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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETS

May 18, 2018

Chris Paul

Oakland, California: Practice Day

CHRIS PAUL: I think first and foremost the playoffs is minor compared to what's taking place down in Santa Fe. Our prayers go out to the victims and the families there having to deal with that situation. We have a lot of fans from there and those people come out to support us night in and night out. So this is very minor compared to what those people are going through.

Q. I know your kids are much younger than that, but what does it make you think about?
CHRIS PAUL: It's tough, man. It's scary that that's become the norm here. We've got to do something about it. Yeah, I can't imagine something like that taking place with my kids.

Q. Back to basketball. You guys knew you needed to up your game, but it didn't happen in Game 1. How do you make sure it happens in Game 3?
CHRIS PAUL: Go out there and try to execute. Follow our game plan. Execute. Try to make sure we score more points than them.

Q. Was it a matter of just being more focused?
CHRIS PAUL: No, I think we were focused in Game 1. We just made mistakes. It happens. We didn't communicate as well. The ball didn't go in as many times as we shot it. That happens.

Q. I know you've been really good on the road, but is Oracle one of the tougher places to play?
CHRIS PAUL: It is. It's fun. It's fun to play. Our team has played great on the road all season long. I'm sure it's going to be loud and exciting and all that stuff. Utah is a tough place to play too.

Q. Mike D'Antoni mentioned it's critical to have a short memory. How difficult is that or is it easier to do in game and all that stuff?
CHRIS PAUL: It's not difficult. Feels like Game 2 was a week ago now. That's how it is in the playoffs. I heard somebody say when you lose a game in the playoffs, you feel like you're never going to win again; and when you win, you feel like you're never going to lose again. We've done a great job all year staying even keeled. We tried not to get too high or too low.

Q. With Steph Curry, how much do you have to keep it in your mind that you have to close out further than you would against other great players and great scorers? With him it's 27, 28 feet.
CHRIS PAUL: I don't know.

Q. There are obviously different game plans for different opponents. Is that something you guys did well last game? He wasn't getting really open looks just by going further out?
CHRIS PAUL: I don't know. You've got to close out on Klay [Thompson]. You've got to close out on KD [Kevin Durant]. You've got shooters in this league that can obviously pull up off a dribble. They just sort of know where to go.

Q. And range doesn't factor in?
CHRIS PAUL: You want me to say -- you know what I mean? I just said --

Q. It just seemed that that was something you guys did very well was not just giving him the looks that he gets.
CHRIS PAUL: Yeah, but if you watch all the other games he played this year -- you know going in to the game who shoots where and where to go out to. You've got different game plans for different guys. This guy you'll close out to. We'll close out on KD the same.

Q. When you have a game like the other night where so many guys contributed on offense, what fun is it to play in a game like that?
CHRIS PAUL: It's cool. We've had a number of games like that all season long. I guess it just highlighted because it's in the playoffs.

We've played this way. We've gotten out on transition, moved the ball, guys made shots. That's the way we played.

Q. You and James [Harden] in your team building stuff last summer -- the Vegas Summer League, the Bahamas trip. I know it's a while back, but how critical is that to build a foundation of what you do now for chemistry and communication?
CHRIS PAUL: It's very critical. You can tell the teams that really enjoy what they're doing. I've been on those teams where you sort of are just going through the motions. But you can see it with us that there are genuine relationships. It means a lot.

When something happens in a game, you know if a guy's really got your back. He's doing it, and you talk about it. So we built that foundation and we have it.

Now we've just got to hoop.

Q. What are the keys to replicating the formula from Game 2?
CHRIS PAUL: Getting stops, pushing in transition. Just hoop. Play the way we've been doing all year. They know what we're going to do. We know what they're going to do.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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