|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: TRAIL BLAZERS VS. WARRIORSMay 19, 2019Meyers LeonardPortland, Oregon - Practice Day Q. When did you find out you were starting for Game 2? MEYERS LEONARD: We had an optional practice yesterday morning just because some guys need rest, some guys wanted to come in and get shots, do whatever they needed to do to get ready for the game last night. And I was having breakfast, and Coach always walks in and says hello to everybody, but then he asked me to come to his office when he was finished. It was a pretty quick conversation. He said, Hey, I just want to let you know you're starting tomorrow night, and I'll let the team know when everybody gets to the arena. I was prepared yesterday morning and just kind of getting myself ready throughout the day, as I always would. So yeah, yesterday morning. Q. How did you think you played? MEYERS LEONARD: I thought for the most part I did a good job giving our team a chance to win. You know, there's always things that could have gone better in pick-and-roll coverage or would have liked to have made a couple more shots. But I feel pretty good about what I did last night. I felt I was confident and aggressive on both ends of the floor, and again, I thought I did what I could to give our team a chance to win. Q. What did you see in the third quarter when you looked at the film? What happened in the third? MEYERS LEONARD: You know, it was different than actually what I expected. In Game 2, we had bad shots and turnovers, which led to their transition, and they ended up getting on a run, which they're capable of putting on you quick. Whereas last night, I think in an eight- to nine-minute span, we maybe had one bad shot, really no turnovers. We just didn't make shots. That was tough. And we made the right play a majority of the time. We were taking good shots. We were looking to share the ball. We just didn't execute. Q. Do you feel any vindication from your performance last night? MEYERS LEONARD: In terms of? Q. Well in terms of a lot of people around saying you can't play or you not getting to play. I mean you sat out 21 games this season where you didn't play at all. MEYERS LEONARD: Sure. What I'll say is I'm thankful that Coach Stotts and the staff and my teammates for that matter had the belief in me and know that I can play. It's been up and down, and I approach every day the same as if I'm going to play. I try to prepare as best I can, and I used this quote last night, it's one that I really like. It's what the seals talk about. You don't really rise to the occasion, you fall back on training. I put a lot of work in, and I feel that I'm very dedicated to myself and to my team to improving and being ready to play when my number is called. So although the minutes have been up and down and it's, I guess, not consistent, my goal is to remain consistent when I'm counted on. In a pretty big game, obviously, it's been, whatever, 19 years since the Blazers have been in the Western Conference Finals, I feel that I did a pretty darned good job being ready to play and trying to help us win. Q. What's your mindset going into tomorrow night? MEYERS LEONARD: Have pride. Simple as that. You know, we can easily just say, well, we're down 0-3, no one else has ever done it, why not just get to the summer. That's not who we are. That's not, certainly not our mindset. And we have a group of guys that really care and love to win, and so we're going to come out tomorrow night and we're going to fight and we're going to give them a really good effort. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|