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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

May 30, 2019

Draymond Green

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame 1

Toronto - 118, Golden State - 109

Q. What did Pascal Siakam do to give you guys so much trouble tonight?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think he made played an amazing game obviously, but he got out in transition and our transition D was horrible, and I let him get in a rhythm in the first half, first quarter really.

So I got to do a better job of taking his rhythm away, and I will, but he had a great game. But that's on me.

Q. Given that it was his first Finals game, did it surprise you that he was so aggressive?
DRAYMOND GREEN: No. Different people react differently in different situations, so no, I don't, but like I said, I got to do a better job of taking him out of the game.

Q. You know the league so well and Siakam's a guy who sort of came quickly from Africa, hadn't played the game very long. What kind of improvement did he show tonight from other times that you've seen him in an NBA game?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Well, you know, I mean, really the only time I ever really played him was last year. I played him the second time we played them this year, I think I probably played 16 minutes or something like that. I was just coming back from injury.

You got to take your hat off to him. Regardless of this game, you still have to take your hat off to him, even before this game, of what he's been able to accomplish this year. He's become a guy. He put a lot of work in to get there and I respect that, but like I said, I got to take him out of the series and that's on me.

Q. Defensively you guys were very aggressive with Kawhi Leonard, but that did open up some other things for the others on the Raptors. What are some things that you feel that you guys can do better in Game 2 defensively to kind of shut down the others beyond Kawhi?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Oh, I think we got to do a better job early on. Like we gave Siakam a couple wide-open threes. We gave Gasol wide-open threes and like there was no rotation. So you give guys those type of shots they get comfortable and it's a different beast.

I think we did a good job on Kawhi. We got to keep that up, but we have to do a better job on everybody else as well. So our rotation's got to be better. We got to fly around a little bit more. And we got to stop them from getting out in transition.

Q. What effect, if any, did it have that this series started on the road and the atmosphere out there? And I'm wondering also what is it about your team that if it's the playoffs sooner or later you guys take care of your business on the road?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think that it was obviously a different feel. We have always started The Finals at home, but we are relishing this opportunity. At the end of the day you got to come on the road and win one. So that's still the mission, we got to win one game on the road and I like where we are.

We didn't play very well tonight at all and we still had a chance the entire game. And it was a great atmosphere. This is a team or a city a country that hasn't seen a Finals ever here, so we expected it to be a great atmosphere and it was. But we can still play better and I know we will.

Q. Kind of picking up on that obviously they were impressive both ways, but did you feel like you guys might have not figured some things out but worked some things out as this game went along? Did you feel better at the end than you did at the beginning?
DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah. No. 1, we got our conditioning back. At the start the game it was a bit rough after nine, ten days off, but I think we just got a better feel for them. Like I said, this is a team we really haven't played. The first time we played them Steph or I and myself didn't play. Second time we played them, Kawhi didn't play like. So this is essentially our first time playing this team.

Now that we got a feel for them, we got a tape to watch. We know what we can do better. I like where we're at, especially like I said the way the game went tonight, we always had a chance and we didn't play very well at all. So you know, we leave this game feeling as good as you possibly can feel knowing that, yeah, we lost but I think we figured some things out, and we'll be better next game.

Q. You've often mentioned in the past when things aren't going your way as a team, that Kevin can often be the ultimate trump card. What things were difficult specifically without him tonight?
DRAYMOND GREEN: I think well, No. 1, we turned the ball over 17 times. They got 17 points off those turnovers. One of the keys coming into the game was to stop them in transition. Turning the ball over that many times, they are going to get out in transition.

So yeah, you usually do have Kevin there to throw the ball to, but I don't necessarily think the problem was our offense, outside of the turnovers. We just got to be better all around the floor and especially on the defensive end. And that starts with me. So we'll be better.

Q. I wanted you to talk a little bit about that post-game scuffle between you and Drake?
DRAYMOND GREEN: You got a question about basketball? It wasn't really a scuffle because I didn't hit him and he didn't hit me, and I didn't push him and he didn't push me. We talked. We barked a little bit, but I wouldn't necessarily consider that a scuffle, not really what I personally would consider a scuffle.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Draymond.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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