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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETS

May 23, 2018

Stephen Curry

Houston, Texas: Practice Day

Q. Steve [Kerr] said he didn't sleep very well last night and wanted do-overs and he just really chewed on after that game. Are there things that you chew on after a game like that?
STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, everything. When you don't win, you play every possession back in your head. Played the whole fourth quarter back. Figure out ways that you can do something better or different to help your team get a win.

It's a frustrating feeling, obviously, but we always talk about with us, we're great at turning the page and being resilient and finding a way to bounce back. So we're looking forward to that opportunity tomorrow.

We played a pretty solid game. Just faltered down the stretch on the offensive end. Credit to them. They played solid. They played tough. They made just enough plays to win. Not all is lost. We're still in this thing and ready to go.

Q. Are you a little surprised that Draymond [Green] was named to the Second Team All-Defensive?
STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah. I mean, the guy won Defensive Player of the Year last year. I don't know. Advanced analytics, all that stuff, the eye test, he's still as dominating a force on that end as he was last year and the year before. So a lot of that is mostly he wasn't talking about it much all year as he was last year. Maybe that had a little something to do with it. But I like that. That might give him a little edge, a little chip on his shoulder, because he feeds off that type of stuff.

Q. What was it like carrying such a heavy workload last night, and how do you go about possibly having to do the same thing tomorrow?
STEPHEN CURRY: It's the Western Conference Finals. This is what you play for. I'd play 48 if I could. If Coach wants me to play -- anybody would say that this is the time that you live for. So we'll bounce back, get our rest. We all play the same 48 minutes as a team, both sides of the ball. It's just a matter of who is more mentally tough, who is able to sustain that effort throughout the whole series. I like our chances with that.

Q. You were up by 12 early in the fourth. Did that surprise you what happened?
STEPHEN CURRY: We were up 12 early in the fourth?

Q. In the fourth, and then outscored 25-10. That just doesn't happen to the Warriors very often.
STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, it doesn't. But it did. So you've got to bounce back. I mean, we were up 12-0 to start the game. They crept back in it. We had a great third quarter. I thought we had a lot of momentum, and scored 12 points in the fourth quarter. That's not going to win you many games at all. So subtle details that we can fix going forward.

It's easy to wake up today and think we lost a huge opportunity or whatever, this and that, and think negatively. But I woke up this morning thinking we played that bad in the fourth quarter and lost by three points, played a solid defensive game and, like I said, we have a great track record of how we bounce back. So it put a smile on my face getting on the plane coming down here. Looking forward to the opportunity tomorrow.

Q. Do you feel like sometimes that you guys are more talented than most teams, and do you think complacency sometimes comes into play?
STEPHEN CURRY: Not right now, no. The NBA is a game of runs anyway. So as much as we've come back from crazy deficits and make games out of them, other teams are capable of doing that against us. There is a lot of talent out there on that floor on both sides of the ball. So I don't think that was an issue at all when it comes to how we protected the lead or anything. We just didn't execute well.

We watched the film. It was pretty evident the things that we need to do differently on the offensive end for 48 minutes to sustain that effort, to get better shots, make them work a little bit more and use our switching to our advantage. We can do that.

Q. You knew the series was going to go small ball, but did you think it was going to be as small as it is? Because of that, do you feel a little hamstrung? You've got five or so centers sitting on the bench that can't be used?
STEPHEN CURRY: I don't really know what I expected going in. I just knew who the key guys are. They like to play a certain way, and so we have the opportunity to play a lot of different lineups and whatnot. It is what it is. There's a certain flow to the game in certain lineups that have been out there for more minutes than others. And I know the guys on the bench, they're supportive. They know their moment could be called at any time.

The way J.B. [Jordan Bell] and Loon [Kevon Looney] have stepped up in this series has been huge. They're going to help us get two more wins in the series.

Q. How do you keep this from being an iso kind of rugby match where the flow just kind of gets destroyed at both ends?
STEPHEN CURRY: It's going to come down to it a little bit of who can make a couple more plays in those type of situations, because there is so much more switching and because there are small ball lineups out there.

But over the course of 48 there are things we can do to push the tempo, promote a little more body movement and ball movement, unlike the fourth quarter last night where things just slowed down, and the way you get into those iso type of situations were a little different. They're a little tougher. That was the difference in the game. So we just have to have a little more thrust for 48.

Q. This is the third time you guys have played the Rockets in the last four years. First two times, five games. This year they've beaten you twice in fourth quarter comebacks, opening night and last night. Is this a different team? Do you look at them differently than you did before because of what they've been able to do?
STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, again, this is the Western Conference Finals. There are two great teams that are here for a reason. We're not surprised by anything. I don't think they're surprised by anything that we're doing. It's going to be a dogfight the rest of the way.

A couple of our guys in the locker room talk about how exciting this is. This is true playoff basketball, and this is what brings the best out of you. So I like where we're at, obviously. We'd love to have yesterday go differently, but we're still in good shape.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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