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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS vs WARRIORS

May 30, 2018

Kyle Korver

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. Two for you. First of all, you've been around the league a long time with a lot of different great players, but there's only one LeBron. From a basketball intellect standpoint, what are some of the things you've witnessed from him as a teammate or as an opponent that still boggles your mind that you can talk about as anecdotes?
KYLE KORVER: Yeah, I mean, there's probably a lot of conversations that you could have around him in that way. I think the thing that I'm most impressed with with him is his ability to just keep on going, his ability to recover mentally, physically. He's at the top of the scouting report for the other team. Every night he deals with traps, he deals with double teams, he deals with scrutiny, he deals with so much stuff, but the next day he's the first person at the gym. He does it every day.

I think just being part of two Finals runs now -- these are long seasons. They go a long time. Mentally, emotionally, physically, it can really take it out of you, and for him to have done this eight years in a row, to still be the first guy in the gym every day, to do shooting contests after practice with guys on two-way contracts, I mean, there aren't people that do that. Superstars in the NBA, there's not many that do that.

So for him, I think just his ability to just keep on going, to keep on grinding. This season is a great example. Play every game, play a lot of minutes every game. It's just his body of work is amazing.

Q. People now are saying that his feat this year to bring this group to The Finals is his greatest body of work. But the other side of that coin is he's bringing guys that are not very good. I mean, SNL did a piece about it, and made fun of the other Cavaliers. When you see things like that and you hear things like that, what kind of reverberations does that have in your room?
KYLE KORVER: You know what? I don't know exactly all that's said on the outside, but you would never feel that from him. He doesn't walk around acting like he's carrying a team, like he's carrying an organization. He doesn't walk around like that. I mean, he knows he's LeBron James, and he knows who he is. But he's really for all of his teammates. He's always talking to guys, trying to help them get better. He's a really great leader.

Q. It's standard procedure in this league that a team will see the other guy's stars sit down, catch their breath, and that's a good opportunity to make a run or whatever it is in the game. When your guy sits down so little, and sometimes not at all, do you think that's mentally challenging to the opponents that they have to go through him? They can't go around him, even in a game?
KYLE KORVER: Definitely.

Q. Did you feel that way when you were elsewhere?
KYLE KORVER: Yeah, I don't know if we were like he's out of the game, let's go now. I don't know if we felt that way. But he's played heavy minutes his whole career. I don't know what his averages are, and I don't know what they are in the playoffs. But he's rarely come out of the game for 15 years now. I think the other team always knows, you know, that if you want to beat him, he's going to have the ball at the end of the game. He's going to be there making plays on both ends of the court. You know if you're going to win the game that you have to go through him.

Q. If you turn on the TV at all and watch any NBA stuff over the last couple days, it's like you guys are not supposed to win this series. That's the narrative. Do you embrace that in a way that you're playing as though you've got nothing to lose since you're not supposed to win? How do you guys react or use that in any way?
KYLE KORVER: Yeah, I think it's really good for our team, especially having a bunch of young guys and guys that haven't been here before. I think we can use that to our advantage. I mean, if we lose, we were supposed to lose, apparently. I think there is a certain freedom in that.

I think last year even though a lot of people thought Golden State would win because we had won the year before and the Cavs won the year before, there was some pressure on that. There is a different feel for us this year, I think. I mean, it's the first time for a bunch of guys. But we just getting to out there and play free see what happens. For our group, that's really good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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