	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS vs ROCKETS

May 26, 2018

Klay Thompson

Oakland, California: Game Six

Warriors - 115, Rockets - 86

Q. Watching you tonight, I couldn't help but think of a similar situation two years ago where your team was down 3-2, and you hit 11 threes in that game. Were some players just born for this situation? How do you stay cool?
KLAY THOMPSON: I don't know if I was born for it, but I definitely worked my butt off to get to this point. I mean, I guess you could say I was born for it (laughing). I don't know. I guess everything happens for a reason. That felt good, to be honest. I just wanted to play with as much passion as I could tonight. Probably sounded more vocal than I usually am. When your back's against the wall, if your shot's not falling, you can always control your passion and how hard you play. Usually when I do that, it trickles over to other aspects of my game.

Q. What was the team's demeanor at halftime? Was that passion there in the locker room, and determination that you guys are champions? Did that kind of come out?
KLAY THOMPSON: Absolutely. I think we were down eight in the half and -- 10, we were down 10 at half. We felt like we gifted them a great first quarter they had. Obviously they were making shots, give them credit. But we weren't forcing them to do anything they weren't comfortable doing. We knew we were in a good position, we just played the same kind of defense and with the same effort we did in that second quarter and continued to move the ball, push the pace. So the score is a little misleading in our minds, and we were going to come out firing and leave it all on the line.

Q. On that idea in the third quarter, what's been kind of the theme this year that's allowed you guys to have so much dominance coming out in the second half?
KLAY THOMPSON: Oh, man, I think for the last few years we've had great third quarters in the start of the second half, especially in the playoffs. Probably just how disappointed we were in our first half of the game, and we were disappointed in ourselves and our fans, we wanted to give them a good show. We didn't want to go out like that. We wanted to force Game 7 so badly, but we've got to turn the page. This is basketball.

Q. After a pretty slow start for Steph Curry, what did you think of the way he bought into his shot after that and went on to effect the game?
KLAY THOMPSON: Man, Steph has -- you know, he is built for this. Just his ability to forget what's happened in the past, his ability to play through mistakes. Not worry about the last shot.

When he's aggressive, and he's moving the ball and relocating, he's so hard to guard. That gives me so much more space. Kevin [Durant], everybody on the floor. So we've got to come out like that. We just can't be stagnant on the offensive end. That's when we play into their hands.

Q. James Harden played pretty good in the first half. He didn't make any scores in the fourth quarter. What is key to the defense?
KLAY THOMPSON: He's a great player. Extremely hard to stop him. You can't get discouraged when he makes those step backs. We stopped fouling him on threes too. We gave him too many easy buckets at the free throw line.

But you have to stay disciplined and guard him. He's got to work really hard for their team. We know in 48 minutes we threw different bodies at him. We rotate on the back side, we make Steph pass on the key, and we have confidence in the game plan, and that's what we did tonight. Hopefully make it difficult for him Monday.

Q. Steve Kerr had a really interesting take on why you were able to do this under such pressure and desperation. He says it's because you're so comfortable in your own skin that you just want to go out there, and you don't care about judgments or repercussions or any of that.
KLAY THOMPSON: I don't, and I was not always like this. I used to be so hard on myself, especially early in my career. I remember one time actually losing a game against the Nuggets and leaving the arena in my uniform I was so mad.

I learned, as I get older, if you play with passion, you play hard, and you leave the game saying I gave everything I have tonight in those 48 minutes, you can live with the result.

Q. Once you guys were able to kind of get into your transition game, how much better did the shots look? That started with defense. Steve said he expected them to come out hot and loose. Did you just have to withstand that?
KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, we had to adjust some things. Can't give them threes. They thrive off those. I think they made 11 in the first half, so we had to take that away.

I feel like we're the best team in the world and most fun team in the world to watch when we're pushing that ball, getting defensive stops and making plays. We've got too much talent not just to hit singles like coach always says. Trust the next man ahead of us. It will end up working in our favor most of the time.

Q. Klay, when you have a big assignment like you did tonight with James, does that in some ways help your offense? Because it looks like when you're locking on that end and really focused, sometimes it appears your offense comes off of that and your energy.
KLAY THOMPSON: Absolutely. It's fun to score the ball, it's great to see shots go in, but when you take pride on the defensive end, and you make players work and get stops, that's a good feeling.

So, me, I love competing on the defensive side of the ball, especially against one of the best players in the world, James Harden, you know, another guy, Chris Paul, who is also a phenomenal player. When you've got two matchups like that, it's fun to get up for, because they don't come around often.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297