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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS vs WARRIORS

May 30, 2018

Jeff Green

Oakland, California: Practice Day

Q. How does it feel to be playing in the NBA Finals and a chance to win a title?
JEFF GREEN: Well, it hasn't quite hit me yet because I have to do all this media. I'm ready to play. Ready to get to the game tomorrow. But it's fun. I'm going to enjoy every moment. I'm truly grateful to be here.

Q. You guys come in as heavy underdogs.
JEFF GREEN: Everybody has doubted us throughout the whole season. Everybody had an expectation of what we should be, and when we weren't, they threw us under the bus and thought we couldn't make it this far.

But we knew what we had. We knew what we could do. Now we're here. We're still going to be doubted going against this team. But we obviously know what kind of team we have and know that we can win.

Q. Do you feel like they're more vulnerable than their previous Finals teams?
JEFF GREEN: I mean, every team is capable of losing. If you play the right way, if you do the right things to make it tough on them to lose the game, I don't think anybody's a super team that can win every game. We have a great team, and we know we can beat this team. We've just got to come in and do the right things to put us in a good position to win.

Q. Do you embrace the underdog role?
JEFF GREEN: I've always been the underdog my whole life. That's my nature. I'm always going to be a fighter. I'm going to go out there and compete. Most of our team is going to carry that same aggression going into the game.

Q. Andre Iguodala has been ruled out for Game 1. How does that change the dynamics of what you guys do, and what they like to do?
JEFF GREEN: I think, first and foremost, we don't have to plan for him playing since he's not playing. But we still have to focus on the defensive end and on what threats they have on the floor.

Q. How would you or how do you describe the postseason and the year, but I guess specifically the postseason, LeBron has had?
JEFF GREEN: There you go. It's hard to put it into words. It's amazing to watch. It's amazing to be a part of. That guy has done everything for us. He's playing outstanding, amazing, phenomenal basketball in year 15. Probably the best -- I've seen him play some great games, but collectively his playoffs have been truly remarkable. Maybe that's because he's on my team and I'm able to enjoy it a lot more instead of being on the opposing end. It's been amazing to watch and amazing to be a part of.

Q. Is there some advantage to you guys coming in here, the last time these two teams met, this team that's going to take the floor tomorrow is not the same team that took the floor back in January?
JEFF GREEN: I don't know if it's an advantage. I'm pretty sure they're going to do their studying and what they have to do in preparing for our team. I don't think any team has an advantage. We just have to do the proper strategic stuff on the court that we set out to do to put us in a good position to win.

Q. Larry Nance said that you guys will watch some tape on what Houston did to Golden State in the Western Conference Finals. I'm curious how much film did you watch, or how much do you expect to watch, to try to figure out what they did to be successful?
JEFF GREEN: We're going to watch a lot. We're going to watch a lot of film. We need to know the players' strengths and weaknesses. We need to know the plays they run.

We've watched film already, but I'm pretty sure in the next 24 hours we're going to watch even more so we can get a good grasp of what they do on the court.

Q. You were talking about the Houston series? Is that the film you were watching?
JEFF GREEN: I mean, I've watched every game that they've played. So I'm pretty up to date on what they did to push Golden State to a seven-game series.

Q. How meaningful is it for you to be a part of history in terms of this rivalry and these two teams facing each other for the fourth straight time, which is unprecedented in pro sports?
JEFF GREEN: Well, it's The Finals. I'm definitely grateful to be a part of that. It's something that every player works hard to get to. This is where every player wants to be competing for.

I have the opportunity in 2018 to compete for an NBA championship. I'm truly grateful to be a part of that, and to start Game 1 tomorrow and to come out and play great. That's my goal. Come out and try to do everything I need to do to help this team win.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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