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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETSMay 25, 2018P.J. TuckerOakland, California: Practice Day Q. On Chris Paul being out and Eric Gordon starting: P.J. TUCKER: Next man up. It's been like that all year. We'll obviously miss Chris and what he brings to our team, but we've got to keep going and try to finish out the series. Q. It doesn't change anything with one guy out and Eric stepping in? P.J. TUCKER: Obviously, Chris Paul is one of the leaders of our team. It's going to hurt not to have him. But we've been a team all year that's been resilient to injuries. We've had a lot of things happen, and we've had different guys step up at different times to keep it going. Next guy up. Q. How exciting is it to be one game away from reaching The Finals? P.J. TUCKER: It's exciting just being in position. We've talked about it so long. To be in this position now to be fighting to make it to The Finals is huge. But that last game is the toughest one. They're going to bring all the energy and all their guys, and we've got to match it. Q. How much do you take pride in the way you've been able to play defense on them and hold them for two straight games? P.J. TUCKER: It's something we talked about building up all year. To see our defense now be as good as it is, we still think it could be a lot better. We watched film, and honestly it wasn't great. It really wasn't. We didn't play great defense last night. Everybody will talk about how good a defense we played, but we really don't feel like that. So just keep working and trying to get better. Q. What's it like to see this group win those type of games? Those grind-it-out type of games and situations like that? P.J. TUCKER: It's great. We've talked about it all year. Some of these guys have always asked like, You're blowing people out and scoring so many points; it really wasn't on the defensive end. So to see now it kind of switched up, be more that defense wins in this series. People always say you have to score 120, 130 points to beat Golden State. To only score 98, 99 points to win is pretty different. Q. Is there something you can rally around with Chris. Not that you need extra motivation going over there. But kind of rally like, Hey, we've got to band together? P.J. TUCKER: It's been like that from the beginning, so now even more with Chris out. Not knowing who is going to step up and come in and play, but it's our core coming together, getting tighter. It's just kind of making it happen. It's one of those things that every team deals with all through the year, having injuries. It's always next man up in the NBA. Q. You obviously feel for him. He's worked so hard to get to this point? P.J. TUCKER: Yeah. It's tough. I know it's going to drive him crazy being on the sideline, but it's part of being in the league. Q. You think he'll be a good cheerleader for you all? P.J. TUCKER: More like a terrible coach than a cheerleader. Q. What do you think will be the biggest key going into Oakland to get another one? P.J. TUCKER: It's going to be our defense. That's what it's been all series. It's going to be for us to communicate, be good on our switches and to control the glass. The glass is going to be big, keeping them off the offensive glass and [not] giving them extra possessions. Just our communication. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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