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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: PELICANS vs WARRIORS

May 1, 2018

Draymond Green

Oakland, California: Game Two

Game 2

Warriors 121, Pelicans 116

Q. What's it like in the building when Steph walks back on the court there, 11 seconds, nine seconds later, hits a three or whatever it was.
DRAYMOND GREEN: Pretty loud. Just him walking on the floor. You know, it was kind of electric in there and for him to hit that three that fast, it brought a lot of life to the building and a lot of light, spirit. Pretty fitting for sure.

Q. It seemed like you and Rondo were getting into it for most of the game, especially at halftime. What happened in your eyes throughout the game and what do you take from it?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Throughout the game, like I said before, he's a competitor. I'm a competitor. You know, it is what it is. At halftime he came up to me.

Q. Can you tell us, did he say anything?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I'm not a guy who repeats stuff that's said on the floor.

Q. In the second quarter, you almost seemed like a man possessed. You had words for almost everybody on the Pelicans' team. What was it feeling like for you?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I just had to bring some force. We were playing soft that first quarter. The second quarter, we needed to, you know, bring some intensity to the game, and you know, that's my job.

So just had to bring some force and some competitive spirit to the game, and once we did that, things took off for us. Didn't really show up in the lead but it showed up in our play which eventually propelled us to this victory.

Q. They didn't shoot well from three, didn't shoot that great overall, but they had 66 paint points. What did you think of the defensive effort overall?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think they definitely got a lot of paint points. In saying that, you know, you want to stop guys from getting in the paint but as long as we stay home as shooters and try to take their shooters out of the game, we can out-last that.

So you don't want to give up 66 but you definitely don't want to over-help too much, either. It's kind of a fine line.

Q. Kerr called your two threes to start the fourth maybe the two biggest shots of the game. How good did the shot feel and how big did you think those were in the momentum?
DRAYMOND GREEN: They felt amazing, both of them. The first one felt so good; I took the second one (laughter). I mean, they were open shots. Fouled me the first one and Klay's kicked in the head on the second one, but they were rhythm shots. They played off me all night, so it's only a matter of time before I decide to shoot it. Sucks when they go in for the opposite team.

That's your game plan, to not let me shoot. I understand, but couple of them went down that keep momentum in the game. That's pretty good for us.

Q. You've had so many games like this in your career, but when you're looking at this playoff stretch, what do you think has helped fuel that overall where you are having an impact in so many areas?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I mean, you know, I live for playoff basketball. It's the most fun time of the year for me, but just, you know, locking in and focusing, kind of taking what the defense gives me. You know, just trying to create for my teammates in any way that I possibly can.

It's fun. It's the best time of year to play basketball. You know, just try to take advantage of that opportunity. I know when you're playing a great team like that, a team with so many options and weapons, I have to be a threat. I think I've done a decent job so far.

Q. AD had 25 tonight but still ended up with zero free throw attempts. What have you done to play physical with him?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think just not reaching. You know, so many times he's driving to the paint and guys are reaching, he get free throws. I think we've done a good job of not reaching and just trying to chest up and make him score over the top of us.

Everybody who has been on him has done a great job but you know, like I've said before, that's a complete team effort, guys helping, you know, the primary defender and trying to make him take tough shots. He was able to get it going a little bit there tonight.

You know, he brought a lot of energy to the floor tonight, and we expect more, even more going down there, you know, to their home court. It will be a lot tougher to win than it was here but we've just got to go in and stick to our game plan and hopefully we can come out with a win, but it's going to be very tough.

Q. You have been here before, you know, going up on teams like this in a 2-0 series. What is that game plan? What do you have to be mentally focused on going into Game 3?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Game 3 is usually one of the most important games in every series. We just, you know, we got to go down there and most importantly, stick to our game plan. Understand, you know, the things that we're trying to do, the guys who we're trying to completely eliminate from the game. You know, execute better on the offensive end. I don't think we did a great job of executing tonight. We've got to execute better.

You know, really just trying to stick to our defensive press -- and saying that, you can do all that and they can still win the game. But most importantly if we do that and go battle and take that mindset into their home court we'll give ourselves a chance to win but it's going to be tough.

Q. Rondo did hit three threes. The fact that he is making the jumper right now, does it change at all how you guys are going to defend him?
DRAYMOND GREEN: No. You know, when you are in a playoff series, when you're in any game, NBA teams are so good, guys are so good, that you have to pick something that's going to beat you. You can't take everything away. Like you can't take Anthony Davis away while completely eliminate E'Twaun while trying to completely eliminate Jrue Holiday. Usually you have to pick something that's going to beat you and be willing to live with that.

Rondo is a great player, but you have to be willing to live with his jumpshot that he make and not overreact to it, and I don't think we overreacted to it at any point in the game. I think a couple of them, maybe we can get a late contest; the one where I laid all the way off, I could probably get a late contest but Anthony Davis had just dunked in twice and scored. So we've got to live with something.

I think Anthony Davis getting the ball in the post, you know, getting the ball to his sweet spots, it's going to beat you more so than Rondo shooting a jumpshot. Now, you start allowing Rondo to pick you apart there like what he wanted to there, that's what's going to beat you, not necessarily him taking jumpshots.

Just stick to our game plan, and, you know, go from there.

Q. Steve said earlier that he wants you to be that guy out there, bringing it, full passion, full throttle all the time and you did that tonight. Your boy, Charles, on TV, you see what he said?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I heard what he said.

Q. And your mom kind of went back at him. What do you think when you hear --
DRAYMOND GREEN: I hear a lot of guys talk on TV; stand behind the microphone on the TV screen. Fact of the matter is, if you feel that strongly about something -- he's seen me a million times if he feel that strongly about it, then punch me in my face when you see me. If you're not going to punch me in my face when you see me, then shut up. It's no different than somebody sitting behind a computer screen, Tweeting, "I'll knock you out," and you never see him in life.

Well, he's seen me a bunch of times and he'll see me again this year. Punch me in the face when you see me, or if not, no one cares what you would have done. You're old and it is what it is. If you ain't going to punch me when you see me, then stop talking about it, period.

Drop the mic (dropping the mic) (laughter).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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