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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

May 29, 2019

Jordan Bell

Toronto, Ontario - Practice Day

Q. Does this feel different than any previous times you've been in this position?
JORDAN BELL: A little bit just because we're starting away for the first time, so you have more adversity to deal with than if you start at home. It's easier to play at home with the fans being there. We haven't won here this year, so it's definitely going to make it tougher.

Q. How do you focus with so much attention?
JORDAN BELL: Well, I'm fine. I'm not too high, I'm not too low. I just want to play basketball. We have been off for so long so I'm just anxious to play right now.

Q. You guys do anything different with all that time off or was it pretty routine?
JORDAN BELL: No, we scrimmaged a lot more than we would during the regular season practices, just to make sure we have that feel, keep that conditioning up. But it was tough because we couldn't go over personnel for awhile because we didn't know who we were playing. So it would be kind of pointless to do personnel on both teams, but all practices are just kind of like maintenance practices, defensive things, just simple stuff, just to make sure we stay in good shape and stay ready.

Q. Toronto fans haven't seen this. They always say the first two minutes of a Finals game is just unbelievable. When you were in your first one last year, how was it?
JORDAN BELL: Obviously everybody's watching you, fans are going crazy, last year to start at home I know the fans were probably louder than they have ever been just because the Warriors, LeBron, so hopefully the same energy is here and we can try to feed off that too.

Q. Do the senior guys kind of take control of the team now? The older players.
JORDAN BELL: I think they have been talking to us all year about that, I don't think it's something we just started playing for. Obviously everybody on our team knew we were going to be here this year. That was our goal. So the whole year was always getting ready for this moment, it wasn't trying to win like a whole bunch of games -- obviously you try to win every game -- but the goal was to win a championship. So I think everybody's who is on the team expected us to be here.

Q. Does the nine days extra help? Do you feel like it's an advantage for you?
JORDAN BELL: I think a little bit of both. I think it helps us because we obviously need the rest. The players are playing every other day, against the Blazers, that was something like I know we didn't experience at all in the playoffs yet. So it was a good thing with that, but then momentum, like you want to keep playing. You want to keep that same fire lit the whole time. So we had nine days off, we kind of relaxed. You have days off, so you want to enjoy the days off doing nothing or whatever you do, but I think it's a good and bad in both ways.

Q. (No microphone.)
JORDAN BELL: I think that this team has experienced that like two years ago when they swept everybody in the first two rounds they had a long break too. So I think the vets who were there before they've been making sure we have been staying ready, we have been scrimmaging, some of the young guys we had our own little scrimmage just to make sure that we're ready for the NBA Finals.

Q. Does it almost feel like you're facing each other for the first time?
JORDAN BELL: That's the big thing we've been talking about, we don't really know these guys. We watched a lot of film but we never played against the team they have now and they haven't played against the team we are now. So it's definitely a big difference. So kind of makes it more interesting because there's a scouting report, but there's no feel for it. Like you don't know people's tendencies as far as playing them and thing like that. Like Marc Gasol isn't the same person he was in Memphis and there are a bunch of people like that and different roles that they have now. I think it will be very interesting, like a pick-up game almost to say.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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