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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: CLIPPERS vs WARRIORSApril 24, 2019Patrick BeverleyMontrezl HarrellLou WilliamsOakland, California: Game Five Clippers interviews Clippers - 129, Warriors - 121 Q. Last couple of days Warriors have been talking about the Rockets and looking ahead to the series. What do you guys -- sort of send a message about this win, don't forget about us at all? LOU WILLIAMS: No, that's something they should focus on. For us, our focus was to come in extend the series and get another win on the home floor it's their mistake for looking ahead. So, that's on them. Q. Doc had said, for the first time in this series that was us, we showed up. Why tonight, why on the Warriors home court? MONTREZL HARRELL: Honestly, it was just playing our style of basketball, and we was going to live or die whatever the results was. We've been having spurts in this series where we have played like ourselves, but we kind of lost it. And tonight I think we put together a full 48-minute game of Clippers basketball in the way we wanted to play. And I think we've just got to carry it back over going home. That's what it's about. Q. How much did Pat's rebounding early really get you guys rolling and even that charge he took in the final two minutes? LOU WILLIAMS: For me I thought it was the energy he brought, gave us second opportunities, more possessions and it really set the tone early for the way that we wanted this game to go energy-wise. I thought that was very important to start the game. MONTREZL HARRELL: For me, honestly, and for our team in general, he was definitely big because Pat is one of those guys that gets in there, mixes it up. He's one of those smaller guards who definitely rebounds at a high clip, both offensively and defensively. For him getting in there grabbing a whole lot of defensive rebounds we definitely needed that tonight because we went smaller a lot on the floor, and we had a lot of guys that definitely matched up with more size over him, but it's just about heart, fight and will. And that's what we know Pat will bring every night and he brought it tonight. And it was big for us rebounding the ball. LOU WILLIAMS: What did you think, Pat? PATRICK BEVERLEY: I think I gotta give a lot of credits to the bigs. They're fighting with Bogut and Looney. And they're doing a great job of boxing out. I'm just getting the scraps of it. Q. Patrick, Danilo Gallinari got you guys going in the first half. Could you talk a little bit, what did you guys tell him to keep his head into the game? PATRICK BEVERLEY: Gal, Gal is Gal. He's been productive all year. I think last game he went 5-for-20. That's not like Gal, of course. We knew he was going to find his rhythm. Fortunately he found it tonight. Gal is Gal. He's a tough cover. He can shoot the ball, put it on the ground, handle it finish at the rim and get to the free-throw line. And he did that tonight, so we were fortunate. Q. As well as you guys have played tonight, obviously Durant's been very productive the past couple of games, three games, what can you do? What have you done, what can you do differently to try to contain him a little bit Friday? LOU WILLIAMS: That's a defensive question (laughter). PATRICK BEVERLEY: Gotta give him a lot of credit. He's a tough cover. We got him inside the 3 a lot, those was contested 2s. He makes a lot of them. They're the shots that we want. He's a tough cover. Gotta give him a lot of credit. He's one of the best players on the planet for a reason. But we weathered the storm and we did what we needed to do to come out with the win and that's the most important thing. Q. Lou, you've been doing it your whole career, closing. You've been amongst the leading scorers in the NBA in the fourth quarter. Doesn't seem to matter who teams throw at you. What's your mental -- going into the fourth quarter trying to close out a game? LOU WILLIAMS: Just focus. Just focus. I'm blessed to have teammates that believe in me coming down the stretch, they make sure I have the ball in my hands. They have that confidence in me to go out there and make those plays. And when you have a locker room full of guys that's going to live and die with the decisions you make in the fourth quarter, it makes your job tremendously easy. So I go out there, top of the fourth, knowing that it is my time to go. My teammates know it's my time to go and I go out there try to do the best I can to help get us a win. PATRICK BEVERLEY: I think that's cap. Lou is one of the best players in the league. LOU WILLIAMS: He asked me. (Laughter.) PATRICK BEVERLEY: I think you're being modest, though. I mean, he's a killer, man. I guard the best of them. I see him every day in practice, man. He's a real killer. He goes up with some of the best scorers in the NBA. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I think he should be up there with some of the superstar players in this league because he's doing it day in and day out at 6'1" and a half. MONTREZL HARRELL: And he don't start. LOU WILLIAMS: That's the confidence I was telling you about. I appreciate it. Q. About a year and a half ago you guys were all traded for Chris Paul. A lot of people said it was a one-sided trade. The Rockets won and the Clippers got scraps. How good does this feel to show that it wasn't just a one-sided thing, that you guys really are -- Clippers are whole? MONTREZL HARRELL: That was at the beginning of the year, man. We're in the playoffs. LOU WILLIAMS: It's for real. (Indiscernible) I was there for a cup of coffee. (Laughter). MONTREZL HARRELL: Honestly, man, that was the beginning of the year. We don't even pay that no attention. We don't look back at it. We don't sit back, talk about it, like, wow, we was actually traded for Chris Paul. He is what he is and we are what we are. And it's playing for our team, playing to keep this series going. And it's about knowing everything we can to get a win, man. Like I said, we don't think about that. Don't have no type of [inaudible] on us, so we don't care. Q. Lou, Montrezl has had a great season. What type of killer is he? PATRICK BEVERLEY: He ain't going to be (indiscernible) -- LOU WILLIAMS: For me, it's personal with Trez. I developed a relationship with Trez before we were even teammates. It's just funny how things kind of match up like that. Trez has been in Atlanta the past three or four summers with me. We met on a whim. So it's been personal. It's been a great thing just for me to watch how he's grown over the years. And this year he's really became one of the best bigs on our team, in the Western Conference. And the work shows. So for me it's tremendously great. Q. Doc was saying before the game how Ralph came up to him and said, a lot of people were saying, congrats, this is going to be your final game. How good does it feel to give Ralph an extra game when people were saying congrats and have a good rest of your life? MONTREZL HARRELL: Bingo. PATRICK BEVERLEY: Oh me, oh my. LOU WILLIAMS: It's cool. It's great for Ralph. It's great for all of us. And Ralph's been around 40 years. So for us to have an opportunity to keep dragging him in the gym and having him around, it's great. Q. Lou, you get starter minutes. You basically put in starter production. What is it about the sixth-man role that makes you so comfortable, makes you comfortable coming off the bench being a starter? LOU WILLIAMS: Nobody's ever offered me a different role. Like, let's clear that up. Like, everybody asks me, like, why don't you start. I'm not the coach. I think Doc is my eighth coach in my career. Nobody's offered me a starting job, so I've perfected the one that I have. Q. How would you compare and contrast the feeling you had after the huge comeback and the confidence that gave you versus tonight where you pretty much kind of controlled the game from start to finish and didn't allow them to go on a big run and take the lead, does this give you a different kind of confidence? PATRICK BEVERLEY: I feel like after we came and won Game 2, I feel like the next game at home, it was a battle. But this past game, Game 4, we felt like we should have won that. We felt like we lost a game, not that they beat us. But we were fortunate tonight to come out here, get a win. And at the end of the day, that's the most important thing. MONTREZL HARRELL: I think I would definitely agree with Pat, honestly. But as far as Game 2 goes, there's nothing we can really do about that. They kind of took us lightly and made subs and brought in guys early because they thought the game was over. We kept fighting, we came out with a big-time win, but we also went home and we lost two straight. I don't think the game had anything to really to do with a confidence builder, but it definitely was fun to be a part of, definitely fun to have that comeback. But, like I said, still we went home and lost two in a row. Really it was just about coming out here, fighting, doing anything we can to make sure we withstood in this series to get back home. We didn't want our season to be over because we know how hard we worked and how much time and effort -- and everybody in the whole coaching staff and the whole organization has put into our season. It's about coming out here playing our style of basketball and extending the series. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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