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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: TRAIL BLAZERS VS. WARRIORS

May 18, 2019

C.J. McCollum

Portland, Oregon - Postgame 3

Golden State 110, Portland 99

Q. You missed free throws you normally make. Were you gassed? What was going on?
C.J. McCOLLUM: Like you said, I just missed them. I was locked in as I could be, focused as I could be. I prepared the same way I always do. Just left it a little short. Felt like I didn't give myself a chance by leaving short. I'd rather miss long. It happens. It's unfortunate that it had to happen in the fourth quarter in such a tightly contested game.

There's no excuses. It's on me. Free throws are uncontested shots that you should make, especially a player of my caliber, and I didn't make them.

Q. What's it feel like out there when the Warriors begin to hit that gear in the third quarter? They have done it twice now. Can you describe that for us?
C.J. McCOLLUM: They are a very good team, especially in the third quarter, as we've seen. They take advantage of missed shots. Draymond [Green] did a good job of pushing the ball in transition. He kind of got them going, getting easy baskets for everybody else.

Obviously, you know, you try to stay locked in on their shooters. Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] are constantly moving. You know, if you're guarding one of those guys, you're not necessarily paying attention to where the ball is at because you're in a stay-home.

He was smart about when to drive, drive it up guys' backs, and they took advantage of bad offense. They took advantage of missed shots, and third quarter was a killer once again.

Q. When Draymond takes the ball in that power dribble up the court, you had your back turned on some occasions like you said, how much of an impact do you think [Kevin] Durant's absence is having on his ability to initiate and play-make the way he has the last few games?
C.J. McCOLLUM: I think he plays the same whether KD is playing or not. He initiates a lot of offense. Steph is the point guard, but a lot of times Draymond is getting the rebound. So he's starting the break. And Steph does a great job moving without the ball. Klay does a great job moving without the ball.

I think that just depending on how teams guard them, obviously we've trapped them, a little bit of changes in our coverages. Draymond is a guy who catches the ball in the middle; so he's making a decision on whether to shoot it, drive it at the help and throw the lob, or to hit the corner; and a lot of times tonight, he was just pushing the ball and then getting contact and finishing around the basket.

But I mean, the only difference when KD plays or when KD doesn't is another guy who can do everything out on the court. So probably just more space but they also iso a little bit more. With him, they run a little bit more pick-and-roll, and with Steph, having a point guard set the screen.

Q. As far as the defense the Warriors have played in the series, what do you think they have done to limit you and Dame [Damian Lillard] in a lot of the pick-and-roll actions?
C.J. McCOLLUM: Have you been watching the pick-and-roll actions? What did you see?

Q. I saw they were blitzing you guys and you got in a lot of trouble.
C.J. McCOLLUM: Yeah, they been blitzing us. They been up at the level of the screen and in iso situations they do a good job of loading up, so you never are really by yourself, the elbows, boxes. Sometimes they just send a second defender. They are very smart about how they structure their defense.

Obviously it changes throughout the game, but I think, you know, Draymond's constantly helping. Iggy [Andre Iguodala] is rotating over. The weak side is pulling over and making it difficult. But you know, we got to do a better job. That's what elite defenses do. They make it difficult on you and try to get the other guys to beat you.

Q. In that second quarter, you got some minutes with the second unit, you guys had a good amount of success together. What changed in the second half?
C.J. McCOLLUM: I don't think we did a poor job in the second half. I just think that, you know, by the time the second unit was in, it went from when we were up 13 to start the second quarter to probably up two or down to at that point.

So the flow of the game plan was the same. You know, we just didn't make shots. They got out and ran and they had a little bit of momentum based on the run they went on but I thought the second unit did a great job. We have to do a better job as a starting unit of closing games. That six, seven-minute spurt of pick-and-roll coverage was a little spotty and we allowed Steph to get some easy layups down the stretch.

Q. In your estimation, does this team have enough gas to the tank to come out, get a win Monday and kind of begin to make this a series again?
C.J. McCOLLUM: Absolutely. You never want a series to end, especially in your home court. Everybody on this team has pride. Everybody on this team, you know, understands what's at stake, and we've been through a lot of adversity this season and in our lives individually. We're looking forward to the challenge. We dug ourselves in quite a hole but now for us it's just one game at a time. The next game is Monday at home in front of our fans and we want to do our best to try to put on a good show.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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