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NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND VS GOLDEN STATE

June 11, 2017

Andre Igoudala

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. What are your memories and recollections at that moment when you thought Kevin Durant might be out for the year after the D.C. game?
ANDRE IGUODALA: It wasn't: We were going to miss Kevin Durant on our basketball team. That wasn't the thought. It was just a guy that's put that much work in, that he's done so much for the game, you don't want to see a guy go down like that and miss a great opportunity. So that was the only thought.

As far as basketball, the next day it's like you still have to continue to do the job. You have to figure out how to make up for that as a whole. But initially, it wasn't about basketball. It was to make sure it was all right.

Q. Do you feel like if that hadn't been the diagnosis that you guys would still be here?
ANDRE IGUODALA: I mean, that should be everyone's thought. That's got to be the thought, no matter who you play for. I mean, training camp, I'm sure Joel Embiid is like, I'm going to win a championship, regardless of what anybody says.

Everyone's road is different, but everyone has a chance to do it. You just have to prepare as if things will work out in your favor and you're going to get to that place, right? That's why we all do this job. We play to win the game and we play to win championships.

Q. After what happened last year, is there any added pressure to get this thing done now before things start snowballing?
ANDRE IGUODALA: Snowballing? I wouldn't think of it that way. Just me personally. You try to prepare and do your job at your highest ability to help the team complete that goal. For me, I just think differently. There's no such thing as pressure. Or if it is pressure, you just embrace it. So if things don't work out your way, you learn from it and move on to the next stage and then try to win in that area.

Q. When you have guys on the team that haven't won before, like K.D., Zaza, this is something new for them. Does that change anything? I mean, you know that they're about to do something they haven't done before?
ANDRE IGUODALA: If anything, you see their joy and you see their intensity and you see the hunger in their eyes that they want to accomplish something that everyone in the NBA wants to accomplish. So, if anything, it brings more to you. You embrace their hunger, and you apply it to your game as well.

Q. When people talk about Kevin and the idea that a championship for him might not be as respected because of the way he got it, what response do you have to that?
ANDRE IGUODALA: Honestly, I don't know. I can't really say. I can't really say. It's just everyone has their own opinion, right? Everyone wants to say that the only way you deserve something is if you do it their way or the way they see it. Who is to say what's right or wrong and how you approach life, right?

Talking about the game of basketball, I've talked about this before: People try to step outside their life and live through someone else. That's what makes our game such an embracing sport, such a growing sport, because some people are emotionally attached to it. But at the same time, you take the good with the bad.

So that's what comes with it as far as opinion. The way technology works, there are so many things now that you hear right in front of you as opposed to 30 years ago where you didn't hear the noise so it never affected you.

That's part of my life, just growing. We all choose our own decisions. You look at any sport. Every sport you have to have probably the best talent to win, right? We did everything within the rules to get the talent that will fit our culture, fit our team, and try to accomplish something great. We have the opportunity and we're trying to embrace that. That's our focus.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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