	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 PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: CLIPPERS vs WARRIORS

April 13, 2019

Draymond Green

Oakland, California: Game One

Warriors - 121, Clippers - 104

Q. Draymond, with the performance you had specifically in the first quarter, what was the approach you were trying to take to set the tone on both ends of the floor?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I mean, just take what the defense gives me, and they were all over the place. You know, just cutting and knock down a couple shots, and then on the defensive end, just trying to do what I do on that end, come up with some deflections, help out, and put some broad pressure on the guys I was guarding.

Q. Draymond, obviously Steph hit a bunch of threes, but what did you any of everything else he did defensively, passing, rebounding?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I thought he was really good defensively, and the rebounding was spectacular. Obviously we know Steph can pass the ball, and he made some great on-time, on-target passes, but the rebounding was incredible, especially -- that was one of our keys was to rebound the basketball. Montrezl -- they're a great offensive rebounding team, Pat Beverley crashed the glass. Steph was matched up on Pat Beverley, and yet he got a lot of rebounds, and Pat Beverley had one offensive rebound.

It was good to see him rebound that way, especially where they really rebounded well in the first half. But Steph helped out a lot with that.

Q. What do you tell DeMarcus, a guy who his entire life has been the center of an offense, whereas today they're ignoring him and the awkwardness of playing that type of way?
DRAYMOND GREEN: To play his game. Obviously you come in with a game plan and you want to stick to that game plan, but at the end of the day, he's been as successful as he has because he's played his game.

And so I think he just needs to really focus on that. Don't worry about all the other stuff or -- it's his first playoff game, so that also comes with some jitters and some adjusting.

If you've never been in a playoff game, you've never really truly seen somebody's scheme against you but also your entire team. You play somebody in the regular season, and granted, he's been the guy for so long, so he's seen double teams, but in actual -- like in the regular season, you don't really have much time to really focus on a scheme.

When you're about to play somebody for a possible seven games in a row, then your whole scheme is locked in and everybody is focused on that.

So that takes some adjusting. You see some rookies come in and it's their first playoff game, like there was no difference tonight between Landry Shamet and DeMarcus. It was both of their first playoff games, and that's kind of what happens. It's the first time you've seen that intensity. It's the first time you've seen that physicality. It's the first time you've seen somebody's scheme in the way they do, so just continue to play his game, and now he'll know the speed of a playoff game. He'll know the physicality of a playoff game, and he's obviously great enough to make that adjustment.

Q. Draymond, all season teams have been kind of daring you to shoot three-point ball, and tonight it happened again early in the first quarter. What do you tell yourself when you see that, and how do you approach --
DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, my s--- working now. You know, all season. I really didn't care. But I love this time of year. My s--- work now, so whatever.

Q. You were the first person to come at Kevin, just seemed like after the Patrick Beverley, I don't know, whatever you want to -- ejection, it seemed like you were saying words of encouragement. What is playing against Patrick Beverley like in a playoff series, and why were you so amped after that play?
DRAYMOND GREEN: You know, there's always little games within the game, and so there's always stuff going on out there on the floor. You know, meanwhile, K was 8 for 16 with 23 points. Pretty solid night, you know, at the office. That was good. I like to see people battle, and I love that.

Q. Draymond, speaking of scheming, what level would you -- what are some of the things that you guys would like to work on a little bit more to nail on in a Game 2?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Turning the ball over. Me. But we can really cut back on those turnovers, and I think as the game went on, we did a better job with Lou Will, but earlier in the game he kind of got everywhere he wanted to get to. Once we settled in and really locked in on our defensive game plan, it was a different story.

But we need to be that way from the jump to start Game 2, and I think we will.

Q. With all his threes tonight, Steph now has the record for most threes in the post-season --
DRAYMOND GREEN: I don't got that?

Q. There's still time.
DRAYMOND GREEN: Crazy. How did that happen?

Q. You've been around him all these times in the post-season; are you even a little surprised at just how quickly he's attained this record given the greats that came before him?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I mean, I think he's attained a lot of three-point records pretty quickly. What is he now, third all time? Like guys have played a lot of games, and here he is third all time in the middle of his prime.

No, I'm never surprised when it comes to anything with Steph shooting the basketball. I don't think there's much argument when anyone says he's the greatest shooter of all time. I don't know if you can find many people to argue that.

No, it don't. It don't shock me. It shocks me that I'm not the all-time leading three-point shooter, but it don't shock me that Steph is, though. That's kind of a double negative, but you get where I'm going with it.

Q. As a starting lineup, you guys outscored the Clippers' starting lineup by 60 points. What would you say was the key to that and how can you keep that up the rest of the series?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think we definitely have a great starting lineup. We expect to outscore and outplay people with our starting lineup to -- I mean, by 60 points, I can't necessarily say we expected that.

But nonetheless, one thing you do know about this team is two of their better players, and some people would probably argue their best two players, are coming off the bench. You know, that's obviously been a strength of theirs this entire year is how much production they're getting off the bench, and mainly from Lou and Montrezl. They're two great players who come off the bench and wreak havoc. It's not a huge shocker because of the production that they do get from there, but nevertheless you never really expect to outscore anybody's starting lineup by 60 points.

Q. Landry had that game where he had five threes in the first half a couple weeks ago, and since then you've thrown KD on him. How important is it stopping Landry?
DRAYMOND GREEN: It's very important. Doc had JJ Redick for a lot of years, and I mean, it's one of those people -- Doc is probably one of the people that helped change JJ's career. A lot of that is due to the great sets that he draws up, and now he's using Landry the same way.

Ironically, Landry got to study JJ for half a season, and so he's playing just like that and he can shoot the lights out of the ball. It's important to take a guy like that out. He gets hot and it changes the whole game.

But we've had a little time to focus on him a little bit, and he's a part of the scouting report. When you're part of the scouting report, it gets a little tougher. Nonetheless, we want to try to keep him under control in this series because we really know he can get it going, and if he does, it changes the game, which could possibly change the series.

Q. Montrezl Harrell had 26 points on 15 shots. What makes him effective, and what do you respect about his game?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I respect a guy who gets it out of the mud, and he's gotten it out the mud. No one expects Montrezl to be in this league who he is today, and yet he's put the work in that he's needed to put in, and he'll be in this league for a long time.

Most importantly, I respect that. He's a hustle guy. He's getting stuff -- dives to the rim, probably one of the best rollers in the league out of a pick-and-roll. He's super physical. He finishes great around the rim. He came up with some offensive rebounds and finishes.

And even I think one of the things that's underrated about him is his hands. You know, some of those balls where we should probably be going another way, he get his hands on it and he's coming out with it. I think that's one of the things not many people really talk about, is how he has great hands. He gets near the ball, he usually comes up with it.

It was a good night for him. We've got to do a better job on him as the series goes on.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297