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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETSMay 22, 2018James HardenChris PaulOakland, California: Game Four Rockets - 95, Warriors - 92 Q. Coach [Mike D'Antoni] said you had to get your foot right. What did you have to do to get your foot right for this game? CHRIS PAUL: A whole lot of treatment, a whole lot of treatment. It's cool though. Q. Do you feel like it's right now? CHRIS PAUL: Yeah, it's as good as it's going to be right now. But for us it's not about that. It's about going out there and getting stops and making big plays when we needed to. Q. Mike was saying that this game came down to toughness. You lose by 41 in the previous game. You guys are down 12-0 at Oracle and you go down 3-1, what's a win like this say about what this team can accomplish? JAMES HARDEN: We've been doing it all year long. That's the main reason we're in this position we're in today. That third game was just one loss. We all know what that is. We've got the mentality that we're going to win Game 4. We've talked about it, we've preached it. And we came out and then stopped. They made runs and they were going to especially at home, and we kept fighting, kept fighting, and defensively kept locking in and making big time shots, Chris, and Eric and Trevor, guys made big-time shots in that fourth quarter. Q. What was more painful, the 41-point loss or the coach mentioning that you guys were soft because you guys reacted well tonight, and you were locked in? CHRIS PAUL: Neither one. Thing you learn in this league, I mean, I know I've had an opportunity to learn in other series from veteran teams like the Spurs and whatnot in the past is those losses where you lose by one or two, or if it's 35-40, it's one loss. So you bounce back. Thankfully we didn't start this game down 30. Q. You guys did start this game down 12-0. I think they got 10 straight stops to start the game. How did you guys kind of withstand that? Also the wave they pushed on you guys in the third quarter? CHRIS PAUL: We just kept playing. You know what I mean? We knew over the course of the game that at some point we were going to score. So when it did happen, we tried to get some stops. When they made their push in the third quarter, you just know at some point they're going to do it. They're capable of it, but we are too. So at the end of the day we keep saying it game in and game out, it's who does what they do better than the other team. Q. James, you only scored two points in the fourth quarter, and quite often people make it seem like it's your team and it's up to you. If you don't do it, the team can't win. Talk about all of the guys contributing down the stretch and everybody giving something to this victory? JAMES HARDEN: Who cares? I mean, we're a team. We're really good as a team. So like I mentioned before, Chris, and Eric, and Trevor, and Tuck offensive rebounds, that's what a team does. They come up in big-time plays. I don't know how many points I score. Who cares. We won. Q. You guys have spoken all season since opening night here about what you believe about yourselves. Does winning a game in this situation, in this sort of game impact that to take it to a different level? CHRIS PAUL: It's a good win for us. We knew we needed it, but we said all along with both teams home court doesn't really matter. Both teams have the ability to win on the road. We had to prove that to ourselves. Weathering the storm, the runs that they made, and knowing that now we get a chance to go back home, we knew we had to get at least one win here. We got it, so now it's a three-game series. Q. Chris, how much of a difference did you feel in terms of explosiveness and your ability to push off that foot tonight? CHRIS PAUL: It was a huge difference. JAMES HARDEN: He's fine, man. CHRIS PAUL: Yeah, but I'm fine, so it's cool. JAMES HARDEN: He's fine. He's all right. CHRIS PAUL: Right. Q. You held them to 12 points in the fourth quarter after playing really heavy minutes. I think only seven guys played tonight. First of all how physically and mentally tired were you at that point? How did you manage defensively to win the game against such a good offense? JAMES HARDEN: What's that? CHRIS PAUL: Yeah, that's a state of mind, man. One thing about us, just like other guys in this league, it ain't just us, we grind all summer long, all season long for these moment. So we push each other out of those timeouts. Like JH, you're not tired. TA you're not tired. EG, these are the moments that we spend all that time. Mental toughness is just as important as physical toughness and I think guys on our team showed that tonight. Q. Chris, you said you had a huge difference in your explosiveness. What kind of difference did that make for you tonight? You scored 27 points in the final three quarters. CHRIS PAUL: No, we just moved the ball, we played. We played we kicked the ball in transition, and we talked about it at halftime. Just try to find different ways to exploit different guys and just play with a little more of a bounce. It's funny, because after we lost Game 1, we did some little -- you know, Game 2, lost Game 3, we did something Game 4. So Game 5 we've got to come out with that pop and that bounce. Q. James, your observations of the way Chris was able to explode tonight, and what a healthy Chris Paul does in an arena and against a team like this? JAMES HARDEN: Man, he's been doing it for so long. Now he has an opportunity to do it on this stage. I mean, everybody knows how great he is, from his passing ability to his big shot-making ability, and even to his defense. He was huge for us tonight. Q. Three years ago you guys were here with a much different team. A lot has obviously changed, but you had two close games you guys lost in the Western Conference Finals. How far is this team and this overall mentality of this organization come in those three years to be able to grit out a win like this, and even the series at 2-2? JAMES HARDEN: We came a long way. Obviously, new personnel. But, you know, we came an extremely long way, and we've been talking about it all season long in the summertime, put ourselves in the best position, and we're doing that. So another opportunity in Game 5, we've got to come out and take advantage of it. Simple. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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