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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS vs WARRIORSJune 3, 2018Stephen CurryKlay ThompsonOakland, California: Game Two Warriors - 122, Cavaliers - 103 Q. Got one for both of you guys. Klay, Steph set a Finals record tonight. He hit nine three-point shots, some of them under incredible duress, some late in the shot clock. Which were your favorites and why? KLAY THOMPSON: Probably the one that stands out the most to probably all you guys and everyone in this arena, when he was about 7 seconds on the clock, and he just kept going backwards. I don't know why, but he just threw it up, and I don't think it had any chance of going in, but that was kind of like a dagger shot, and it gave us all the momentum back. I think we went up 14 points, so that was my favorite. It hit nothing but net, and that was just a very good sight to see. Q. Steph, why do you attempt shots when you're going backwards and nobody seems to understand what the heck it is you're doing out there, and how deflating is it to the opponent when those go through the hoop? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, that situation I was trying to get some space. I thought I had a lay-up at first, and I fumbled the ball and tried to see where the defense was. And Kevin Love was right on me. I actually lost the dribble for a hot second, and the only way to get a shot was to keep going back. I mean, I try all sorts of shots at some point or another, but at that point it's just feel and letting it go, and thankfully it went in. A big moment where we had a significant lead, we could extend it a little bit and create some separation down the stretch. It was a cool moment for sure. Q. Klay, how's your ankle holding up overall, and what do you think was key to be able to play through that and have the kind of game you had? KLAY THOMPSON: Being on the training table for, it felt like, three straight days. That's something I'm not used to. But at this point in the season, any means necessary. And the ankle feels great. I won't do much tomorrow and I'll do a little bit Tuesday. But I'm just going to conserve all I've got for Wednesday because I don't want to play with it. It's something that you just -- that you use a lot. I didn't realize how much you use your ankle until you hurt it, but -- STEPHEN CURRY: You should have asked me. KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah. (Laughter) KLAY THOMPSON: But, yeah, that's that, so... Q. It seemed right from the tip-off you guys were completely focused. Everybody was on the same page. It was like serious business, like you weren't going to leave anything left from the other game? STEPHEN CURRY: We watched the film, and obviously from Game 1 LeBron had an amazing night. But a lot of it was just a lack of kind of sense of urgency early in possessions to try to just be physical. Klay, Draymond and K.D., especially, were huge in that transformation to Game 2 with just putting up a little bit of resistance, and just trying to make them work. We had some slip-ups and things we can correct going into Game 3, but the energy and effort and physicality and all of that from the jump was pretty dialled in, and it gave us a lot of momentum and confidence to have a better start to the game and then sustain that over 48 minutes, for sure. Q. You've always had that kind of pass and scatter to the corner three in your repertoire, but suddenly since the middle of the Houston series, you're doing it a ton. What sparked that and why is it working so well? STEPHEN CURRY: We've been doing that for a long time, just everything's under a microscope in the playoffs. Especially how teams guard us with all our switching and things like that, you've got to find different ways to create space. Isos are great, and we have guys that are capable of doing that all across the board. But when we keep the ball moving and keep bodies moving, good things usually happen. So I think that's -- when we're dialled in offensively, we're really efficient with getting into the paint, kicking it out, finding an open guy, whether it's me relocating to the corner or Klay coming off a pin down or Draymond getting an open three. We've been pretty locked into that type of offense for sure. Q. Klay, you said yesterday that you'd never taken a painkiller shot. Is that still true today? KLAY THOMPSON: Yes. Q. Steph, can you talk about Klay's resiliency physically? STEPHEN CURRY: It's The Finals. He's going to give it every shot to get his body right. Little known fact, I think the -- what's today, Sunday? So Friday he was getting treatment and still tried to manage to walk out to the court and take a couple shots just to keep his rhythm. But he didn't do much movement. It shows you kind of how much he loves the game and wants to be out there for us as a team and for himself and enjoy this moment. So it's great to have him out there. These next 48 hours are big for him to keep getting recovery and treatment and all that to be ready for Game 3. Q. You guys have always talked about being locked in and knowing where you are now in The Finals up 2-0, just how focused are you guys knowing going into Game 3 that could be the turning point for the series? KLAY THOMPSON: We're extremely focused. This team has been down 2-0 in the last series and came back to win it. It's nothing to feel happy about being up 2-0. This team plays great at home, and we expect their other guys to play even better at home, too, not just LeBron. So we're not going to relax at all because this team has been down and out before and counted out by the media, and we're not going to focus on that. We're just going to focus on what we can do to win Game 3. Q. Around here we know what Draymond does. He went out and covered LeBron. What don't we see that Draymond does so effectively on defense? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, you see it all. He's everywhere. He's a Defensive Player of the Year for a reason. He loves those challenges. Loves being in the fight every possession. He just finds ways not only if it's a one-on-one match-up to get a stop and plug holes on the defense all over the court. So I don't know what much left he has in the tank on that end that anybody hasn't seen. He just continually does it over and over again at a high level, making strong defensive plays to help us get stops and be the defensive team that we've been these last three, four years and in this playoff run. That's why the numbers look so good and why we do what we do. Q. Steph, at the end of the third quarter, looked like you tripped after you missed the three, and you stood up and got in Kendrick Perkins' face. I would like to know what would lead a 6'3" guy to get in somebody who's 6'10" face and start talking smack, and did that do anything to get you fired up for the fourth quarter? STEPHEN CURRY: Much ado about nothing. KLAY THOMPSON: It's a good movie. STEPHEN CURRY: Great movie. Q. LeBron hit a three with the first minute of the fourth, 11:04, and you went down and answered right away and hit another three immediately after that. How big was that sequence for you guys in momentum? STEPHEN CURRY: It was big. I think we were up 10 at the end of the fourth, and he hit a big shot off the offensive rebound. Any type of those moments when you can come down and answer and keep the momentum on our side, it's big. Keep the crowd into it. This guy next to me hit a couple of those in Game 1, and tonight as well. So we have to find ways to combat their mini runs. Especially we have to do that on the road because we know how loud it is in that building. So just keep our composure no matter what the score is, and find ways to assert ourselves offensively. Q. You went through a lot of individual adversity this year, the strained MCL, missing the first round of the playoffs. How much does a game like tonight mean to your NBA Finals history, nine three-pointers? STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, regardless of how the season went, that's a pretty cool deal to accomplish knowing who has held the record for -- what is it, probably six, eight years? But at the end of the day, it's all about trying to get a win and doing whatever you can to make that happen. I always say like if we focus on that, good things happen individually all across the board. So I never woke up and was like, all right, let's go get nine threes and get the record. It was more so about playing the game the right way, having good intentions out there on the court and good things happen. So pretty special night, and hopefully some more special things happen and we get two more wins. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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