeah, we had a "never say die" attitude last year, and it's no different this year. It's just one game at a time, and we're just focused on sending it back to Oakland now.

Q. What's the difference going into the third quarter, you guys won the third quarter for the first time in the series and you grabbed all those offensive rebounds. What was the difference for you in the second half?
KEVIN LOVE: We slowed their main three scorers down, being Klay, Steph and K.D., in that third quarter. We felt like we did a good job of that. But in the fourth, they just hit shots. And they get a little bit of air, they get a little bit of momentum, things can change so quickly for either of our teams. And that's what you saw with the Warriors in the fourth.

Q. A lot of guys have talked about the effort and how good it was last night in correcting some of the stuff that you guys had to correct in Game 3, and you did that, and you still lost by five. How tough is it to process that?
KEVIN LOVE: More than anything, just losing the game either way, I mean, whether it was a blowout or it was super close and we didn't want to score in the last two, three minutes, in that fashion, it's definitely tough.

But at the end of the day, we gave ourselves a chance. We played really well. And we feel like we could have a couple things, a couple bounces go our way, we win that game. But now we just have to get it done tomorrow.

Q. For you personally, how did you feel late in the fourth quarter? Because Ty went short on the bench last night, and a lot of you guys played some extended minutes.
KEVIN LOVE: Well, my shot wasn't falling, and that's why I decided to fill in the gaps. I felt like defensively I was very locked into our game plan and just wanted to control the glass. But I think that not just me, everybody, we had a lot of great looks, great opportunities, and Kyrie and Bron were special last night and, as you could tell, were up to the challenge.

Q. You have known Kevin Durant for a long time. He seems to have picked up this sort of killer instinct lately, this willingness to take the moment. Is that something that you've seen change in him?
KEVIN LOVE: I feel like he's always had that, always been willing to take the big shot, always willing to step up to a moment or opportunity like this.

But I think he's also had a lot of joy playing the game. They move the ball, they get up-and-down, and a lot like in OKC, that feeds into the way he likes to play. So he gets to play free.

Q. After such a physical game, do you still have another gear that you can kick it into for tomorrow?
KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, I think we do. I think that collectively as a unit for 48 minutes, we talk about all series long, the entire Playoffs, that if we do that, we're a very tough team to beat.

Q. Do you feel like defensively there's still something that you can improve?
KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, like I said, there's some times the ball doesn't bounce the way you want it to, but overall I think that us getting the 50/50 balls, getting second and third opportunities like they do on the tap-outs, on the offensive end will be big for us. It's just the little things we need to do in order to get over the hump.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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