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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: SPURS vs WARRIORS

April 16, 2018

Draymond Green

Oakland, California: Game Two

Game 2

Warriors 116, Spurs 101.

Q. Draymond, Andre has been struggling with the 3-pointer this season and he came out of the gate on fire. How important was that?
DRAYMOND GREEN: It was very important for him to hit those first threes to kind of loosen their defense up and make them have to honor him more. One thing we always say to Andre, "Shoot the ball." We trust his shot. We got confidence in him. When he's hitting those shots, it does something for our offense, a lot for our offense.

Q. How important is the rebounding battle in this series? You went 51-30 in Game 1. You still won it tonight. Wasn't as dominant.
DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, it's very important. I think a lot of their offense runs through LaMarcus. You know, when other guys aren't able to get it going like they would like, offensive rebounding is a weapon for them. So that's how they manufacture some of their points.

So to try to keep them off the offensive boards is definitely a key. We gave up nine tonight, which is not great. But you know, it's very important for us to try to keep them from getting second-chance shots, or second-chance points.

Q. Regarding Andre again, not just with his shots but everything he's been doing offensively and defensively, how have you seen him change the complexion of this series, given the fact he's with the starting group now and opening up the game?
DRAYMOND GREEN: What he brings to the floor defensively, you know, it's hard for anyone to do that. You know, also, just him on the offensive end, he's kind of the calming force for us. He gets us into the offense. He's very solid with the basketball and not going to take many chances, and that's important for us.

So like tonight, you know, he hit shots, 4-for-5 from three. That makes a difference, as well. But you know, Andre has kind of always been that sixth starter for us, anyway, where he comes off the bench because Steve likes him to come in and kind of calm the game down and different things like that. But he can start on a lot of teams in this league, this being one of them.

Q. What did you make of the flagrant you picked up?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I mean, it is what it is. I don't -- I didn't see the replay, so I don't really -- I think it was a little bit of a flop. I don't really know if I hit him.

But if I did, you know -- I'm not saying I didn't. I don't know. But if it's going to be a flagrant foul, shouldn't it be a double flagrant, like I couldn't just get grabbed around my neck.

So I'm not going to sit up here and say, Oh, I did nothing. I've got to get someone off my neck, though. You know, if you're going to penalize me, then why not penalize both. That's really my only thing.

Q. Is there a frustration level, knowing now this is the playoffs and this is flagrant point No. 1, and down the road, not knowing how many games you might play.
DRAYMOND GREEN: No, I don't care. It is what it is. Life goes on. More important things in life than worrying about a flagrant point. Maybe they will rescind it. I got choked, put in a choke-hold, like I was in the WWE or something, you know, it may get rescinded, who knows.

Q. How would you evaluate in two games, how JaVale has done as the primary defender on Aldridge?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think he's done a good job. As I said before, you can play that same defense on LaMarcus that he played the first half and he going to score. He's a great offensive player, has been for years and you just try to make guys take tough shots.

I think JaVale made him take some tough once. I think he took a couple gambles tonight that he didn't necessarily take in the first game, but that happens throughout the course of the game. We all tend to gamble sometimes and try to go for a steal and it gets us out of position. That's just kind of the nature of the game we play.

Overall I think he's done a fantastic job. You know, we're going to need him to continue to do that throughout this series and you know, probably moving forward.

Q. Kevin obviously can score at any time against anybody. Do you have to resist that sometimes and just say, okay, defense is playing, we'll just give it to Kevin and see what he can do?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, I think we kind of turned it to that in the first half where we are just kind of giving him the ball and wanting him to go to work, and they were kind of loading their defense up on him. You know, it makes it a lot tougher.

I think it's better when we are staying within the floor of our offense and then give him the ball, and not the entire defense is set on him. You've got other guys moving around; you've got Klay flying off screens on the opposite side and it takes some of the attention off him.

It's very easy, I think you see a lot of teams do it, and sometimes we're guilty of it, as well. Just you have a guy and you go to that guy every time. No. 1, you wear that guy do you know. No. 2, it makes it a lot easier for that team to guard.

So we just try to continue to move the ball, staying within the floor of our offense. We know who getting all the shots, or the majority of the shots, so we're going to find those guys. We know how we're going to be successful, but the movement into that is what's important.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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